June 12, the World Day Against Child Labour, is a day of hope for millions of child labourers who are still shackled in the chains of bondage and servitude. For those rescued from the clutches of forced labour, this day is a reminder of their hard-earned victory. Govind Khanal is among those child labourers who have faced it all: the depths of despair as child labour and the exuberance of freedom. He is also among the handful of people who have witnessed the true story of what went into the making of this historic day.
As a 14-year-old, he along with other rescued child labourers accompanied Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyrathi at the annual conference of International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1998. Satyarthi had organised the Global March Against Child Labour the same year with a two-fold objective: to establish an international law against child labour and to recognise a day in the calendar year for child labourers. The ILO unanimously adopted a new international law (ILO Convention Np. 182) on the worst forms of child labour in 1999, and in 2002, it declared June 12 as the World Day Against Child Labour.
“I remember June 6, 1998–the day when we entered the ILO headquarters shouting slogans against child labour, with banners in our hands. We received thunderous applause, and the cheering continued till the time we were inside,” said Khanal.
But the march that covered over 80,000 km across 103 countries and mobilised the participation of more than 70 lakh people was not easy. “I marched across so many countries, towns, villages and residential pockets that it is difficult to remember their names. Often we would march for hours together and perform street plays. At times, we had to sleep on empty stomachs. My feet were covered with blisters, but we marched on towards the dream of creating a child-friendly world,” said Khanal.
One day during the march, Satyarthi noticed a limping Khanal. Applying ointment on his blisters, Satyarthi said that the pain Khanal had endured would create history, he recollected. “Multitude of people in Europe and other Western countries would throng the march. The love and respect that we received was unforgettable,” Khanal said.
Speaking about his childhood, Khanal said that he was born in Nepal. He started working as a domestic help after his father was bedridden because of an illness. “The house owner thrashed me for no reason. Fed up with the beatings, I escaped to the Nepal border and started working in a shop. The shop owner used me as a human carrier to smuggle goods. One day, near my shop, I saw Kailash Satyarthi addressing a public meeting as part of his march against South Asian Child Labour. Touched by his words, I left everything and joined the march,” he said.
Little did Khanal realise that he would later become one among the two former child labourers to address the annual conference of ILO in 1998. “I am not a hero. I have some beautiful moments, some poignant ones. But I will realise the true meaning in life only after I see smiling children around me–children whose innocence has not been crushed by bondage and child labour,” he said.
At present, Khanal is a child rights activist in Jharkhand. He works with Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF).