International efforts needed to curb child trafficking: Satyarthi

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi here today said that more active cooperation is needed among international organisations such as UNICEF, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for arresting child trafficking.

He also said that countries associated with the Organization for Identity & Cultural Development (OICD) should provide more resources to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) regarding the education sector till 2030, that will help in curbing the child labour.

"More active and deep cooperation needed among ILO, UNICEF, UNHRC, IMO (International Maritime Organisation) and other such international bodies to fight against child trafficking . We will lay stress on it in the summit meeting," Satyarthi told PTI-Bhasha here before the beginning of the second Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit 2018 on March 26-27 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre at the Dead Sea.

Satyarthi has established the Laureates and Leaders for Children, its first meet was held in Delhi in December 2016, which was inaugarated by then President Pranab Mukherjee.

The summit is being held under the aegis of Jordan's King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Satyarthi, Panama President Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez, India's Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, member of Jordan's ruling family Ali Bin al Hussain, the US human rights activist Kerry Kennedy and many other leaders and Nobel laureates will attend the summit.

The child rights activist said that along with child trafficking, child labour is also a very big problem before the world.

"We have to make multi-dimensional endeavours to curb the child labour. By enacting strong laws, child labour has been reduced to a considerable strength but still we have 15 crore child labourers in the world," he said.

He said that there is need to punish the officials of those multi-national companies that are associated with activities that encourage child labour.

Satyarthi said to develop the political will, the summit will focus on collective responsibility and strong moral agreement.

He also called for global efforts to solve the Syria refugee crisis.

"Children suffer most from the violence and the civil war," he said, stressing that goal of providing security and education to children and safeguarding their independence cannot be achieved without collective effort.

"This is the brutal truth of this world we live in. We need immediate and collective global effort to stop this (cruelty)," he said.