Oslo, India’s child rights
crusader Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan’s girls’ education activist Malala
Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 at Oslo today.
Satyarthi
shared the prize with Malala, the youngest ever Nobel laureate, for their work
on promoting child rights in the troubled sub-continent, where millions are
deprived of their childhood and education.
“Satyarthi
and Yousafzai are precisely the people whom Alfred Nobel in his will calls
‘champions of peace’,” Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjorn
Jagland said in his speech before awarding them the prestigious prize here.
“A
young girl and a somewhat older man, one from Pakistan and one from India, one
Muslim, the other Hindu; both symbols of what the world needs: more unity.
Fraternity between the nations!,” he added.
Satyarthi,
who gave up his job as an electrical engineer to run an NGO for rescuing
children from forced labour and trafficking, said: “I refuse to accept that the
world is so poor, when just one week of global military expenditure is enough
to bring all of our children into classrooms.”
“I
refuse to accept that the shackles of slavery can ever be… stronger than the
quest for freedom,” said 60-year-old Satyarthi, who asked the audience to feel
the child inside them and globalise compassion.
The
audience included King Harald V of Norway and Pakistan’s former prime minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani.
“Let us
inculcate and transform the individuals’ compassion into a global movement. Let
us globalise compassion. Not passive compassion, but transformative compassion
that leads to justice, equality, and freedom,” Satyarthi said after receiving
the award here at ornete Oslo City Hall.
Invoking
Mahatma Gandhi, he said, “If we are to teach real peace in this world… we shall
have to begin with the children.” ‘I humbly add, let us unite the world through
the compassion for our children.’
“I
represent here the sound of silence. The cry of innocence. And, the face of
invisibility. I have come here to share the voices and dreams of our children,
our children, because they are all our children,” he said, adding that the
crime against children has no place in a civilised society.
Satyarthi’s
NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement) prides itself on liberating
over 80,000 children from bonded labour in factories and workshops across
India.
According
to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) there are about 168 million
child labourers globally. There are roughly 60 million child labourers in India
alone.
Satyarthi
and 17-year-old Malala, who survived a near-fatal Taliban attack two years ago
with determination advocating education for girls, were named by the Nobel
Peace Prize Committee for the prestigious award on October 10. They
received the Nobel medal which is 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold
and weighs around 175 grams. They will share USD 1.1 million prize money.
Malala,
who was nominated in the peace prize category last year also, became the
youngest ever Nobel laureate. In her speech, she said, “I am
honoured to receive this award together with Kailash Satyarthi, who has been a
champion of children’s rights for a long time. Twice as long, in fact, than I
have been alive. I am also glad that we can stand together and show the world that
an Indian and a Pakistani can be united in peace and together work for
children’s rights.”
“This
award is not just for me. It is for those forgotten children who want
education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those
voiceless children who want change,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I am
here to stand up for their rights, raise their voice…it is not time to pity
them. It is time to take action so it becomes the last time that we see a child
deprived of education,” she said.
Recalling
her speech at the UN, she said “One child, one teacher, one pen and one book
can change the world.”
She
dedicated the Nobel Prize money to the Malala Fund, to help give girls
everywhere a quality education.“The
first place this funding will go is where my heart is, to build schools in
Pakistan—especially in my home of Swat and Shangla,” she said.
She
said Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Aung San Suu Kyi
once stood on the same stage and hoped the steps that Satyarti and she has
taken so far will also bring change – lasting change.
“It is
not time to tell the leaders to realise how important education is – they
already know it – their own children are in good schools. Now it is time to
call them to take action. We ask the world leaders to unite and make education
their top priority,” she added.
Chairman
of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Jagland said that violence and repression
cannot be justified in any religion. “Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism
and Buddhism protect life and cannot be used to take lives,” he said.
Echoing
his views, Satyarthi said, “All the great religions tell us to care for
children. Jesus said: ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of God belongs to them.’ The Holy Quran says: ‘Kill not your children
because of poverty.’
“I
refuse to accept that all the temples and mosques and churches and prayer
houses have no place for the dreams of our children,” he said.“I
challenge the passivity and pessimism surrounding our children. I challenge
this culture of silence, this culture of neutrality,” he said and called upon
all the governments, intergovernmental agencies, businesses, faith leaders, the
civil society, and everyone to put an end to all forms of violence against
children.
“Today,
I see thousands of Mahatma Gandhis, Martin Luther Kings, and Nelson Mandelas
marching forward and calling on us. The boys and girls have joined. I have
joined in. We ask you to join too,” he added.
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