Satyarthi, Sainath to participate

Nobel Peace prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and journalist P Sainath are among several leading Indians participating in events linked to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London and Windsor from April 16-20.

The event, which will see Britain take over its chairmanship for the next two years, will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 52 other heads of government. Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with the Theresa May government on April 18.

Satyarthi will launch a report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on April 13 which focuses on the group’s sustainable development goal 8.7, which commits members to “(take) immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms”.

Speakers at the report's launch event include Tariq Ahmad, minister for the commonwealth in Britain’s foreign office, and Sanjoy Hazarika, CHRI’s international director. CHRI events include sessions on small states and pretrial detention issues in the Commonwealth. Hazarika said: “We also have a unique programme: the first-ever festival of Commonwealth films on human rights...It is not just about speaking truth to power and compassion for the vulnerable but working intensely to ensure the rights of the latter”.

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