New Delhi: Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistan’s 17-year old teen crusader Malala Yousafzai have won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their dedicated efforts towards rights of children.
Thorbjørn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committe, made the announcement on Friday in Oslo.
Noted names like former intelligence employee Edward Snowden and Pope Francis were among the 278 nominees in fray – the highest ever – for the highly-coveted prize. 47 organizations were also a part of the list of nominees – which had earlier never crossed the 259 mark.
Kailash Satyarthi is a noted child rights activist in India. He has played an important role in the movement against child labour in the country. Through his organisation ‘Bachpan Bachao Aandolan’, he has so far rescued around 80,000 child labours and helped them rehabilitate.
Malala Yousafzai, now the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, earned repute throughout the world for her fight against Taliban. She was shot by Taliban in the year 2012 but she survived the attack and was shifted to UK.
She has steadfastly fought for women education in the country, which is still plagued by extremism, terrorism and sectarian violence. The teen now symbolises fight against oppression of women.
