Indian, Pakistani share Nobel Peace prize

Both Kailash Satyarthi and Malala are child rights activists

• Satyarthi is the first India-born to get the Prize and the 8th Indian Nobel laureate
• His NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan has freed over 80,000 children from various forms of servitude and helped rehabilitate them
• “I will not sit still, till I am able to free all children from the clutches of slavery,” he said

Oslo: Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi on Friday shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousufzai who stood up to the Taliban and survived a near-fatal shooting.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize for 2014 to Satyarthi and Malala Yousufzai "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education," a statement said.
Showing great personal courage, 60-year-old Kailash Satyarthi, "maintaining Gandhi's tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children's rights,” the Committee said.

Satyarthi runs the Delhi-based Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO that works for child rights, specially bonded labour.

Despite her youth, the Committee said, Malala 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."

Malala was shot by a Taliban gunman as she took a bus home from school in Pakistan's northwest region in October 2012.

She was flown to Britain for specialised treatment shortly after the attack. The Nobel Committee regards it "as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.” It highlighted that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today. In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher.

The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour. Satyarthi has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize many times in the past for his his relentless crusade for defending child rights. Satyarthi is the first India-born person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the eighth Indian Nobel laureate.

Mother Teresa, who was born in Albania, was the first Indian Nobel peace prize winner. She was honoured in 1979. V S Naipaul, who won the Nobel prize for literature, is an Indian origin from West Indies. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Satyarthi said, "I will not sit still, till I am able to free all children from the clutches of slavery."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said that he will talk to Malala Yousafzai, another globally renowned crusader for education for all children, to join his work for peace in the area. "It is important that peace prevails in this region (SouthEast Asia) for children."

Satyarthi gave up his job as an electrical engineer to dedicate himself to protecting and advancing child rights for over three decades now, freeing 80,000 child labourers and giving them new hope in life.

It is largely due to his doggedness and zeal that NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan has emerged as by far the most prominent child rights group in the country even as 60-year-old Satyarthi rose to become a global voice for the children's cause.

He has passionately argued that child trafficking and labour perpetuate poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and population growth.