Guwahati, July 20: Like Gen Z, Noble laureate Kailash Satyarthi believes in the power of Twitter and Facebook.

Delivering a lecture on the Role of Youths in Protecting the World's Left Out Children here today, Satyarthi said the social media could be used by youths to join the global voice against child rights violations.

"I was just 11 years old when I pulled carts and collected used textbooks for poor children in my home state of Madhya Pradesh, waited in the queues of type-writing centres for writing to authorities about the plight of children and walked miles to assist children in distress. But young people today enjoy technological benefits. They can write to chief ministers in seconds - by texting or tweeting. Raise your voice if you suspect a child trafficker is waiting at bus-stops, railway stations or your neighbourhood in Assam or wherever you live," Satyarthi said.

The lecture was organised by Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University to celebrate the 117th birth anniversary of Sanskrit scholar and educationist from Assam, Krishna Kanta Handique.

Satyarthi and his organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, have rescued over 84,000 children from the clutches of traffickers, working as bonded labour or child labour in India and other parts of the world.

"I organised a 300km march in Assam three years ago since then I came across poor parents from your state whose children have either been trafficked to Delhi or Punjab and are engaged as bonded labour. The middlemen are still roaming around in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha to target poor children and take them out. This is dangerous for all of us," Satyarthi said.

Kailash Satyarthi Children Foundation will soon launch an extensive campaign to free 100 million people from slavery and bonded labour.

"I appeal at least 100 youths here too to join the campaign to become the global voice to protect children from exploitation, provide them shelter, education and a chance to dream. By violating their rights to education and care, we are violating their rights to dream and no crime can be more severe than stopping children from dream. I recently visited coco bean farms in Costa Rica where children pluck coco beans, used for making chocolate, from trees full of thorns. They often get injured. But when I asked them whether they liked chocolate, they were ignorant about how chocolate tastes," he said.

Satyarthi's foundation Bachpan Bachao Andolan has rescued many poor and conflict-hit children from the Northeast.

"I cried when I listened to such young girls from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh or Jharkhand recently. They were asking each other what price they were sold at. One girl said she was sold for Rs 2,000, another for Rs 6,000 while yet another said a buffalo in her village is sold at Rs 2 lakh. Tears came to my eyes to see our children being sold at lesser prices than an animal," he said.

Satyarthi said involvement of civil society and young people had already helped the world to check child slavery and child labour. "Twenty years ago, the world had 20 crore child labour and now the number has come down to 17 crore."

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Union sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, vice-chancellor of the university Hitesh Deka, among others, attended the programme.