Child trafficking is $150b illegal business: Satyarthi

 Child trafficking is the largest illegal business in the world with an annual turnover of $150 billion, Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi of Bachpan Bachao Andolan said on Saturday.

Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of the two-day ‘Development Dialogue 2015’ of Deshpande Foundation here, he said the issue of child labour or child abuse was systematically ignored because somebody was benefiting from such practices.

He said black money was being used to fund crime and corruption. “Around 55 lakh children are enslaved across the globe and are being used for prostitution, terrorism and other activities,” said Satyarthi.

Terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State and Boko Haram are kidnapping, misusing and killing children in several countries. “If we do not act now against such violence, victimised children would have no dream at all. The death of dream is a bigger curse than the death of human beings,” he said.

He said an additional $18 billion was required to bring all children to schools across the globe. “Just one sixth of what Europeans spend on cosmetics, or only 20 per cent of what Americans spend on tobacco, or a very small portion of global military expenditure, is sufficient for this purpose,” he said.

Moral responsibility towards all children and collective efforts are needed to ensure safe childhood and education for all children, he said.

Referring to a report in ‘Deccan Herald’ on the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl near Bengaluru, Satyarthi felt the need for introspection about “what kind of civilisation we are living in and what is being done to the children.”