Kailash Satyarthi, Child Rights Hero, India

Kailash Sathyarti risked his life many times in his dangerous struggle against child labour and slavery and for all children’s right to education.

As a young man, Kailash began risking his own life to free children being held as slaves at brickworks and factories. He founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA, Save Childhood Movement) and began building homes for liberated slave children. At that time, over 30 years ago, hardly anyone else in India was speaking up for these children’s rights. Kailash received death threats and was attacked, and two of his colleagues were killed, but he didn’t give up. These days, Kailash and BBA have freed over 80,000 children, and his ‘Global March Against Child Labour’ campaign has grown into a movement involving millions of people. His work has contributed to new laws and regulations being passed to protect children’s rights all over the world.Thousands of poor villages have received his help to become ‘child friendly’. In 2014 Kailash received the WCP Honorary Award. In November of the same year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Malala Yousafzai

The World’s Children’s Prize (WCP) Program is the world’s largest annual program educating and empowering children to become humane changemakers who stand up for the equal value of all people, the rights of the child, human rights, democracy, and sustainable development. Patrons of the World’s Children’s Prize include H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden, Malala Yousafzai, the late Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, Xanana Gusmão, Desmond Tutu and Sweden’s Prime Minister. Since the year 2000, close to 50 million children have participated in the annual WCP Program.