Kailash Satyarthi Interview Transcript

[Card] Poverty and Child Labor We have been always advocating and strongly believing that poverty is not the reason for the perpetuation of child labor and it must not be used as an excuse to continue with child labor and exploitation of children. The truth is the other way around, it is child labor which is responsible for the continuance and deepening of poverty in the whole world.

Therefore, we see that the two basic causes are responsible for child labor and one is the lack of political will and the second one is the lack of adequate social compassion, social concern and social action. And the civil society can play a major role in finding solutions to both. The nongovernmental organizations, the teachers’ organizations, trade unions, parents’ organizations, human rights bodies, the women groups, they all can help in building a political will and they all can help in mass mobilization to say no to all forms of child labor. And the denial as such that they don’t want any forms of child labor is the most important formula behind the success of elimination of child labor.

[Card] Child Labor can and will be eliminated One thing I strongly believe is that, number one, there must be a very, very strong and deep trust in one thing and that is child labor can be eliminated, child labor will be eliminated. This is the thing we should be deeply rooted in our hearts and minds and even in our souls, that yes, we can eliminate child labor and we are the people who are going to eliminate the child labor and this is the face of this area we have already entered where the child labor has no place, so we should be proud of ourself that the history has given us such an opportunity and such a role to play to wipe out this scourge from the face of mankind and that we can do. That must be the first thing. Then the second thing is that, my own personal experience, I believe that is a child is enslaved, he could be an Asian or American or African child, many people can define like that, he could be a child of a poor family or poor community or low cost or whatever, tribe. But the organizations and the individuals who are fighting against child labor should have a strong feeling that this child is their own child, this child is no one’s child but the child of their own. If they see any child that is exploited and working in worst forms or any form of child labor, if a child is enslaved, if a child is forced to prostitute, if a child is crying to go back to their parents and not allowed, one should feel that this child is his own child or her own child.

Only then, that kind of strong, personal commitment will be generated. And that is very important. If we believe that, oh, we are just helping a child who is poor, we are just trying to get a child free who is belonging to a poor family, then we are doing some mercy, we are doing some pity, we are not asking for any kind of pity or expressing mercy, we should feel that we, as the member of the human kind, or the member of the human society, must own that responsibility, must own that sin, which the whole human kind has committed in making a child slave. So if we free a child, if we help a child, we are not doing a mercy or a kind of some sort of kindness to that child, we are rather washing out of our own sins, which we have committed in making a child a slave. And then we can do a lot in terms of mass mobilization, in terms of political awareness, in terms of finding solutions why we offer education, why we offer employment conditions for the parents but to go really for the mothers where we have social mobilization, the idea of creating new models for the rehabilitation of children by finding legal solutions

and trying to enforce those laws using judiciary, so there are several strategies could be worked out but the basic thing is a strong feeling that we can combat child labor, we will combat child labor, and these children are our own children.

[Card] The Global Campaign for Education: Education for all by 2015 Number one, that the civil society put one point strongly in Dakar. That was a strong feeling of the failure of the Jomtien process. Ten years back, when the first world summit on education was held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990, they had given a big slogan, Education for all by year 2000. But that slogan remained hollow. No genuine efforts have been made globally and in most of the countries we have seen that the number of illiterate people, particularly the illiterate children, were increased. So the Global March movement joined hands with three other international initiatives, Education International, Oxfam International, and Action Aid. And later on a number of other international organizations, international organizations joined hands together and we all formed the Global Campaign for Education. So the Global Campaign for Education was at a very high profile in Dakar where we were able to lobby and negotiate with the top leadership of the world in a very professional and very successful way. For instance, a good talk with Kofi Annan and we were able to have a series of meetings with the heads of various UN agencies including World Bank and UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFP, etc. And it worked very well and most of them have referred their first of the civil society and they have invited civil society to find a solution of illiteracy in the coming years so that was quite important. Other very specific achievements, which we were able to get in Dakar were like that. Number one, we were able to include the whole issue of free compulsory and quality education for children by year 2015. They were talking about free education but not the quality education and compulsory education which was incorporated into the final commitment of action or framework of action of Dakar. So that is one important thing. And that will certainly help in eliminating child labor. Not of worst forms alone but of all forms of child labor. The second thing was a high amount of focus was given to the question of girl children, which are the victims of child labor and worst forms of child labor and prostitution, so this question of gender equity in imparting education, receiving education was at a very high profile. The third thing which was really very, very important and I will say that was one of the most successful milestones of Dakar was that the World Bank and a number of donor governments agreed to announce jointly with Global Campaign for Education on an idea of fast tracking, the fast tracking idea is that if any developing country’s government come with concrete time bound targeted plan of action to achieve the goal of education for all, then that country would not be deprived of money. Money must not be an obstacle, resources would not be an obstacle.

The World Bank and a number of donor governments agreed to immediately come for the rescue and help of that government, so that is very important. So many governments now have a very good golden opportunity I would say to come out with concrete plan of action for education and mobilize their resources as soon as possible. Another important thing was we have been able to push that there should not be a vague declaration or commitment. It should be substantiated with a targeted time bound plan of action. And there was an agreement that in two years time all the governments will prepare the national plan of action for education. So that is also quite an important and significant

achievement of our civil societies movement. So we see that if and we believe of course that the NGOs, the teachers unions, the trade unions and other civil society organizations which are much more stronger than before on the question of education will be able to pressurize the world governments, the UN institutions, particularly the developing countries government, to design, implement and monitor the full concrete plan of action for education for all the people. So that is a big hope now which was not there before.

At the time I jumped in, for instance, ten years back, there has not been any civil society movement for education globally which is no existent today. So mostly all major players in the field of education have joined hands and they are standing at one platform of global campaign for education. So that’s a good thing.

[Card] Progress in the wake of the Global March A: Well, number one, child labor or at least the worst forms of child labor is now on the center stage of the global agenda which was not there before. All the governments are now talking, some governments are doing something, a few governments are committed to do something to eliminate worst forms of child labor, so that is a big change now.

During and before the Global March, when I was traveling across the world and in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America in particular, as well as in Central Europe, the child labor was a non-issue. I have never seen anything in the media or in the public discussion or even in the NGOs functioning and action like child labor. But the Global March has just paved the way. It has given them a start to work on child labor and when the new ILO Convention has been adopted by ILO last year, it has become a statutory instrument, an international legal instrument, where the governments are now being asked to ratify in their governments and the Global March is deeply involved in the ratification campaign. We are lobbying both at national level as well as from the international secretariat of the Global March with all the governments in the world, with UN agencies, with the banks, with various other stake holder institutions including trade unions and class bodies, teachers organizations, children’s organizations, etc. and trying to persuade for a rapid ratification as well as the action for implementation of the convention so that is being done and we are progressing well.

[Card] A Sin We Cannot Carry Forward The worst problem of child labor is not something which is going to live longer in the world today. The governments, the people, the world community, has now realized that this is the worst form of human right violation, this is a sin which we cannot carry forward in the next century or next millennium, that is something which has to be solved right now. So that fast growing awareness and consciousness is very important and this is quite significant so I’m quite optimistic that the worst forms of child labor will be eliminated very soon, just a matter of a few years or few decades. This is an age-old problem we know but in the history of the humankind, a few years is not a big span of time.