The Global Youth Human Rights Champion Award was given to Dr Kriti Bharti, managing trustee and internationally acclaimed rehabilitation psychologist of the Saarthi Trust, situated in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the Geneva Center for Human Rights & Global Dialogue presented the prize in a remotely staged ceremony.
The fact that Dr Bharti is the only Indian to have made it to the elite list of three global winners gives an indication of the significance of the prize. Jose Quisocala from Peru and Stacy Dina Owino from Kenya were also included in the list of international winners along with Dr Kriti Bharti.
Out of hundreds of submissions from around the world, the Geneva Center for Human Rights and Global Dialogue, an international organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, chose eight human rights campaigners based on a variety of criteria. The panel chose three individuals from all over the world for the Global Youth Human Rights Award 2022 after extensive consideration.
Dr Kriti Bharti, who was also included in the BBC Hindi list of the 100 Most Inspirational Women and who was named one of the Top Ten Activists in the World by the USA-based TAFFD magazine, has also been actively involved in the dissolution of child marriages that have already occurred.
“Child marriage should cease to exist only in books,” Dr Bharti said.
Dr Kriti Bharti made a call for concerted global efforts to end the deplorable practice of child marriage during the virtual award ceremony. She campaigns for the global abolition of child marriage. She expressed the hope that one-day child marriage would only be documented in books.
It is notable that Dr Kriti Bharti will be remembered in history books as the person who fought to have India’s first child marriage declared invalid. In the time since then, she has revoked 47 child weddings and stopped more than 1600 child marriages. The ferocious advocate for children’s rights has been on a rampage, dissolving child weddings as she confronts the wicked.
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