Kailash Satyarthi's efforts to embed the idea of child rights in the global conscience began long back. The relentless pursuit got a boost when he was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, an honour he shared with with Malala Yousafzai for “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.
Backed by the towering burden of expectations conferred on him by the Swedish Academy, the Nobel laureate has prodded the UN to incorporate child rights related issues in the Millennium Development Goals. Satyarthi's argument that with so many children tied to child labour, languishing in mines and battling toxic chemicals, there was no way global educational, economic and health goals could be met, found global resonance, pushing governments to synchronise domestic laws with international conventions.
Satyarthi, who aims to shape the biggest social mobilisation in human history to highlight child rights issues, opens up on how the political culture has converted human beings into mere votes, the lack of moral accountability of five-star NGOs and the irony of squeezing of independent thought and free spaces while opening up floodgates of freedom without accountability to corporates. Excerpts from the concluding part of an interview with Onmanorama.
Many people are taking up causes like child rights. Are you satisfied with the involvement of youth in such issues?
That is good in a way. When I started, there was no one working on the issues of child labour or children's rights. The notion of children's rights had not evolved. No NGO was working on it. After UN convention on rights of the child and UN Assembly's adoption of this convention in 1989, the society came to know of these issues and the governments started making new laws or synchronising domestic laws with international convention. That was the time when NGOs began to work on it. So it’s good that this has helped in creating awareness in the society in a way.
NGOs and moral accountability
We also see the phenomenal growth or mushrooming of civil society organisations on all aspects of life, including child rights. It has become a sort of new career or job opportunity rather than a life mission. Talking in the language of life mission is tough these days, but at least one should have passion for it, moral responsibility and moreover moral accountability. Many people think that having foreign or local funding and running an NGO is like running a business or small projects. We talk on these narrow terms. The whole mindset of most of the civil society organisations, who are depending on some sort of funding or the other have become so narrow.
The beneficiary culture
I have come across incidents of NGOs working in a village with 'target groups'. For many NGOs, these children, women and poor people are target groups or beneficiaries. They are human beings, they all have dignity but we make them beneficiaries. So the cause of child rights when they are just your beneficiaries – this culture has to end.
We have seen villages where an NGO is running a project with say for instance, 50 children. Their target group or beneficiaries are 50 children. The donor is providing money for 50 children.
Suddenly five other children, who are found being trafficked or abused, come to them. They don't address their problems or take up their issues because they feel they are working for only 50 kids who are their beneficiaries and not the 55 children who are in need of care. This is also happening in the civil society. It is a mixed situation. There are very dedicated, grass-root NGOs who don't bother about luxury, fame or name. I know many such people, many who are working under hardships in the villages battling threats and dangers.
The five-star NGOs
We also know about a number of five-star NGOs, who are socialites. They are very fast, good at PR and also language. In these cases, the whole issue remains superficial. It does not go deep down to the bottom, to the grassroots level where the change is required. They can make good reports, spend a lot of money and hire the best people. We have to identify, strengthen and respect the unnoticed, unattended, unheard and unacknowledged civil society organisations in the field of child rights in India and globally. Most people, the so-called big wigs in the civil society field globally were shocked when I was chosen for the Nobel peace prize. They could not comprehend or digest that how come someone who is not known, who is not part of a rich big NGO and not running huge projects could be conferred with the Nobel. Actually they could not react immediately. The small organisations were so happy and they could associate with me.
The strength of Nobel
So far I have received some 18,000 letter and many e-mails. I am so happy when some people from Africa write that they want me to come there and help them as the local authorities are not helping them for a school project, which they are rooting for. They feel that Kailash Satyarthi is one of them.
Actually that is the strength of the Nobel Peace Prize. Normally, the celebrities used to get it. Now, we have ordinary people. In some places, I was motivating young people to go for inter caste marriages and break barriers. I started receiving hundreds of letters from universities and colleges asking for help in such situations. I love these, because people feel associated and empowered. Many Nobel peace laureates were surprised that people associate with me at this level. This is the strength of the simple, activist NGOs.
The most important accomplishment is the inclusion of most of my demands in future development agenda. Since 1998-99, when the international community was drafting millennium development goals (MDGs), I was perhaps the lone voice arguing that we cannot achieve these goals without abolishing child labour. With so many children working in full time jobs, we can never accomplish education goals. We cannot achieve health goals also as children are losing their tender organs in mining sector and dealing with toxic chemicals in factories. Similarly, the issue of poverty, with so many children working and their parents jobless. But people were not either listening to it or even if they were listening, not giving enough weightage to these arguments.
