Editorial: Halala Malala

Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan delivers a statement after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in the Library of Birmingham in Birmingham in Britain.

Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan delivers a statement after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in the Library of Birmingham in Birmingham in Britain.

Published Oct 14, 2014

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The awarding of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize jointly to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi is to be applauded. In an age of tension between religions and states, to recognise the shared purpose of a Muslim and a Hindu, a Pakistani and an Indian, allows us to glimpse, perhaps, a kind of antidote.

Similarly, the Nobel Committee, in awarding the 1978 Prize to Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin of Israel, to Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk in 1993, and to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin in 1994 was also recognition of visionaries of great courage who built bridges over vast chasms.

It is apposite that the committee should decide this year to bestow the prize on those who have endeavoured to improve the lot of children. The world is a dark place for far too many young people; indeed, that has seemed no truer than in recent times.

In Syria, thousands of minors have been killed and many tortured in the most brutal of civil wars. Israel’s episodic battle with Hamas left hundreds of Palestinian children dead a few months ago. The use by Islamic State and other militants of child soldiers is sickening.

Nearer to home, children are as much victims of crime as are adults. Every day the newspapers and news bulletins are filled with reports of children who have fallen victim to sexual predators.

Some may question the relevance of awarding the Peace Prize to someone as young as Malala. Yet she has experienced and achieved more by the age of 17 than most people will in a lifetime. Crucially, she has used her story to inspire countless others, adults and children alike. Her name is synonymous with overcoming adversity.

Only one aspect of the committee’s decision feels questionable. Malala, say its members, has “shown by example that children and young people too can contribute to improving their own situations”. Well, up to a point perhaps, but should they have to? The world is run by grown-ups.

Our responsibility to protect the rights of children must not be abrogated, nor be delegated, to the children themselves.

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