NEW DELHI: Possibly India’s best known face against child labour, Kailash Satyarthi shares this year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani child rights activist Malala. He and his organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) – the Save Childhood Movement, have single-handedly brought to centre-stage the debate on child rights in India.

“Child slavery is a crime against humanity. Humanity itself is at stake here. A lot of work still remains but I will see the end of child labor in my lifetime,” Satyarthi told The Associated Press at his office in New Delhi. “If any child is a child slave in any part of the world, it is a blot on humanity. It is a disgrace.”

The Nobel committee said: ‘Satyarthi, 60, has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, “focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain.’

Here’s all that you need to know about Kailash Satyarthi:

#1 A human rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi has been at the forefront of a movement in India to end child slavery and exploitative child labour since 1980. Satyarthi has helped free children from slave-labor conditions and advocated for reforms, as director of the South Asia Coalition on Child Servitude and leader of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. In 1994, he founded a group now known as Goodweave, which certifies child-labor-free rugs and provides assistance to rescued and at-risk children.

#2 Kailash Satyarthi has headed various forms of peaceful protests and demonstrations, focusing on the exploitation of children for financial gain.

#3 In 1980, Kailash Satyarthi gave up his job as an electrical engineer to begin the crusade to end exploitation of children in India. As a grassroots activist, he rescued of over 78,500 children who were employed as child labours and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation.

#4 He was instrumental in making the problem of child labour in India as a human rights issue. He has established that child labor is responsible for the perpetuation of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population explosion and many other social evils.

#5 Satyarthi has also played an important role in linking the fight against child labor with the efforts for achieving ‘Education for All’.

#6 The Nobel Laureate is a member of a high level group formed by UNESCO on Education for all comprising of select Presidents, Prime Ministers and UN Agency Heads.

#7 Kailash Satyarthi has survived numerous attacks on his life during his crusade to end child labour, the most recent being the attack on him and his colleagues while rescuing child slaves from garment sweatshops in Delhi on 17 March 2011.

#8 In 2004 while rescuing children from a local circus mafia, Kailash Satyarthi and his colleagues were brutally attacked. Despite of these attacks and his office being ransacked a number of times his commitment for the cause has been unwavering.

#9 Satyarthi has been honoured by the Former US President Bill Clinton in Washington for featuring in Kerry Kennedy’s Book ‘Speak Truth to Power’, where his life and work featured among the top 50 human rights defenders in the world.

#10 Wikipedia states that Satyarthi has been the subject of a number of documentaries, television series, talk shows, advocacy and awareness films.

He has also won many international awards, including:

·       2014: Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Malala Yousafzai

·       2009: Defenders of Democracy Award (US)

·       2008: Alfonso Comin International Award (Spain)

·       2007: Medal of the Italian Senate (2007)

·       2007: recognized in the list of “Heroes Acting to End Modern Day Slavery” by the US State Department[3]

·       2006: Freedom Award (US)

·       2002: Wallenberg Medal, awarded by the University of Michigan[4]

·       1999: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Award (Germany)[5]

·       1995: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (US)[6]

·       1985: The Trumpeter Award (US)

·       1984: The Aachener International Peace Award (Germany)

In his first reaction after the Nobel prize committee in Oslo announced Satyarthi and Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai as the joint winners of this year’s Peace Nobel, the 60-year-old head of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan thanked the committee for recognising the plight of millions of children and said the award will help bring global focus on the issue.

What did Kailash Satyarthi say after winning the Nobel Peace prize?

“I am thankful to the Nobel committee for recognising the plight of millions of children who are suffering in this modern age. It is a huge honour for me,” said Satyarthi, who became the second Indian to win the award after Mother Teresa who won it in 1979.

Satyarthi, who is an avid follower of Gandhian philosophy, however, said he would have been happier if the award had gone to the Father of the Nation.

“I was born after the death of Mahatma Gandhi. If the prize had gone to Mahatma Gandhi before me, I would have been more honoured. I am really honoured. This award is for all the citizens of the country,” he said.

Satyarthi, whose organisation has been in the forefront of rescuing children from forced labour and trafficking, said he was happy that the issue has received global attention.

“This is not about simply poverty and rights of children. It is more than that. The fight has to continue. We are happy that the issue has been recognised globally now. I will continue my work,” he said.

The Bachpan Bachao Andolan, established in 1983, is credited with freeing over 80,000 child labourers across India. “We are very humbly fighting for child rights and the award has put more responsibility on me to work towards welfare of children. This is a major issue in India as well as in many other countries,” he said.

A former electrical engineer, Satyarthi has been involved in various global campaigns against exploitation of children which include Global March Against Child Labour, the International Center on Child Labor and Education and the Global Campaign for Education.