Kailash Satyarthi
Indian social campaigner (born 1954)
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Through Right to education, Child labour and Electrical engineering
In 2014, he was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Malala Yousafzai, "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education." He is the founder of multiple social activist organizations, including Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Global March Against Child Labour, Global Campaign for Education, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, and Bal Ashram Trust and Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion.
Kailash Satyarthi and his team at Bachpan Bachao Andolan have liberated more than 138,000 children in India from child labour, slavery and trafficking. In 1998, Satyarthi conceived and led the Global March against Child Labour, an 80,000 km (c. 49,710 mi)-long march across 103 countries to put forth a global demand against worst forms of child labour. This became one of the largest social movements ever on behalf of exploited children. The demands of the marchers, which included children and youth (particularly the survivors of trafficking for forced labor, exploitation, sexual abuse, illegal organ transplants, armed conflict, etc.) were reflected in the draft of the ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The following year, the convention was unanimously adopted at the ILO Conference in Geneva.
He has served on the board and committee of several international organizations including the Center for Victims of Torture (USA), the International Labour Rights Fund (USA), and the Cocoa Initiative. Satyarthi was among Fortune magazine's "World's Greatest Leaders" in 2015 and featured in LinkedIn's Power Profiles List in 2017 and 2018. Satyarthi led a nationwide march, Bharat Yatra, in India covering 19,000 km (12,000 mi) in 35 days, to demand for legislation against child rape and child prostitution.
Early life
Satyarthi was born as Kailash Sharma in Vidisha, a small town in the (now) state Of Madhya Pradesh of India. He dropped his last name Sharma (implying that he is a Brahmin) and took Satyarthi (meaning one who longs for truth) after his marriage, due to the influence of the reformist Arya Samaj movement. Kailash Satyarthi belongs to a middle-class family. He is the youngest among four brothers and a sister in his family. His father Ramprasad Sharma was a retired police head constable and his mother Chironjibai was an housewife with high morals who have received little to no formal education. As per Satyarthi, the exceptionally idealistic and helpful nature of his mother had a big impact on him. He was raised in a locality (mohalla) where Hindus and Muslims lived with each other. As a four-year-old toddler, he learnt to read Urdu from the Maulvi at the neighboring mosque and learnt Hindi and English in his school.
Satyarthi was significantly affected by the lack of school access for all children and his experiences with poverty in his youth. He made efforts when he was young to try to change these inequalities due to the circumstances of their birth.
Satyarthi completed his education in Vidisha. He attended Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Vidisha, and completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at Samrat Ashok Technological Institute in Vidisha then affiliated to the University of Bhopal, (now Barkatullah University) and a post-graduate degree in high-voltage engineering. Satyarthi joined his college as a lecturer for a few years.
He was known for organizing initiatives to help disadvantaged children during his school years.
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Work
In 1980, Satyarthi gave up his career as an electrical engineer and then founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement). He conceived and led the Global March Against Child Labor and its international advocacy body, the International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE), which are worldwide coalitions of NGOs, teachers and trades unionists. He has served as the President of the Global Campaign for Education from its inception in 1999 to 2011. Sathyarthi is one of its four founders alongside ActionAid, Oxfam and Education International.
In 1998, Satyarthi conceived and led the Global March against Child Labour traveling across 103 countries covering 80,000 km to demand an International Law on Worst Forms of Child Labour. The march eventually led to the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labor.
He established GoodWeave International (formerly known as Rugmark) as the first voluntary labelling, monitoring and certification system of rugs manufactured without the use of child-labour in South Asia. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he focused its campaigns on raising consumer awareness on issues relating to the accountability of global corporations regarding socially responsible consumerism, trade and supply chains. Satyarthi has highlighted child labour as a human rights issue as well as a welfare matter and charitable cause. He has argued that it perpetuates poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population growth, and other social problems, his claims have been supported by several studies. He has had a role in linking the movement against child labour with efforts for achieving "Education for All". Satyarthi has been a member of a UNESCO body and has been on the board of the Fast Track Initiative (now known as the Global Partnership for Education). Satyarthi had served on the board and committee of several international organisations including the Center for Victims of Torture (USA), the International Labor Rights Fund (USA), and the International Cocoa Foundation. He brought child labour and slavery into the post-2015 development agenda for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 "for the struggle against the suppression of children and young people and the right of all children to education". Satyarthi is the first natural-born Indian Nobel Peace Laureate.
