Nobel laureate and crusader for the rights of children Kailash Satyarthi is headed to the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Durban, South Africa, from May 15-20. His trajectory for the future though is to build support for an international social protection mechanism for all children and pregnant women in all low income countries, and he is campaigning vigorously for this among the world leaders.
In an interaction with The Hindu over a video call, Mr. Satyarthi clarified his plans. “I’m working in collaboration with a number of other lobbyists, not only [Nobel] Peace laureates, but also experts from other disciplines; we are demanding the setting up of an international social protection mechanism. We have seen in a number of countries, including in India, where social protection schemes such as the mid-day meals, conditional cash transfer or the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) are in operation, much has been done towards addressing problems, such as child labour or child safety and trafficking, but also towards empowering women in the family,” he explained.
“During the pandemic situation, we calculated that $53 million annually could ensure social protection for all children in all low income countries, as well as pregnant women too,” Mr. Satyarthi continued. “That is not a big deal in the sense it could be mobilised. We have got good responses from number of countries in the European Union.” Recently, he also met with some top officials in the White House, USAID, and lawmakers, Congressmen and Senators to mobilise support for such a fund.
