This is an historic moment when the political authorities, leaders of International Trade Union movement, including the all important teachers unions, Heads of several International and National NGOs, representatives of inter-governmental organizations, Embassies and Industry are joining hands with 200 extra-ordinary young leaders in this Congress. It is highly appropriate that Honourable Arjun Singhji himself is inaugurating the Congress. He has always been kind to BBA. Right from day one of his ministership, he has been engaged in a personal and official crusade to reinstate the ancient glory of this great country, through education for all. We are also grateful to you and your Office, in accepting to become the nodal ministry. I welcome you, Mr. Minister.

I also welcome the elected child and youth leaders: Pauline from Belgium, Mesfin from Ethiopia, Carlos from Mexico, Alireza from Iran and Emily from USA.

I have no words to express my love, respect and gratitude to brother Ravi Prakashji. He is an honoured Member of Parliament who has been one of the most effective and possibly the strongest voice for child rights and education in India’s parliament, and leading a parliamentary forum on education of at least 100 MPs cutting across party lines. I would like to singularly credit him for the presence of most of the foreign delegates here in this assembly, as he personally took pains to visit several offices to follow up for a speedy clearance of all your visas.

I would also like to introduce you to my colleagues from the International Council. Sitting on the Podium is Mr. Elie Jouen, the Deputy Secretary General of the world’s teachers confederation, Education International; Mr. Simon Steyne, of the Trades Union Congress of UK and a Worker Member of the ILO Governing Body and the IPEC steering committee, and Ms. Ana Victoria Vasquez the head of CESIP from Peru. Our other Board members and Regional Coordinators include Mr. Patrick from USA, Dr. Sudhanshu Joshi from USA, Mr. Gauri Pradhan from Nepal, Issac from Peru, Ivan from Costa Rica and Consuelo from Chile. I welcome you all to India.

Delhi is still hot and humid. You are coming from far off places and would be very tired. Some of you may face logistical problems but one thing is for sure, we welcome and receive you with the deepest emotions and with open hearts. India believes in ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, which means guests are symbols of divinity. I also extend a warm welcome to the adult chaperones and National coordinators.

As I was reflecting on what to share with you all, I was reminded of a Mantra. “San gachchadvam, samvadadva, samvo manansi jantam. Devabhagam Yatha poorve, Sanjanaanam Upasate” Thousands of years ago, the ancient ‘Rishis’ or visionaries gave us this Mantra…Let’s March Together, Let’s Speak Together, Let’s deliberate together, Let’s sit together to construct a knowledge which would then become divine for the good of the entire Universe…Normally the Government authorities, Institutions and agencies, business people and bankers, and the leaders of civil society assemble. Sometimes events are also organized for the well of children. But I am honoured and proud to announce that the children who have gone through the most appalling conditions of labour and trafficking, exploitation and misery and torture in their lives, are bringing divine light through their presence here. Their strong willpower and zeal did not allow them to give up in despair. They stood with high heads against all odds, they challenged the prevailing injustice and exploitation in their surroundings and became symbols of the great human spirit. For the world, they are icons of hope. I salute these new heroes who are inspirations to the entire world. All of us are fortunate to be with them under this roof. This is happening for the first time in India or in any other developing country. Can you not feel the vibrations and energy surrounding all of us?

Seven years back we had organized the 80,000 kms physical March across 100 countries and some of us had an opportunity to march with millions of children during those six months in all the continents. I was convinced that the children and youth everywhere were not willing to wait anymore. They are in urgency as their childhood, freedom and future opportunities are being ruined every single day. More importantly they did not want to sit idle. They have all the capacity and desire to take over. Children are the leaders, not of tomorrow but of today and they have the power to shape a new world, which is more just, equitable and peaceful for everyone.

