Satyarthi, Kailash, << suht YAHR tee, KY lahsh >> (1954-…), is an Indian children’s rights activist. He won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle against the suppression of children and young people. Satyarthi shared the prize with the Pakistani campaigner for girls’ education Malala Yousafzai. Satyarthi was recognized for his decades-long fight against child slavery and exploitative child labor. He and his organization have freed more than 80,000 children in over 140 countries. Satyarthi has also won a number of other international awards for his work.
Satyarthi was born on Jan. 11, 1954, in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. His last name at birth was Sharma, but he changed it to Satyarthi in the 1980’s. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a postgraduate diploma in high-voltage engineering. Satyarthi worked as an electrical engineer and later as a professor in Bhopal before becoming an activist for children. In 1980, Satyarthi founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA, Save the Childhood Movement), an India-based movement that campaigns for the rights of children. BBA participates in raids on factories, brick kilns, carpet -making workshops, circuses, and other places where children are suspected of being exploited or used as cheap labor. BBA rescues and seeks to educate the exploited children. Its Bal Mitra Gram (BMG) program sets up “child-friendly” villages in India, in which all child laborers are withdrawn from work to be enrolled in school. Satyarthi has survived numerous attacks on his life and has sustained a number of injuries while rescuing children.
In 1994, Satyarthi started an international program called RugMark (now known as GoodWeave International), the first voluntary labeling and certification system for child labor-free rugs in South Asia. In 1998, Satyarthi was a lead organizer of the Global March Against Child Labor. The march sought to raise consciousness about the millions of children exploited in labor worldwide. More than 7.2 million people in over 100 countries took part in the campaign. Satyarthi has also launched operations to rescue girls sold into abusive forced marriages. He serves on the board of the Global Campaign for Education, a coalition of civil society organizations and teachers’ associations that campaign for education for all.
