OSLO, Norway (AP) – Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India on Wednesday received the Nobel Peace Prize for risking their lives to fight for children’s rights.
The 17-year-old Malala, the youngest ever Nobel winner, and Satyarthi, age 60, collected the award at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital to a standing ovation.
Saying that all children have a right to childhood and education instead of forced labour, Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said “this world conscience can find no better expression” than through this year’s winners.
In his speech to the gathering, Jagland related how Malala was shot by Taliban gunmen two years ago and said Islamic extremist groups dislike knowledge because it is a condition for freedom.
“Attendance at school, especially by girls, deprives such forces from power,” he said.
He mentioned Satyarthi’s vision of ending child labour and how he abandoned a career as an electrical engineer in 1980 to fight for that vision.
By honouring this year’s winners, the Norwegian Nobel Committee linked the peace award to conflicts between world religions and neighbouring nuclear powers as well as drawing attention to children’s rights.
The other awards – in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature – are set to be presented in Stockholm later Wednesday. The ceremonies are always held on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
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