He has cited Mahatma Gandhi as his inspiration.
Organisations
- Bachpan Bachao Andolan was founded by Satyarthi in 1980 as a mass movement to create a child-friendly society where all children are free from exclusion and exploitation and receive free education. The movement identifies, liberates, rehabilitates, and educates in servitude through direct intervention, community participation, partnerships, and coalitions, promoting ethics in trade, unionizing workers, running campaigns on issues such as education, trafficking, forced brilliant labor, ethical trade, and by building child-friendly villages.
- Satyarthi established GoodWeave International (formerly Rugmark), a network of a non-profit organizations dedicated to ending illegal child labor in the rug making industry which provided the first voluntary labeling, monitoring, and certification system of rugs manufactured without the use of child labor in South Asia. This organization operated a campaign in Europe and the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the intent of raising consumer awareness of the issues relating to the accountability of global corporations regarding socially responsible consumerism and trade. Rugmark International re-branded the certification program and introduced the GoodWeave label in 2009. The organization was re-branded to GoodWeave International.
- The Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation(KSCF) was established in 2004 by Satyarthi. It is a grassroots organization that spreads awareness and advocates for beneficial policies for children's rights. The foundation is the global umbrella for KSCF India and KSCF, USA.
- Satyarthi formed the Global Campaign for Education and became its president at its inception in 1999. Global Campaign for Education is an international coalition of non-governmental organizations, working to promote children's and adult education through research and advocacy. It was formed in 1999 as a partnership between NGOs that were separately active in the area, including Action Aid, Oxfam, Education International, Global March Against Child Labour and national organizations in Bangladesh, Brazil and South Africa.
- The 100 Million Campaign was established in 2016 by 6,000 young people standing side by side with Satyarthi. It is a youth-led campaign organizing for a world "where all young people are free, safe and educated." The campaign has partnerships with the Global Student Forum (GSF), All-Africa Students Union (AASU), European Students' Union (ESU), Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), Commonwealth Students' Association (CSA), Education International, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The campaign operates in 35 countries on five continents.
Bharat Yatra
The Bharat Yatra was launched by KSCF to spread awareness about child trafficking and sexual abuse. The campaign launched in Kanyakumari on 11 September 2017, and marched through seven routes covering 22 Indian states and Union Territories, and over 12,000 km. The campaign was aimed at starting a social dialogue about child sexual abuse and child trafficking, taboo issues in India, to protect children vulnerable within their homes, communities, and schools. The campaign collaborated with 5,000 civil society organizations, 60 Indian faith leaders, 500 Indian political leaders, 600 local, state, and national bodies of the Indian government, 300 members of the Indian judiciary, and 25,000 educational institutions across India.
More than 1,200,000 marched for 35 days which led to the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2018 with a strict deterrent against child rape. The Yatra resulted in the Anti-Human Trafficking Bill being passed by the 16th Lok Sabha.
Personal life
Satyarthi lives in New Delhi, India. His family includes his wife, a son, daughter-in-law, a grandson, daughter and a son-in-law.
Satyarthi's Nobel Prize medal was stolen from his New Delhi residence in February 2017 and subsequently recovered.
Books
- (2017) Will for Children, by Kailash Satyarthi; Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 9789386300355
- (2017) ... Because Words Matter, by Kailash Satyarthi; Rupa Publications. ISBN 978-81-291-4845-2
- (2018) बदलाव के बोल, by Kailash Satyarthi; Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 9789352664863
- (2018) Every Child Matters, by Kailash Satyarthi; Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 9789352666386
- (2021) कोविड-19 सभ्यता का संकट और समाधान, by Kailash Satyarthi; Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 978-93-90366-96-5