OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly yesterday to 17-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban, and to India’s anti-child labour activist Kailash Satyarthi for their championing of children’s rights.
Malala, the youngest ever Nobel laureate, heard the news while at school in Birmingham, England, where she was taken from Pakistan to receive life-saving treatment two years ago.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the duo had been chosen for their struggle against the repression of children and young people and “for the right of all children to education”.
Malala, who had fought for years for the right of girls to go to school in her home region, leapt to global fame after the Taliban — who oppose women’s education — tried to gun her down in October 2012.
Satyarthi, who founded a campaign in the 1980s to combat child labour in the carpet industry, said he was “delighted”, calling the Nobel prize “recognition of our fight for child rights”.