So in MDGs, there was no mention of child labour, child slavery or forced labour. After Nobel, I brought up these discussions at the highest levels. I had a series of meetings with heads of various UN agencies, the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon and the World Bank president. I met President Obama and urged him to support me for the inclusion of these issues in sustainable development goals. I did not want to waste this opportunity as I met various heads of state. And I am glad that all these issues, abolition of child slavery, child labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, violence against children and child marriage have been incorporated in sustainable development goals. That's a big achievement for any effort. I am happy that it has worked.
Govts, NGOs and regulation
Accountability is the key, but you cannot regulate innovation, creativity, freedom in your interventions. Otherwise it would be harmful. We have seen this in many parts of the world. We have to respect the voices of dissent and that is the beauty of democracy. Every government should respect this. But when it comes to accountability, everybody is responsible to the Constitution. Everyone is obligated to International treaties and so on, which are agreed on principles of running any activity. Sometimes the civil society organisations do not adhere to the moral responsibility and even legal responsibility.
It is also important that governments should respect independent voices. If the independent and free space is squeezed due to any regulatory effort, it is not healthy for the society and even for sustained economic growth.
It is not acceptable that we create more freedom for corporates and squeeze the free space of the civil society. We should respect freedom of individuals and groups.
Human beings vs voters
I am sorry, forgive me when I say that that the political culture in the country has converted human beings into votes – Hindu votes, Muslim votes, Christian votes, Dalit votes, tribal votes... are we not human beings? Are we not Indians? Are we just voters in the eyes of politicians? It is unfortunate, but it is true. If you go to any politicians during election time, you will see that they all are talking and discussing about which caste vote is predominant in their constituency, how to cater to them and appease them.
On Kailash Satyarthi Children's foundation
I started this movement in 1981 as Bachpan Bachao Andolan. Then we grew up in South Asia. Then I founded the South Asian Coalition against Child Servitude. In 1998, we launched the Global March Against Child Labour. And in 1999, another movement for education. We have also launched another initiative on social labelling and certification of rugs created without child labour involving in the entire carpet industry. I founded many such organisations and I am glad they are doing well in their respective fields. They have good leaders and they are independent. I kept on giving up the posts I held in these organisations also as it is important. I tried to set up such an example that once you create something, hand it over to the second level leadership, make it sustainable and slowly withdraw. I did it in all cases.
Now, I have launched Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation using the brand or the opportunity of recognition of Nobel Peace Prize. The idea is to address three major deficits. One is the policy deficit. We don't have adequate, holistic, comprehensive policies dealing with all aspects of children or child rights. It is so compartmentalised and fragmented – education is dealt by one agency, health by another and protection by a third and so on. At global, national and district level there are many agencies.
The second is awareness deficit. We don't have in-depth awareness of these issues. Many people still think that if these children don't work, they and their parents will starve. But they don't know that the children are preferred and parents are kept jobless which makes it a vicious circle of intergenerational exploitation. The third issue is practice deficit. There are many good practitioners across the world, but deficit is in documenting good practices, analysing the lessons learnt and scaling up. Many NGOs and government agencies have done commendable work. But these kinds of success stories are not brought under a single umbrella and analysed and fuelled into policy formation. So Kailash Satyarthi Foundation is going to initiate a 'Think-and-do Tank' where we can address policy issues, where we can device holistic policies on health, education and protection together and everyone from government, corporates or civil society organisations can use it.
'Hundred million for Hundred Million'
I want to launch a massive campaign involving 100 million young people from universities, colleges, schools and professions to become the champions for the cause of those 100 million left out children – what I call hundred million for hundred million. That is human history's biggest social mobilisation on any issue engaging young people for a better world. I am now associated with only this organisation, incorporated just a couple of months ago. I am clear that I will also leave this, once these objectives are achieved.
On fellow Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai
She is a bright child and lives in Birmingham. Perhaps, she is going to study in the US now. Unfortunately, she is not able to go or do anything in Pakistan at this stage. It is a pity. It would have been better that she was working in Pakistan at the ground level. (Concluded)
Keep watching this space for a full video interview with Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi.