Kailash Satyarthi, la voz de los niños
Activista social con formas 'gandhianas', Kailash Satyarthi ha liberado a unos 80.000 niños esclavos forzados a trabajar en la India, una labor reconocida este viernes con el Premio Nobel de la Paz junto a la paquistaní Malala Yousafzai.
Su trabajo ha sido señalado con numerosas distinciones como el español Galardón Internacional Alfonso Comin en 2008, el Premio Internacional de Derechos Humanos Robert F. Kennedy de Estados Unidos, o el Premio Internacional Derechos Humanos Fredric Ebert de Alemania, entre otros.
Nacido el 11 de enero de 1954 en la ciudad de Vidisha en el estado indio de Madhya Pradesh, Satyarthi abandonó su carrera como ingeniero eléctrico a los 26 años para luchar contra el trabajo infantil en la década de los ochenta.
En 1983 fundó la ONG Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA, Movimiento para Salvar la Infancia) en la India, que con 50 millones de trabajadores es el país del mundo con mayor incidencia de empleo infantil.
La organización de Satyarthi lleva a cabo redadas en talleres y fábricas donde se usa mano de obra esclava infantil, en ocasiones sin informar a la Policía del lugar concreto para evitar que avisen a los criminales.
Creó la etiqueta 'Rugmark' que certifica que las alfombras indias que se venden en el extranjero no han sido fabricadas con mano de obra infantil.
Además, organiza campañas de concientización con protestas que siguen el modelo pacífico de Mahatma Gandhi.
Pero la lucha de este activista ha traspasado las fronteras indias y la Marcha Global contra el Trabajo Infantil, organismo que ayudó a fundar.
"Recuerdo que cuando comencé a luchar en contra de la explotación infantil hace unos 20 años la cifra global alcanzaba los 250 millones de niños y ha bajado hasta los 168 millones", dijo en una reciente entrevista Satyarthi.
El activista advirtió de las consecuencias que la explotación trae para los menores, que "están atrapados en la esclavitud y pierden toda su infancia, aspiraciones, futuro, oportunidades, educación y, lo más importante, su libertad".
"El crecimiento y la economía de mercado no pueden prosperar dando la mano a la esclavitud y el tráfico infantil. No puedes hacer este mundo mejor, más pacífico y apto para vivir teniendo el peso de la esclavitud infantil no en tu espalda, sino en tu cara", reclamó.
Cuando Narendra Modi, que en su infancia trabajó vendiendo té, fue elegido primer ministro en mayo Satyarthi tuiteó: "Un niño vendedor de té desafía a sus detractores y se convierte en el mandatario de la India. Ahora es su papel asegurarse de que ningún niño es forzado a trabajar".
Unknown activist to Nobel Peace: Kailash Satyarthi's life
Before he became the second Indian to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, not many had heard Kailash Satyarthi’s name.
But within 90 minutes of the announcement, the child's rights activist had gained more than 4,500 followers on Twitter--and the list was growing at blazing speed.
The 60-year-old activist has been a relentless crusader of child rights and his organisation, the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), has been at the forefront of the drive against child labour in India for years.
“It was a passion from my childhood to work for children, I carried it forward," said Satyarthi. “I have been very strongly advocating that poverty must not be used as an excuse to continue child labour. It perpetuates poverty. If children are deprived of education, they remain poor.”
But within 90 minutes of the announcement, the child's rights activist had gained more than 4,500 followers on Twitter--and the list was growing at blazing speed.
The 60-year-old activist has been a relentless crusader of child rights and his organisation, the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), has been at the forefront of the drive against child labour in India for years.
“It was a passion from my childhood to work for children, I carried it forward," said Satyarthi. “I have been very strongly advocating that poverty must not be used as an excuse to continue child labour. It perpetuates poverty. If children are deprived of education, they remain poor.”
Satyarthi was trained as an electrical engineer, but he began his work by staging raids on Indian manufacturing, rug-making and other plants where children and their parents often work as bonded labour.
Read: The highest honour: India’s Nobel Prize connection
The Bachpan Bachao Andolan, founded in 1980, has fought child labour by creating domestic and international consumer resistance to products made by bonded children, as well as with direct legal and advocacy work.
Building on his initial activism, Satyarthi organised the Global March Against Child Labor in the 1990s -- dedicated to freeing the millions of children abused worldwide in a form of modern slavery.
The activist is also founder of RugMark, a widely known international scheme that tags all carpets made in factories that are child-labour free.
In 1998, he organised the Global March Against Child Labour across 103 countries, which helped pave the way for an International Labor Organization convention on the worst forms of child labour.
He described the plight of children forced into the worst kinds of abusive work in a 2010 interview with the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights.
"If they cry for their parents, they are beaten severely, sometimes hanged upside down from trees and even branded or burned with cigarettes," he said.
Satyarthi has said his social conscience was awoken when he was six and noticed a boy his age on the steps outside the school with his father, cleaning shoes.
Seeing many such children working instead of being educated, he felt an urge as he grew older to solve the problem -- launching him on his career of activism.
"I think of it all as a test. This is a moral examination that one has to pass. ... to stand up against such social evils," he said in the Kennedy Centre interview.
Through a number of training programmes, Satyarthi also helps children sold to pay off their parents' debts find new lives and serve as agents of prevention within their communities.
“The outstanding work that Mr Satyarthi has done over the past 35 years on child labour and trafficking has helped change mindsets and influence communities to protect children’s rights and create a more just society,” Deval Sanghavi, founder of Mumbai-based philanthropic organisation Dasra, told HT.
