OSLO, NORWAY, OCT 10 -
Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for risking their lives to fight for children's rights.
Malala, a 17-year-old student and education activist, is the youngest
ever Nobel winner. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two
years ago for insisting that girls also have the right to an education.
Satyarthi, 60, has been at the forefront of a global movement to end
child slavery and exploitative child labor since 1980, when he gave up
his career as an electrical engineer. The grassroots activist has led
the rescue of tens of thousands of child slaves and developed a
successful model for their education and rehabilitation. He has also
survived several attempts on his life.
"This is an honor for all my fellow Indians, as well as an honor for
all those children in the world whose voices were never heard before
properly," Satyarthi told India's NDTV network.
The Nobel committee's announcement reflected a delicate diplomatic
balance, naming one activist from Pakistan and another from India, two
countries that are long-time bitter rivals; one Muslim and one Hindu;
both sexes; an elder statesman of child's rights and a youthful advocate
who had herself been a victim.
The Nobel Committee said it was an important point to reward both an
Indian Hindu and a Pakistani Muslim for joining "in a common struggle
for education and against extremism." The two will split the Nobel award
of $1.1 million.
By highlighting children's rights, committee widened the scope of the
peace prize, which in its early days was given for efforts to end or
prevent armed conflicts.
"It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights
of children and young people be respected," the committee said. "In
conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to
the continuation of violence from generation to generation."
Malala was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls'
education in Pakistan, speaking out in TV interviews. The Taliban had
overrun her home town of Mingora, terrorizing residents, threatening to
blow up girls' schools, ordering teachers and students into the
all-encompassing burqas.
She was critically injured on Oct. 9, 2012, when a Taliban gunman
boarded her school bus and shot her in the head. She survived through
luck — the bullet did not enter her brain — and by the quick
intervention of British doctors visiting Pakistan.
Flown to Britain for specialist treatment at the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in Birmingham, she underwent numerous surgeries but made a
strong recovery.
Malala currently lives with her father, mother and two brothers in
Birmingham, attending a local school. She has been showered with human
rights prizes, including the European Parliament's Sakharov Award.
The Nobel committee said Satyarthi was carrying on the tradition of another great Indian, Mahatma Gandhi.
"Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining
Gandhi's tradition, has headed various forms of protests and
demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of
children for financial gain," the committee said.
The founder of the Nobel Prizes, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel,
said the prize committee should give the prize to "the person who shall
have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for
the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and
promotion of peace congresses."
The committee has interpreted those instructions differently over time,
widening the concept of peace work to include efforts to improve human
rights, fight poverty and clean up the environment.
"The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and
adolescents contributes to the realization of the "fraternity between
nations" that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will," the committee said.
Former Indian diplomat Lalit Mansingh praised the Nobel committee's choices this year.
"The Nobel committee is always aware of the international situation and
is conscious of helping in conflict resolution. The award, especially
at a time when India-Pakistan relations are under stress, is a nice
gesture," he said.
The Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics and literature were
announced earlier this week. The economics award will be announced on
Monday.
All awards will be handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
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