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Child slavery globally can be eradicated in the coming five years, prominent children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, who became the only Indian to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, said during his visit to Dubai on Wednesday. Satyarthi, 62, was addressing a small gathering at The Capital Club in Dubai International Financial Centre on Wednesday night. Globally, around 160 million children are working full-time instead of being in school. Many of them are working as slaves in harsh conditions — abused and left without pay or benefits. Satyarthi said indicators suggest child labour rates have fallen in the last 15 years but more needs to be done to stop the “vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy and child labour” feeding on itself. “Ending child slavery is not an impossible task. We can make it happen,” he said. Satyarthi is reported to have helped rescue 85,000 child slaves during the course of his 35-year struggle for children’s rights. He said “strong laws that are properly enforced” are among the means of achieving the ambitious target. In the late 1990s, Satyarthi’s Global March initiative against child labour culminated in the International Labour Organisation rapidly and unanimously adopting conventions against child servitude for the first time. Satyarthi also said it was important to “sensitise” employers of children against the practice at the same time. The new Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation meanwhile is working relentlessly on various fronts to combat the problem, he added. Besides coordinating with law enforcement agencies and policymakers, the foundation is harnessing the “untapped sources of power” of the Nobel Laureates and the youth to galvanise the movement to set children free. “We plan to launch a global platform of leaders united against slavery. Children are the worst sufferers of slavery … We’re working on the first-ever global policy think tank on child slavery issues.” He added: “If we can save one generation, the rest can then take care of themselves — and we can do it.” Satyarthi and his supports have often been targeted by henchmen of “greedy employers” of child labour to intimidate them into abandoning their struggle against slavery. However, Satyarthi said the obstacles only made him more resolved to carry on the peaceful movement. He pointed out rescuing children was only the beginning. “The next challenge is rehabilitation so they don’t relapse into slavery. Governments should have budgets for this and run rehabilitation centres,” he added. Satyarthi said a “holistic” approach against the menace is needed, involving support from the corporate sector and NGOs as well.
Keywords
child slavery,children's rights, India, abused and left without pay or benefit,child servitude, law enforcement
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