Children's rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize

Children's rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize

17-year-old Yousafzai has thus become the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in history.

Yousafzai, one of the favorites for this award last year, is a prominent campaigner for girls' education in Pakistan ever since 2009, when as a 12-year-old she started writing a blog for the BBC under the pseudonym Gul Makai, describing the life under the Taliban occupation.

The global public attention was turned to her when she was attacked while traveling on a school bus in Pakistan's Swat Valley. A Taliban attacker boarded the bus, called her name, and then fired three shots at her. One bullet hit the child in the face. She was transferred to a hospital in England, where, after a long rehabilitation, she managed to recover.

After that, Yousafzai continued her struggle and received widespread international support.

"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. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls' rights to education," Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, has said.

60-year-old Kailash Satyarthi is less known in the Western world, but in India he is a prominent fighter for the rights of children and leader of protests against their exploitation for the sake of financial gain.

His organization has managed to rescue more than 80,000 children from working in captivity and help reintegrate them into society.

Satyarthi believes that labor exploitation of children and human rights issues are also a social problem, because they perpetuates poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, uncontrolled population growth and a series of social problems. He was one of key people for the adoption of numerous laws in India, where the state is fighting against this phenomenon.

Satyarthi lives in New Delhi with his wife, daughter, son, and daughter in law, and a large number of children that his organization rescued.

Satyarthi "has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain," the committee said, and added that this was "an important moment for Hindus and Muslims" as the two recipients come from India and Pakistan, and have been recognized for fighting against extremism and for the right to education.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee this year received 278 nominations for the Peace Prize - the highest number in history. Among the candidates are 231 individuals and 47 organizations.

Although the nominations and comments of the Committee have been secret for 50 years, it is known that other candidates this year included Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Vladimir Putin, and Pope Francis. The partnership behind the the International Space Station has also been nominated.

The winners of the prestigious award in the past included the likes of Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King, but also many whose choice stirred spirits and made the award one of the most controversial - in this century alone they included Barack Obama (2009), Al Gore (2007), the European Union (2012), Jimmy Carter (2002).

Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was given to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).