BRUSSELS
Indian child-labor activist Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani women's rights champion Malala Yousafzai have been awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee revealed today.
The announcement was held in Oslo during which the chairman of the Nobel Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, praised the activists "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."
Yousafzai, 17, became a worldwide symbol and a leading spokesperson for girls' right to education after surviving being shot in the head by the Taliban while boarding a school bus in northwestern Pakistan in 2012.
She was flown to the U.K. to recover after the shooting but returned to Pakistan to campaign for every child's right to an education.
''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,'' the Nobel Committee stated on Friday.
Satyarthi, 60, has headed peaceful protests and demonstrations against the exploitation of children for financial gain. He becomes the first Indian to receive the award.
Born in 1954, Satyarthi has defended children’s rights since the 1990s. He is the founder of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan institution which has freed more than 80,000 children from slavery and other forms of servitude.
The institution still continues to serve child victims in various fields such as re-integration, rehabilitation and education.
Speaking to the Times Now TV channel, Satyarthi said: “I’m feeling quite happy because it is the first time an Indian has got the Nobel Peace Prize and this is an honor for all my fellow Indians as well as an honor for all those children whose voices were never heard before properly.”
The Nobel Committee said there are an estimated 168 million child laborers around the world today.
The first Noble Prize in Peace was awarded in 1901; 103 individuals and 22 organizations have received the honor since then.
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