H.Res. 749 — Introduced in House

IV 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 749 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 12, 2014 Mr. Hastings of Florida (for himself, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Brown of Florida, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Scott of Virginia, and Ms. Gabbard) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Congratulating and honoring Kailash Satyarthi, recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Whereas the Nobel Peace Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden; Whereas the Nobel Peace Price has been awarded for outstanding achievements in peace since 1901; Whereas the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a group of five members appointed by the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament, in Oslo, Norway, to recognize individuals who have done the most or best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses; Whereas the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Indian children’s rights advocate and social activist Kailash Satyarthi for his courageous and tireless efforts to combat child labor, forced labor, and trafficking; Whereas, in his 34 years as an activist, Mr. Satyarthi has saved nearly 80,000 children from being forced into servitude by callous agents, businessmen, landowners, and brothel owners, oftentimes placing himself in severe danger; Whereas Mr. Satyarthi founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) in 1980, which works to rescue children who have been removed from school and forced to work long hours for little to no pay in such settings as factories, mines, brick kilns, and carpet-making workshops; Whereas, in the late 1990s, Mr. Satyarthi was the lead organizer of the Global March Against Child Labour, which raised awareness of the millions of abused children who suffer as child laborers; Whereas Mr. Satyarthi has long condemned and sought to hold accountable through the criminal justice system in India the employers and traffickers that exploit child labor; Whereas Mr. Satyarthi also founded an international program that tags all carpets made in factories certified as child labor-free; Whereas, most recently, Mr. Satyarthi has helped turn hundreds of villages into rehabilitation centers in order to teach trades to abused teenagers and launched operations to rescue girls sold into abusive forced marriages; and Whereas Mr. Satyarthi’s courageous campaign to end the scourge of child labor represents a vitally important effort in making the world a more humane and peaceful place: Now, therefore, be it That the House of Representatives— (1) congratulates Kailash Satyarthi on receiving the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded for his outstanding achievements; (2) honors Kailash Satyarthi for his contributions to the protection of children’s rights and the promotion of peace; (3) recognizes and condemns child labor as a form of modern slavery; (4) states that in honoring Kailash Satyarthi, it also honors all those who have worked to end child labor around the globe; and (5) emphasizes that violations of human rights in general, and the abuse of children specifically, are matters of legitimate concern to all nations.