Kailash Satyarthi, recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, will travel to Silicon Valley for a two-day visit beginning May 6, where he will engage with the Indian Diaspora and leading local and Indian-American community leaders from the region.
Asked about the purpose of his trip, Satyarthi explains, “I am visiting Silicon Valley to put a spotlight on the problems of child labor, slavery and other forms of exploitation that continue to take place around the world. While I am here, I will be highlighting the work that has been done over the last several decades toward ending child labor, and how we are planning to scale up the lessons learned from the ground through the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation in the United States, India and around the world.”
Ray Umanshankar, one of the organizers of the trip observes, “Kailash Satyarthi has dedicated his life to the rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked and enslaved children. His U.S visit will help garner attention to the magnitude of child slavery globally.”
A tireless advocate of children’s rights, Satyarthi has spent the last 36 years rescuing more than 85,000 children from exploitation in India while pioneering the country’s first child protection laws. Beginning in 1981, Mr. Satyarthi and his colleagues began to personally liberate enslaved child laborers from dangerous working conditions and trafficking across India, oftentimes at great risk to their own safety.