Global March Against Child Labour: From Exploitation to Education
Global March Against Child Labour - From Exploitation to Education
Day 25: March Against Child Trafficking moves from Muradabad to Meerut and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh)
   
 
   
 

21th March 2007: At 8:00 AM the marchers left for Muradabad to Meerut. The BBA team of Meerut welcomed the marchers at the medical college from where they proceeded to the main marketplace of the city. A huge rally was carried out along the marketplace and sensitised more than 10000 people through the rally.

At the gathering in the market, child leaders, Rakesh from India who worked as an agricultural and domestic labourer, Najma from Bangladesh who was sold for a ridiculous amount of a few thousand Rs. and Abdul from Nepal who was rescued from a zari unit in Delhi shared their stories. They exhorted the public to be sensitised about this issue and to join the fight against child trafficking.

The marchers later participated in a programme which was participated by Elie Juoen from Education International, which is an international teacher's union coalition, local lawyers, leading local actress, Suman Negi amongst others. Elie Jouen pledged full support of the teacher's unions to the cause against child trafficking. Actress Suman Negi promised that she would raise her voice against the menace through her work and at programmes that she would participate in. In his address to the people, Kailash Satyarthi said that children are sold for an amount less than the cost of a cow or a buffalo. "The very fact that this happens is a shame and I call upon you to pledge to act in your individual way to stop child trafficking in your city"-he said.

The marchers then moved to Ghaziabad, where they received a grand welcome from the students and staff of the Mewar Institute. The Director, Narayan Singh Rao and the law faculty of the institute pledged full support to the marchers. Subol Khanal of Nepal narrated his story as a street child and child domestic worker in Kathmandu. The story of the children rescued from the stone quarries who had never touched paper or knew what freedom meant moved the audience immensely. After the meeting, the marchers moved towards the last leg of the journey, Delhi. They set out to Mukti Ashram, the rehabilitation-cum-education centre of BBA on the outskirts of Delhi in the night.

 
 
Global March Against Child Labour - From Exploitation to Education

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