“I dream for a world that is free of child labour, a world in which every child goes to school. A world in which every child gets his rights.” These are the words of Kailash Satyarthi who dedicated his life to upholding and protecting children’s rights. As a grassroots activist, Kailash has been a tireless advocate of children’s rights globally for more than four decades.

Kailash Satyarthi (formerly known as Kailash Sharma) was born in 1954 to a Brahman family in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. As a young child of five years, he was deeply disturbed when he saw on the first day of school a small boy working with his cobbler father at the school gate. It did not take Kailash much time to understand the stark contrast between his life and that of the cobbler’s son. From his childhood, he had always been questioning what was wrong and unjust. At just 11, he collected used books and created a book bank for poor children. At the age of 15, he left his high-caste name (Sharma), swapping it for Satyarthi, which means ‘seeker of truth’.

Satyarthi earned a degree in electrical engineering from Samrat Ashok Technological Institute and went on to gain a post-graduate degree in high-voltage engineering before taking up a teaching post. An admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, he gave up his lucrative career to devote his time and energy to fight against the exploitation of children.

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An iconic Nobel laureate and a veteran human rights activist, Archbishop Desmond Tutu is known for tirelessly spreading peace, justice and democracy in South Africa. Both the black majority and white minority considered him the nation’s conscience. “Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and seldom without humour” is how he was described by his longtime friend Nelson Mandela.

He was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa. His father was a teacher and his mother was a domestic worker. Young Tutu was baptized as a Methodist, but the entire family later joined the Anglican Church. He was educated at Johannesburg Bantu High School. Though he wanted to study medicine, his parents could not afford it. So he became a teacher but resigned later to protest against the Bantu Education Act, which lowered education standards for black students.

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“Let me go back to a fundamental thing we all used to agree on: information is power. That’s why we became journalists in the first place.”
~ Maria Ressa

Maria Ressa of Philippines is one of the recipients of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Peace, the other being Dmitry Muratov of Russia. What is special about this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is that it is after a wait of 86 years that this most prestigious prize comes to journalists. The last Nobel Peace Prize won by a journalist was way back in 1935, by a German named Carl Von Ossietzky for his “burning love for freedom of thought and expression” after revealing that the Nazi regime was secretly rearming in breach of the World War I peace accord. In a world filled with half-truths, lies and hatred, the award this year reiterates the core values of freedom, courage, truth, peace and fraternity.

Maria Ressa used freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. In 2012 she co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism. She has shown herself to be a fearless champion and defender of freedom of expression. Through Rappler, she fought against the government’s dangerous and controversial drug policy. The anti-drug campaign of the regime was so murderous that so many people lost their lives as if the government was at war against its own people. She questioned the government policy head-on, as she says, “Any journalist who asked critical questions, anyone on social media who questioned about the extrajudicial killings was bombarded with abuse, threats of violence, death threats from trolls and bots and these fake Facebook accounts.”

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Born in Mingora, Pakistan, a brave soul fought against the Taliban in Pakistan and demanded education for girls. Malala Yousafzai became an advocate for education of girls that resulted in the issue of a death threat against her by the Taliban. She was shot in the head in 2012 by a Taliban gunman. However, she was unstoppable and continued with her noble work. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 and in 2014, she was re-nominated and she finally became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ziauddin Yosafzai, her father, had founded a school where Malala had received her early education. The Taliban had begun attacking numerous girls’ schools in Swat area of Pakistan. It was then that Malala decided to deliver a speech in Peshawar. Her talk was titled, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” This is considered as her initial days of activism.

Malala continued to deliver many speeches about basic rights and also about the right of education for every woman in her country. Her works of activism earned her a nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize 2011. She was also awarded Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize the same year.

However, Malala received a death threat because of her work. She was not concerned about herself but was deeply worried about her father who was an anti-Taliban activist. The family thought that the Taliban would not harm a child. But, they were wrong. On 9 October 2012, a masked gunman attacked the 15-year-old while she was returning from school. Malala was in the school bus along with her friends, when the gunman boarded the bus and asked for her. She was shot in the head. The attack also left two other girls injured.

Malala resides in Britain currently where she received medical treatment after she was shot. She is completing school in June after which, she is planning to study philosophy, politics and economics at university.

Malala continues to fight for the right to education and other rights for women. Her remarkable journey from a remote village in Pakistan to the United Nations in New York is simply extraordinary. She has achieved so many honours at such a young age. In 2014, aged 17, she became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize, and in April 2017, she became the youngest Messenger of Peace, the highest honour awarded by the United Nations.

She is a wonderful orator and that has landed her on the global stage as a regular speaker. She has visited numerous refugee camps to fight for the rights of women. Her dedication to work and the will to do something for the girls in this world have helped her to achieve so many titles at such a young age. She is definitely an inspiration for young girls everywhere.

Malala began to maintain a diary for the BBC’s Urdu service in which she provided complete details about how her life was badly affected by the Taliban. She spoke about her life with her peers. Her entries were written under the name ‘Gul Makai’, the name of a local heroine from a Pashtun folk tale. “If you want to see your future bright, you have to start working now [and] not wait for anyone else.”

Distinguished individuals are selected as UN Messengers of Peace from various fields ranging from literature, art, science, sports, entertainment or other public life fields. They work wholeheartedly to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. The United Nations is all set to achieve the fourth level of their developmental goals that states, “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes.” Its main focus would be on the thought of providing free education that would further help in promoting the growth of the whole world as a whole. Dedicated people join hands to fulfil this mission for a better and an educated world. Education is the basic right of any individual and they should receive it at any cost.

Malala is one of those individuals who has dedicated her whole life to fight for the rights of women. She is proud to call herself a Muslim and stresses that Islam is a religion of peace. She is deeply disappointed that the media refers to her religion as “Islamic jihadists and Islamic terrorists.” She says that one should not judge a religion based on some people who demean it. On 14 July 2014, she appealed to the militants of Boko Haram to stop misusing the name of Islam.

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