President Mukherjee to host 'Laureates and Leaders' summit for children against child labour

The Rashtrapati Bhavan will host a 'Laureates and Leaders' Summit for Children from December 10 to 11.

The summit is being organized by the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation which will deliberate on the way forward in building a strong moral platform for protecting children from violence, and ensuring a world where children are free to be just children.

The aim is to channelise in support of the above cause the collective leadership and moral authority of Nobel laureates, world leaders, thinkers, representatives of United Nations Agencies, award winning child/youth leaders and eminent persons from academia, business, cinema, sports and civil society.

The summit will commence with a Keynote address by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 10, on the topic 'Let us Globalise Compassion for our children'.

Dalai Lama, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands, UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development and Jose Ramos-Horta, Former President of Timore-Leste and Nobel Peace Laureate will also speak on the occasion.

A session titled 'Circles for Freedom: Lend Voices to our Children', will feature discussions on various issues like access to justice, role of business and youth, tapping innovation and technology, creating child friendly communities and a coordinated and holistic approach to end child slavery.

On December 10 and 11, plenary sessions will be held on topics such as 'Children's Freedom', 'Creating Better Lives: Healthy & Educated Children' and 'Changing Our Children's Future: The Ripple Effect'.

Dignitaries who will participate in the discussions will include Julia Gillard, Former Prime Minister of Australia;. Gilbert Houngbo, Former Prime Minister of Togo; Ms. Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate; Mr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute; Ms. Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate; Mr Angel Gurria, Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

A town hall meeting will be organised on 'Building collective wisdom for our children' on December 11 in which the 'Laureates and Leaders' will interact with an audience of child/youth leaders, government and business leaders, academia, intergovernmental organisation representatives and civil society organizations from across the world.

On the same day, an outcome session titled 'United For Children' will also be organised where Kailash Satyarthi will present his views on the way forward.

The summit will conclude on December 11 with the launch by President Mukherjee of a '100 Million for 100 Million' Campaign in which about 5000 children will participate.

The campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children and promote the right of every child to be safe, free, and educated, over the next five years.