International Children's Peace Prize

International Children's Peace Prize
Archbishop Desmond Tutu awarding the International Children's Peace Prize to Neha Gupta in 2014.
Awarded forOutstanding contributions in advocating children's rights
LocationAmsterdam, Netherlands
Reward(s)€100,000 or $123,000
First awarded2005
Currently held byKidsRights Foundation
Websitechildrenpeaceprize.org

The International Children's Peace Prize is awarded annually to a child who has made a significant contribution to advocating children's rights and improving the situation of vulnerable children such as orphans, child labourers and children with HIV/AIDS.[1]

The prize is an initiative of Marc Dullaert, founder of the KidsRights Foundation, an international children's aid and advocacy organisation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.[2]

The winner receives a 100,000 euro donation to benefit a charitable project for children, as well as a statuette, the Nkosi, named in honour of Nkosi Johnson. The statuette is of a child pushing a ball, "show[ing] how a child sets the world in motion."[2]

History

The first Children's Peace Prize was launched in November 2005 during the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome, an annual meeting of Nobel Peace Prize winners and international organisations such as UNICEF and Amnesty International. "We welcome the launch of Children’s Peace Prize during our summit," the summit's closing statement said.[citation needed]

Mikhail Gorbachev presented the 2005 prize, which was posthumously awarded to Nkosi Johnson, a South African boy who brought international attention to children with HIV/AIDS and founded the Nkosi's Haven home for HIV-positive mothers and children.[citation needed]

The 2006 award was handed out by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Frederik Willem de Klerk in a ceremony at the Binnenhof, the seat of the Dutch parliament in The Hague. The 2007 was presented at the Binnenhof by Bob Geldof and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams. The 2008 prize was presented by Desmond Tutu.[3]

In 2018 a finalist was Leilua Lino, a human rights activist from Samoa.[4][5]

Recipients

Archbishop Desmond Tutu awarding the International Children's Peace Prize to Neha Gupta in 2014
Year Recipient Country
2005 Nkosi Johnson  South Africa
2006 Om Prakash Gurjar  India
2007 Thandiwe Chama  Zambia
2008 Mayra Avellar Neves  Brazil
2009 Baruani Ndume  Tanzania
2010 Francia Simon  Dominican Republic
2011 Michaela Mycroft  South Africa
2012 Kesz Valdez  Philippines
2013 Malala Yousafzai  Pakistan
2014 Neha Gupta  United States
2015 Abraham Keita  Liberia
2016 Kehkashan Basu  United Arab Emirates
2017 Mohamad Al Jounde  Syria
2018 March for Our Lives  United States
2019 Greta Thunberg[6]  Sweden
Divina Maloum[6]  Cameroon
2020 Sadat Rahman[7]  Bangladesh
2021 Vihaan and Nav Agarwal[8]  India
2022 Rena Kawasaki[9]  Japan
2023 Sofia Tereshchenko, Anastasia Feskova and Anastasia Demchenko[10]  Ukraine
2024 Nila Ibrahimi[11]  Afghanistan

Similar awards

The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child is awarded yearly by Swedish organisation Children's World.[12]

An International Children's Peace Prize was also handed out by the San Francisco-based Children as the Peacemakers Foundation.[13] The Global Peace Index of the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) issued a World Children Peace Prize; winners included Licypriya Kangujam.[14]

Sources

References

  1. ^ "International Children's Peace Prize Archives". Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  2. ^ a b "The International Children's Peace Prize". Kids Rights. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  3. ^ Theirworld (2019-08-29). "US teenagers who campaigned for safer schools win the International Children's Peace Prize". Theirworld. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  4. ^ "Leilua Lino". 2019.
  5. ^ "Pacific Women Leaders: Lina Chang". 2021-10-20. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  6. ^ a b "Desmond Tutu Announces the Winners of the International Children's Peace Prize 2019: Greta Thunberg (16) From Sweden and Divina Maloum (14) From Cameroon". Cision PR Newswire. 2019-10-04.
  7. ^ "SADAT RAHMAN (17) FROM BANGLADESH WINS INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S PEACE PRIZE 2020". International Children's Peace Prize. 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  8. ^ "Vihaan and Nav Agarwal (17 and 14) from India win International Children's Peace Prize 2021". KidsRights. 2021-11-13. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  9. ^ "PIONEERING JAPANESE TEEN, RENA KAWASAKI (17), WINS THE INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S PEACE PRIZE 2022". KidsRights. 2022-11-14. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  10. ^ "UKRAINIAN TEENS WIN INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S PEACE PRIZE 2023 FOR PIONEERING WORK TO HELP CHILD REFUGEES". Kids Rights. 2023-11-17.
  11. ^ Whiteman, Hilary (2024-11-19). "Afghan girl who encouraged others to sing wins children's peace prize". CNN. Retrieved 2024-11-22.
  12. ^ Annica Holmberg and Daniel Genberg (July 2012). Evaluation of World Children's Prize (PDF) (Report). Sida. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  13. ^ Haddad, Annette (1986-11-13). "Children presented world peace awards". UPI. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  14. ^ Mohan, Geeta (2022-02-04). "Time for action before it's too late: 7-year-old award-winning Indian climate activist". India Today. Retrieved 2023-12-17.