Pakistani
schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot in the head by the
Taliban,
was nominated for the World Children's Prize in Sweden today
for championing education rights for girls. "She is a child herself and she stands up
for girls' rights to education in Pakistan, but also in the world as a
whole," Liv Kjellberg, 15, a member of the international prize jury told
AFP. Malala was nominated last year for the Nobel Peace Prize and won the
European Union's Sakharov human rights prize for her crusade for the right
of all children to an education. The 16-year-old, who now lives in Britain
following extensive medical treatment, was shot by a Taliban gunman in 2012
over her outspoken views on education in her home region in northwest Pakistan.
The World Children's Prize -- also known as the "Children's Nobel
Prize" -- was founded in 2000 and aims to raise awareness of children's
rights in 60,000 schools in 110 countries through educational programs which
include studying champions of human rights and voting for the prize winners. The
two other nominees for this year's award are John Wood, founder of the
US-based education charity Room to Read, and Indira Ramanagar, a Nepali
activist who helps prisoners' children.
All
three nominees will receive a share of the USD 100,000 (74,000-euro) prize
money -- intended to go towards further activism -- at an award ceremony
outside Stockholm in October 2014.