Renowned child rights activist and Nobel laureate Dr Kailash Satyarthi has said that even after progressing so much in different realms, children till date are ignored.
"We can spend 1.6 trillion dollar in war but we never think of investing the money in educating and uplifting the lives of the most vulnerable part of the society. Be it a lack of political will power or unawareness, even today children are not safe; we are living in pretense," said Satyarthi, in a programme titled 'Safe Childhood, Safe Nation' organized by Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) in collaboration with other prominent NGOs.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Saryu Roy was also present on the occasion.
While sharing his experience with children, civil society members, child rights and education activists, Satyarthi added, "Child rights were never considered an issue, when I started working in 1980s. Even making so much progress, social evils like child trafficking, child labour and child prostitution are rampant across the nation."
Satyarthi, who believes in the idea, 'Every child is important', further added, "No dream is bigger than any child's dream. If a society cannot fulfil their dreams, it is a major failure of Government machinery and other stakeholders who draft and merely make policies on paper. Plans should be made keeping in mind, every child is our responsibility."
Notably, Satyarthi has worked in Jharkhand predominantly covering Koderma, Palamu and Garhwa belts, closely monitoring the situation of migration, bonded labour, human trafficking in some of the interior locations of the State.
Focusing on the role of different NGOs, the Nobel laureate urged each one of them to work with commitment while making their presence felt in the global domain. "Monitor the cases of child rights violation, raise the issue predominantly as the NGOs are familiar with the ground realty. Working with moral accountability should be the foremost priority of each one of us. No international organization today can take NGOs for granted." Satyarthi added.
He emphasized on promoting innovative ideas to curb social evils ranging from extremism to violence. "Attempts should be made in providing a common platform to link the children from across the globe for developing a common temperament," he said.
He also highlighted his upcoming campaign, '10 crore for 10 crore' to address prominent child rights issues where engagement of public plays a pivotal role in curbing major issues that affect children. The campaign has been launched recently in other parts of the world. When a teenage girl, during an interactive session, questioned Satyarthi on the increasing cases of child trafficking from Jharkhand and how it can be curtailed, he replied both the Government and the individual are responsible for this menace. "It cannot be resolved without each other's support," he signed off.