Just 2 Days Of COVID Relief Can Provide Social Protection For Every Child In Low-Income Countries: Kailash Satyarthi

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has said that USD 52 billion can provide social protection for every child and every pregnant woman in low-income countries, underlining that this is "not a big amount" in a world with over 2,700 billionaires.

At a high-level UN event on 'Jobs and Social Protection for Poverty Eradication and a Sustainable Recovery' on Tuesday, September 28, Satyarthi, the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, gave a clarion call for bold and proactive leadership to end child labour and poverty.

Social Protection For Every Child

Satyarthi said that USD 52 billion can provide social protection for every child and every pregnant woman in low-income countries. He pointed out that it is not a huge amount. "This is just two days of COVID relief measures as well as 0.4% of the social protection fund which is spent in rich countries," he added.

"We are not so poor. I refuse to accept that the world is so poor when 2,755 billionaires exist in this world. We have made progress when we didn't have enough resources, we helped children and declined child labour," Satyarthi added.

The Nobel laureate noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has enhanced all the injustices and inequalities prevailing in the society and the worst sufferers have been the most marginalised children, particularly in developing, low-income and middle-income countries.

He said that the COVID pandemic has pushed more children into chronic poverty. These children are out of school, denied health care, and lack adequate access to safe drinking water or safe, clean air, he added.

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