OSLO, October 10. /TASS/. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating women's right to education, and Indian children's right campaigner Kailash Satyarthi won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, said on Friday.
The prize is awarded "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Children must go to school and not be financially exploited," the Nobel Committee said in a statement.
Yousafzai, now 17, is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history. Two years ago she was seriously wounded by a Taliban gunman for promoting girls' education in Pakistan. She was nominated for the prize in 2013 but the Nobel Committee awarded it to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for its work on ridding Syria of its chemical weapons arsenals.
"Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzay 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," the Nobel Committee said.
Satyarthi, 60, had maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, "focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the Nobel Committee said “He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights,” the committee said.