Yesterday’s award of the Nobel peace prize to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi is a richly deserved celebration of the courage and effectiveness of two of the world’s great campaigners for the rights of children. It also highlights the extent to which children suffer disproportionately from the impact of war, civil, ethnic and religious conflicts, and economic exploitation.
At 17, Ms Yousafzai will be the youngest person ever to receive the prize but she is more deserving of it than many of her older, more illustrious and powerful predecessors. Her campaign on behalf of girls' education in Pakistan's Swat Valley, which started with a blog post when she was 11 and grew into a national campaign, was viewed as such a threat by the Taliban that they shot her in the head on a school bus two years ago. The bullet missed her brain and Ms Yousafzai was airlifted to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she underwent intensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. Following her long recovery, the Pakistani schoolgirl, who now lives in Britain, resumed her activism, addressing the United Nations last year with a call for worldwide access to education.
If Ms Yousafzai personifies the extraordinary courage shown by some remarkable children and young adults in the face of oppression, Kailash Satyarthi exemplifies the capacity of brave, tenacious individuals to effect change through peaceful action.
The 60-year-old Indian has campaigned for decades against economic exploitation and enslavement of children and is credited with helping to free tens of thousands of children from forced labour. Following in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr Satyarthi has mobilised Indians against child exploitation through entirely peaceful protests but he has survived a number of assassination attempts and an arson attack on his office. In awarding the peace prize to Ms Yousafzai and Mr Satyarthi, the Nobel committee could not have honoured two more inspiring profiles in courage.