The loud slogans of Shokunthia and Joanna, Taimur and Patrick and Basu and Jose still resonate in my mind. The whole world listened to them when they asked- “No more tools in tiny hands, we want books, we want toys”, “No more child exploitation- children want education.” The unparalleled moral power they brought to the Annual Session of UN resulted in a new law by the International Labour Organisation to immediately stop all worst forms of child labour. In a short time 154 countries have ratified this new law. Another law to prohibit the children’s work up to the age of 14 has also been ratified by 132 countries. But my 246 million younger brothers and sisters have yet to see the result on ground and that is why their leaders are assembled here.

The International community agreed half a century ago that education is a basic human right. In 1990 a commitment was made by world leaders to ensure Education for all by 2000. This was further postponed for 2015 as during those 10 years, the number of illiterate people and out of school children increased and the multilateral and bilateral spending on education was reduced. How long can 1/6 of our planet’s population remain deprived of education? Out of which 2/3 are girls and women and over 100 million are children.

I ask if the world is so poor. No, my dear friends. Annually we spend 22000 USD on each soldier whereas the average spending on a child’s education is 380 USD only. The cost of a single nuclear submarine equals the annual education budget of 23 developing countries with 160 million school-aged children. Only Two and half day’s global military expenditure is good enough to educate all the world’s children. But we are not prepared to do that. Is it not a shame?

My dear sisters and brothers: we face a very tough challenge but there is no reason for dismay or to be pessimistic, in my opinion. We are all aware that education is in the Global Political agenda today. Neither the international community nor any national governments, rich or poor, can brush it away under the carpet, as the demand arose from the bottom. The most wretched people started realizing that knowledge means power. It is the key to liberation, to light, to justice, to equity, to peace and deeper participatory democracy. The realization is coming fast that education is not merely for employment but is essential for empowerment. The new national and international instruments, mechanisms and schemes are emerging. Innovative ways of funding are being explored. The formations of High Level Group under UNESCO, the creation of Fast Track Initiative on education are some of those examples.

My country is also setting up new directions of resource mobilization like the provision of ‘education cess’. Thanks to the dynamic leadership of Shri Arjun Singhji who in person and as a minister has shown an exemplary degree of organizational and personal commitment and innovation. There are other good examples like Kenya, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Mexico, etc. The countries like Brazil, Costa Rica, Turkey, and a few state governments in India are good examples of successes, but it is not enough. We have to go a long way on a fast track. But above all this, is the emergence of children’s initiatives and leadership.

Similarly, child labour is receiving considerable International and national attention and has become an important issue. The IPEC program under ILO, the enactment and creation of new national and international laws to stop child labour, serious concerns in trade treaties and inclusion of child labour in Corporate Social Responsibility, strong consumer concerns and action, fast growing awareness and concerns in common masses make a strong civil society. The initiatives of the trade unions including teacher’s organizations are some of those indicators that prove that the end to the scourge of child labour is not a distant dream but an imminent reality.

Mesfin, a 5 year old Ethiopian’s eyes were damaged while working as a child weaver for several years. After his rescue, Mesfin is now an icon of hope in his community. Similarly, Habibullah of Pakistan, a camel jockey for over 6 years in Dubai is now engaged in saving the lives of many children from enduring the same fate as his. 13 years old, Ajay, a child leader, was instrumental in opening up of school and closing the liquor shop by mobilizing all children and women of the village. A former bonded child labourer, Ajay was unanimously elected as the leader by over 500 children in a democratic election of the National Children’s Parliament in India. They are a few among dozens who are going to share their experiences during the congress.

If you ask me to summarise the aspirations of the children deprived of their basic rights and of those who are child advocates, I will do it in three words URGENCY, HONESTY and COHERENCE. This I learned from a ten year old girl Manju, who was born and worked as a bonded labourer in a stone quarry and had undergone a traumatic childhood. When she realized that she is free, she asked a straight question, why didn’t you come to rescue us before? After a year or so, coincidently, Manju was attending a children’s Parliament where several authorities including the heads of two UN agencies, UNICEF and UNESCO were present. After listening to all of them, the girl had two straight questions- if all what they say is done, why are we deprived of our childhood and the second one was- do they all really work together? All adults must reflect on these questions.

