Bangalore ,22nd July 2017: LinkedIn India, hosted Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi for the first time, at their office in Bangalore to interact with over 650 employees in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, to speak with them about his work against the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
Mr. Satyarthi was delighted to be speaking with such young, energetic people, who were keen to do their part in helping India rid itself of child sexual abuse and trafficking. He urged all LinkedIn employees to take just a few moments of their busy schedule and look at ways in which they can lend a helping hand to the children in our country.
Mr. Satyarthi also spoke about the challenges, struggles and opposition he faced when he started his journey, 37 years ago. He reminisced about how at that time, India did not have a law when it came to protecting children from abuse and trafficking, how far it has come today, reminded everyone that the “world is at your fingertips” and to use technology to solve social problems in addition to their business requirements.
Mr. Satyarthi said, “It is easy to walk on the available path, it’s difficult to walk on an unexplored path or to create your path. The day 36 children were freed, was the day I felt liberated and I never looked back. Today 87000 children are liberated and there is still so much work left to do”
He rounded off the discussion by inspiring the LinkedIn employees to work towards being a changemaker, by looking for the hero within themselves.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Akshay Kothari, Country Manager and Head of Product, LinkedIn India said, “As part of the LinkedIn Speaker Series, we are delighted to have Mr. Satyarthi interacting with the employees about his fight against child trafficking and sexual abuse. This is one of our favorite ways to support our mission of making professionals more productive and successful.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Satyarthi also met religious leaders to speak with them about how they can help India take a step towards eradicating violence against children, which includes trafficking and sexual abuse.
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, like Bachpan Bachao Andolan have all liberated more than 87,000 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 has been highlighting 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 was also the founding president of the Global Campaign for Education, an exemplar civil society movement working to end the global education crisis. 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.”