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Kailash Satyarthi to join hands with Nobel laureates, world leaders for a child rights campaign

News Agencies | Updated on: 10 February 2017, 1:50 IST

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has announced plans to launch a major initiative that will enlist support of other Nobel prize winners and world leaders for the cause of neglected and abused children.

'The Laureates and Leaders Initiative for Children', from the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, aims to bring Nobel laureates from all disciplines together with world leaders to fight for children's rights

Satyarthi, 62, who shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani girls' rights activist Malala Yousafzai, 18, is also working on an ambitious '100 million for 100 million campaign' that will bring together 100 million youth from across the world to channelise their energy towards fighting for the rights of the nearly 100 million children.

Satyarthi said he wants to launch the 100 million campaign along with 'The Laureates and Leaders Initiative' which will be a global campaign based in India.

Satyarthi said he plans to launch the '100 million for 100 million' campaign by end of this year.

"I always believed in globalising compassion. This time I want to engage an entire generation. We should not waste the energy, enthusiasm, eagerness and the idealism of our youth," Satyarthi told PTI.

Satyarthi, who is Minneapolis to headline the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, said that after he won the Nobel prize, he realised that while the intellectual and academic knowledge of Nobel winners in other disciplines such as chemistry, physics, literature, economics and medicine had been utilised to advance human history, their "moral authority and outreach" had "not been utilised and harnessed for children."

Satyarthi said he felt that these Nobel winners, who had been so dedicated to their individual disciplines, can also contribute tremendously for the advancement of child rights.

"I started talking to them to join an initiative of laureates from all disciplines and not just the peace prize winners, as well as some of the world leaders like former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Former Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva," he added.

"I wanted to bring those forces closer for the cause of the neglected, abused and exploited children," he said adding that he is in contact with several global leaders and laureates. "President of India Pranab Mukherjee would be the patron of this initiative," he said.

While Laureates and Leaders will be initiated by Satyarthi's foundation with support from other individuals and institutions, the 100 million campaign would be a partnership initiative that will engage universities, youth student organisations and teachers associations to build global citizenship.

"The idea is to build this campaign to advance the value of global citizenship among young people. Nearly 100 million children are left out and are denied their basic rights, freedom, education and healthcare, Satyarthi said.

-With agency inputs

First published: 8 June 2016, 11:47 IST