Kailash Satyarthi

Kailash Satyarthi is a human rights activist from India who has been at the forefront of the global movement to end child slavery and exploitation since 1980. He founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) as the first people’s movement for social justice, equity, and education for all children in India. In the last 37 years his efforts have resulted in the rescue of over 86,000 children and adults from child labour, trafficking and other exploitative situations in India.

He innovatively conceptualised the Global March Against Child Labour, organised in 1998 across 103 countries with 7.2 million participants. This ultimately triggered the discussions on the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), which was finally adopted by the ILO in 1999 and went on to be the fastest ratified UN convention till date.

As the international community geared up to adopt and acclaim the Sustainable  Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, Satyarthi successfully called upon global leaders to ensure that they include the abolition of child slavery in the post-2015 development agenda. In 2014, Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He has dedicated the entire prize sum to the advancement of the rights of children. Presently, Satyarthi is spearheading the largest campaign against child sexual abuse and trafficking in India, the Bharat Yatra (India March).