We have a lot to hope for, in this Second Children’s World Congress, especially after the great success of the first World Congress which we had organized last year in Florence, Italy. The Florence declaration essentially designed and prepared by the child leaders did not remain a piece of paper. It has become a big educational and advocacy tool. The children took it back to 144 countries, which are active in the Global march movement. It was not only shared with groups and communities but brought out in parliamentary discussions in several countries including Nepal, Macedonia, Portugal, Sweden, Costa Rica and so on. These parliaments have shown great interest and commitment to operationalise the relevant parts of it in their policies. The children and youth groups were formed around it in a number of countries including USA and India. I know that you will be working out a plan of action based on the Florence declaration.

On behalf of the Global March, I promise that we will use it as a moral code of conduct and a document for future direction. We also hope that those who believe in child rights and child participation will make use of it in their endeavours and will consider it as a children’s global mandate for their work. The outcome document of this Congress would be taken by a group of children going to New York next week where the world leaders will assemble to talk on several important issues including poverty, called Millennium Development Goals. They will challenge the world leaders that unless the exploitative child labour is not put to an end and quality education does not become a reality, nothing could be achieved. Immediately, after the Congress the document would be sent to all member governments, delegations which are attending the forthcoming UN General Assembly.

We at Global March advocate that poverty cannot be eradicated without fulfilling two essential pre-requisites. One is the total elimination of child labour and the other is to ensure free and good quality education for all. As a matter of fact, none of the goals on child labour, poverty alleviation or education for all can be met unless a Triangular Paradigm (TP) on our planning and action is built. If you allow child labour to happen, adults will remain jobless or underpaid and children remain illiterate, unskilled, unhealthy, sick and poor. If the education for all children is not made totally free and compulsory or of good quality, a fundamental right and not a commodity, we can neither eliminate child labour nor reduce poverty. We must also mainstream the child labour and education issues due to poverty alleviation programmes as illiteracy causes and perpetuates poverty.

And that is why the Global March also supports the call made by the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation – whose Indian members made a great contribution to its work: the call for coherence within the UN family and with the Bretton Woods Institutions. It is no good one agency calling on governments to respect labour rights, eliminate child labour, or provide education for all, when another is undermining the economy of a country by unfair debt burdens or destroying public education or health services by demanding their privatization. All the UN family and the international financial institutions must pull together, respecting and promoting the rights to decent work for adults and for free universal education for all our children. And that too is a message that must be heard in New York next week.

I would also like to underline that military actions and wars can never be a solution to growing extremism and terrorism. Sophisticated weapons and trained soldiers can never bring security and peace. In fact, the best defense would be education-good quality and secular education. I hope that the discussions and deliberations or outcomes in Delhi will challenge our traditional thinking and address all vital threats humankind is facing today. I always say that the biggest mistake we have made so far is that we always teach children but never learn from them. We teach them to become Hindus, Muslims, or Christians; to be Indians or Pakistanis; Ethiopians or Eritrean or Americans; we teach divisions and discriminations amongst the best creations of God i.e. human beings. We must learn the simplicity, purity, transparency, sisterhood and openness from our children. We have to learn how to live in harmony and peace despite differences of opinions and likings. I sincerely hope that the adults would learn from our youth delegates in the days to come.

Once again, I appeal to the Honourable minister, leaders and dignitaries for all support and cooperation in our humble effort to give center stage to the young ones to make child labour and illiteracy and poverty, history. The Noble laureate and great Indian poet wrote in one of his poems that instead of cursing the darkness and crying for the sun to arise, it is better to light a candle. The light of a small candle can diminish in a moment, the darkness of centuries and it will teach us the importance of the sun. Let us light a lamp together.

Thank you very much.