Satyarthi, who is also the Chairperson of the Global March against Child Labour, remarkably mentioned that young people have become more pro-active in raising their voices against exploitation, violence, and denial of their rights worldwide. He further stated that around hundred million young people have unending potentials to make the world a better place. Given their power, energy and idealism, if we fail to harness their strength and idealism, they will otherwise become frustrated, intolerant and violent. Very much in tuned with his sharp observations, we have seen how young people have recently been misguided and radicalised in some parts of the world, including Bangladesh.
Apart from physical and social abuse, there are many examples of the phenomenon of injustice that children all across the world face today. For instance, child labour is one such example of injustice faced by children in Bangladesh and many other African and Asian countries. Poor parents often force their children into jobs in order to provide for themselves and sometimes even their families. This is a problem that parents should put out as much effort as they can to provide for their children’s basic needs so that children do not have to settle for hard factory work, cleaning people’s windscreens and shoes. They spend hours in the market selling goods or begging in the streets. On the topic of ensuring education, some USD 22 billion is needed to ensure education for children in primary schools every year. This amount is almost the same as three-and-a-half days of global military expenditure. We believe Mr Kailash Satyarthi has taken the very good initiative but greater attention from developed nations and organized sector are needed to bring those children out of forced labour market.
The need of the hour is to stand united against all unfair practices and injustices shown to our children here and abroad. We see income gap is widening creating more discrimination to poor children. The degree of indiscretion and injustice witnessed globally – the reality is that the world is not doing enough to safeguard the present and the future of those children and others who are falling into the line. This must end.