The Bachpan Bachai Andolan was initiated as a grassroot-level and direct-action-oriented people's movement in 1980 to eliminate exploitation of children, especially child labour and child trafficking. The campaign has over 80,000 individuals and 750 organisations as members, who advocate and act for the protection of child rights.
One of Satyarthi’s big achievements is the promotion of a consumer awareness campaign in Europe and the US aimed at dissuading consumers from buying carpets made by child labourers and simultaneously endorsing goods produced without exploiting children.
Satyarthi uses an array of techniques including lobbying with politicians and knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court, National Human Rights Commission and other judicial institutions for enforcement of child rights laws.
In pics: Kailash Satyarthi, an activist at work
(With agency inputs)
The Bachpan Bachao Andolan, founded in 1980, has fought child labour by creating domestic and international consumer resistance to products made by bonded children, as well as with direct legal and advocacy work.
Building on his initial activism, Satyarthi organised the Global March Against Child Labor in the 1990s -- dedicated to freeing the millions of children abused worldwide in a form of modern slavery.
The activist is also founder of RugMark, a widely known international scheme that tags all carpets made in factories that are child-labour free.
In 1998, he organised the Global March Against Child Labour across 103 countries, which helped pave the way for an International Labor Organization convention on the worst forms of child labour.
He described the plight of children forced into the worst kinds of abusive work in a 2010 interview with the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights.
"If they cry for their parents, they are beaten severely, sometimes hanged upside down from trees and even branded or burned with cigarettes," he said.
Satyarthi has said his social conscience was awoken when he was six and noticed a boy his age on the steps outside the school with his father, cleaning shoes.
Seeing many such children working instead of being educated, he felt an urge as he grew older to solve the problem -- launching him on his career of activism.
"I think of it all as a test. This is a moral examination that one has to pass. ... to stand up against such social evils," he said in the Kennedy Centre interview.
Through a number of training programmes, Satyarthi also helps children sold to pay off their parents' debts find new lives and serve as agents of prevention within their communities.
“The outstanding work that Mr Satyarthi has done over the past 35 years on child labour and trafficking has helped change mindsets and influence communities to protect children’s rights and create a more just society,” Deval Sanghavi, founder of Mumbai-based philanthropic organisation Dasra, told HT.
The Bachpan Bachai Andolan was initiated as a grassroot-level and direct-action-oriented people's movement in 1980 to eliminate exploitation of children, especially child labour and child trafficking. The campaign has over 80,000 individuals and 750 organisations as members, who advocate and act for the protection of child rights.
One of Satyarthi’s big achievements is the promotion of a consumer awareness campaign in Europe and the US aimed at dissuading consumers from buying carpets made by child labourers and simultaneously endorsing goods produced without exploiting children.
Satyarthi uses an array of techniques including lobbying with politicians and knocking on the doors of the Supreme Court, National Human Rights Commission and other judicial institutions for enforcement of child rights laws.
In pics: Kailash Satyarthi, an activist at work
(With agency inputs)
Hinduestantimes
Kailash Satyarthi, el defensor de los niños en la India
- Desde la década de los 90, ha realizado campañas pacíficas para luchar contra el uso de menores en trabajos y situaciones de servidumbre.
- Gracias a su organización, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, cerca de 80.000 niños han conseguido salir de situaciones de esclavitud y servidumbre.
En el mundo hay 168 millones de niños que tienen que trabajar. Una situación que a menudo ha sido denunciada por las organizaciones internacionales pero que sigue siendo prevalente en los países menos desarrollados. La organización de los Premios Nobel ha querido este año premiar a Kailash Satyarthi, que desde la décadas de 1980 y 1990. Abandonó su carrera de ingeniero para dedicarse a los más necesitados: los niños. En concreto, los que se veían obligados a trabajar en su país natal.
Su sensibilidad con los más pequeños comenzó a muy temprana edad. El primer día que fue al colegio, con 6 años, quedó impactado al ver a otro niño, de su edad, que no entraba con él por la puerta de la escuela: debía quedarse fuera, trabajando como limpiabotas. Con 11 años, ya llevaba a cabo 'campañas' para recaudar dinero y recolectar libros de clase usados y dárselos a las familias con más necesidad.
Es el director de la organización Bachpan Bachao Andolan, y gracias a su organización ha conseguido liberar a casi diez mil niños de situaciones de esclavitud o servidumbre. Más de 80.000 menores han conseguido reintegrarse en la sociedad y han logrado entrar en el sistema educativo gracias a la labor de su organización. Además ha conseguido llevar hasta las altas esferas de poder de la India movimientos para luchar contra el trabajo infantil.
Vive en Dehli, la India y está casado con hujos. Comparte el Premio Nobel de la Paz de este año con Malala Yousafay, defensora de los derechos a las niñas a ser educadas en Pakistán. El jurado ha destacado que él sea hindú y Malala musulmana, él indio y ella pakistaní, dos naciones y religiones a menudo enfrentadas.
En el año 2008 recibió en España el Premio Internacional Alfonso Comin. Ha sido amenazado de muerte por su labor y dos de sus compañeros han sido asesinados. En el año 2004, fue gravemente atacado después de hacer campaña para liberar del trabajo a niñas nepalíes que trabajaban en espectáculos circenses.
Unas amenazas que él siempre ha visto como una oportunidad. "Siempre he visto estos incidentes como un gran reto. La lucha contra la esclavitud humana y el tráfico no es mera caridad. Es una lucha sin descanso.Pueden matar nuestros cuerpos, pero emergiremos de nuevo como un fénix".
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