Brazil joins hands with Satyarthi to eradicate Child Labour

Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s intervention in Brazil has resulted in reexamination of the proposed weakening of forced labour law. In his meeting with President Dilma Rousseff, Mr Satyarthi discussed the immediate need to create, implement, and advocate child-friendly policies that ensure the holistic development and empowerment of children. President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil accepted Nobel Peace Laureate
Kailash Satyarthi's suggestion to host a BRICS meeting to prioritise children in development.

“It was with great pride that I received the world leader against child labour and slavery of children, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Kailash Satyarthi.” said President Dilma Rousseff. She added, “His performance to eradicate child labour deserves our full support and matches the efforts of our government. Kailash is a great friend of Brazil. We share the belief that the fight against poverty is fundamental to the promotion of development.”

Nobel Peace Laureate  Kailash Satyarthi’s visit to Brazil has been instrumental in halting the passage of bill that weakens slavery law. He addressed a delegation of senior senators and important NGOs, where he met with the Senate Vice President to discuss more extensively about the issue.

Senator Paulo Paim, Brazil said, "The visit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi to the Senate has already rendered great results and I’m extremely happy and thankful for this brilliant achievement. The Plenary of the Senate has decided to withdraw the request for constitutional urgency to the examination of a Bill that regulates forced labour and restricts its concept that currently encompasses degrading conditions of labour and exhaustive hours of work. The Bill will now follow the ordinary regime, and will be discussed in the relevant Commissions of the Senate, giving opportunity to an extensive debate both among the Senators and with the civil society.”

Several ministers including Labour Minister Miguel Rossetto, Social Development Minister Tereza Campello, Chairpersons of the Superior Courts of Brazil and representatives of the Civil Society attended Mr Satyarthi’s address.

About Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi
Mr Satyarthi has been a tireless advocate of children’s rights for over three decades. He and the grassroots movement founded by him, Bachpan Bachao Andolan have liberated more than 84,000 children from exploitation and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation. He has been at the forefront for driving child related agendas into The Sustainable Development Goals announced at The United Nations SDG Summit in September. He had also highlighted the need of governments to prioritize the child related SDGs and put children first.

Mr Satyarthi was also the architect of the single largest civil society network for the most exploited children, the Global March Against Child Labour, whose mobilization of unions, civil society and most importantly, children, led to the adoption of ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour in 1999. He is also the founding president of the Global Campaign for Education, an exemplar civil society movement working to end the global education crisis, and GoodWeave International for raising consumer awareness and positive action in the carpet industry. In 2014, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”