Malala awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi have received the Nobel Peace Prize for risking their lives to fight for children’s rights.

The 17-year-old Ms Yousafzai, from Pakistan and the youngest ever Nobel winner, and Indian Mr Satyarthi, age 60, collected the award at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital to a standing ovation.

Saying that all children have a right to childhood and education instead of forced labour, Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said “this world conscience can find no better expression than through” this year’s winners.

The Nobel awards in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature are set to be presented in Stockholm later.

The award ceremonies are always held on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

Ms Yousafzai said she hopes her prize will inspire young girls all over the world to fight for their rights and step forward to lead.

She was shot by the Taliban in October 2012 for asserting her right to an education. She said the time is now for women to proclaim their rights and that “change is coming”.

Ms Yousafzai insisted she felt the bond of a global sisterhood of sorts, with women gathering the strength to fight for equality. She said: “It’s their voice that I will be raising today.”

In his speech to the gathering, Mr Jagland related how Ms Yousafzai was shot and said Islamic extremist groups dislike knowledge because it is a condition for freedom.

“Attendance at school, especially by girls, deprives such forces from power,” he said.

He mentioned Mr Satyarthi’s vision of ending child labour and how he abandoned a career as an electrical engineer in 1980 to fight for it.