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AWARDS AND HONOURS

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 8/4/2020 11:11:17 AM

Kailash Satyarthi: Recipient of Defenders of Democracy Award

Kailash Satyarthi (born 11 January 1954) is an Indian children's rights activist. He is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Global March Against Child Labour, Global Campaign for Education, Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, and Rugmark now known as GoodWeave International. To date, Kailash Satyarthi and his team at Bachpan Bachao Andolan have liberated more than 87,000 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-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 labour, 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. Kailash Satyarthi has been a member of a UNESCO body established with the goal of providing “Education for All” and has been on the board of the Fast Track Initiative (now known as the Global Partnership for Education). Satyarthi has also 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 Cocoa Foundation. Satyarthi was among Fortune magazine’s ‘World’s Greatest Leaders’ in 2015 and featured in LinkedIn’s Power Profiles List in 2017 & 2018. His work has been recognized through various national and international honours and awards including the Nobel Peace Prize of 2014, which he shared with Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan. More recently, Satyarthi led a nationwide march, Bharat Yatra, in India covering 19,000 km (12,000 mi) in 35 days, in demand for strong legislation against child rape, child sexual abuse and trafficking. In 1980, Sathyarthi gave up his career as an electrical engineer and founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement) that year. 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 also served as the President of the Global Campaign for Education.