Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n
At the age of just 17, Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the prize.<\/p>\n
The teenager was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls’ education. She now lives in Birmingham in the UK.<\/p>\n
The Nobel committee praised the pair’s “struggle against the suppression of children and young people”.<\/p>\n
Mr Satyarthi has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, “focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the committee said at the announcement in Oslo.<\/p>\n
The 60-year-old founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or the Save the Childhood Movement, which campaigns for child rights and an end to human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the news, Mr Satyarthi told the BBC: “It’s a great honour for all the Indians, it’s an honour for all those children who have been still living in slavery despite of all the advancement in technology, market and economy.<\/p>\n
“And I dedicate this award to all those children in the world.”<\/p>\n
Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, paid tribute to Malala’s achievements.<\/p>\n
“Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai, has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education and has shown by example that children and young people too can contribute to improving their own situations,” he said.<\/p>\n
“This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”<\/p>\n
The committee said it was important that a Muslim and a Hindu, a Pakistani and an Indian, had joined in what it called a common struggle for education and against extremism.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the age of just 17, Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the prize. The teenager was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls’ education. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":55193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n