Nobel Peace Prize 2014: Satyarthi, Yousafzai and the Fight for Children's Rights

This note covers the Nobel Peace Prize 2014: who Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai are, the problem of child labour and denied education that lies behind their work, what each of them did and why the Norwegian Nobel Committee honoured them jointly, how their campaigns developed over time, why the award matters, and quick facts for exams.

What was the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 awarded for?

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education". This is the exact official citation published by the committee.

In plain words, the committee was honouring two people from neighbouring countries who had each fought, in very different ways, to stop children being forced to work instead of going to school.

The committee's press release explained that in poor countries 60% of the population is under 25 years of age, so protecting the rights of children and young people was described as "a prerequisite for peaceful global development".

The committee also noted that where children's rights are violated, especially in conflict-ridden areas, violence tends to repeat itself across generations.

This award is officially called the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the prizes Alfred Nobel set out in his will, given each year to a person or organisation judged to have done the most for "fraternity between nations", the abolition of standing armies, or the promotion of peace.

Who are the laureates?

The 2014 prize was shared equally between an Indian children's rights campaigner and a Pakistani schoolgirl turned education activist, each receiving one half of the prize.

Kailash Satyarthi

Kailash Satyarthi was born on 11 January 1954 in Vidisha, India, and was living in India at the time of the award.

He trained as an electrical engineer but left that career to campaign against child labour, taking the name Satyarthi, meaning "seeker of truth", in place of his birth surname.

He founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) and the certification body later called GoodWeave, and by 2014 his organisation said it had helped free around 83,000 children from slavery.

He received one half of the prize for decades of non-violent campaigning, in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, against the exploitation of children for financial gain.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai was born on 12 July 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan, and was living in the United Kingdom at the time of the award, having fled there after being shot and remaining in exile after a fatwa was issued against her.

From around the age of eleven she wrote a diary, published by BBC Urdu in 2009, describing life in the Swat Valley under Taliban pressure, including the closure of girls' schools.

In October 2012 a Taliban gunman shot her on her school bus; she survived and continued campaigning for girls' education.

She received the other half of the prize for her fight for every child's right to education, shown "under the most dangerous circumstances", in the committee's description.

What problem of child labour and denied education lay behind this prize?

Behind both laureates' work lies the same basic problem: millions of children around the world are made to work instead of attending school, and in some regions armed groups actively try to stop children, especially girls, from being educated at all.

In India, the Nobel Committee's presentation speech noted that children were often pushed into labour because their families were trapped in debt, a practice described as children being "hired out by parents who cannot manage their debts", with enslavement to debt said to remain "very widespread" in India and other countries.

Satyarthi himself argued that it is not poverty that causes child labour; rather, child labour maintains poverty, carrying it forward from one generation to the next. The committee's speech added that school attendance is what actually releases families from poverty, reversing that cycle.

In Pakistan, the problem took a different form. When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan in 2008, girls' schools were burned down and school attendance, especially for girls, became dangerous.

The presentation speech also pointed out that even where the state itself was not hostile to education, Pakistani authorities had sometimes built schools "without walls, without running water, and without toilets", and that nearly half of the country's 52 million school-age children were not attending school, most of them girls.

The speech went further, observing that Pakistan's constitution already guaranteed free and compulsory education to all children, yet many schools lacked basic facilities and some teachers themselves lacked minimum qualifications, with indoctrination sometimes valued above the practical skills children would need to cope in a modern world.

The committee framed both struggles as part of one wider cause: the right of every child, whatever their country or gender, to go to school rather than be forced into work or kept away from education by violence or neglect.

What did Kailash Satyarthi do, and why did the committee honour him?

Satyarthi built a long career of direct, non-violent action against child labour. According to the committee's presentation speech, he and his colleagues physically entered "worn-down factory premises" across India to free children working there, an activity for which he was "often brutally attacked" by people profiting from child labour.

He also built lasting systems rather than one-off rescues. In 1994 he helped establish Rugmark, an international consortium of rug-exporting and rug-importing countries that let buyers check a carpet had not been made using child labour, through a network of inspectors; it was later renamed GoodWeave.

His biggest campaign was the Global March Against Child Labour, launched on 17 January 1998, which the committee said involved seven million children and adults and ended at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) headquarters in Geneva.

The following year the ILO adopted its convention against the worst forms of child labour, which, the committee noted, was ratified faster than any other ILO convention, reaching 172 countries.

The Nobel Committee's own facts page summarised his contribution as "focusing attention on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain", and stressed that he followed Gandhi's non-violent tradition throughout.

What did Malala Yousafzai do, and why did the committee honour her?

Malala Yousafzai's activism began quietly, with a diary written under a pseudonym for BBC Urdu describing daily life in the Swat Valley as the Taliban closed girls' schools. An American documentary later made her internationally known, and the Taliban began to see her as a threat.

On 9 October 2012, when she was fifteen, a gunman boarded her school bus, asked for her by name, and fired three shots, severely injuring her.

She survived, moved to the United Kingdom, and chose to continue campaigning rather than withdraw, despite the Taliban making clear they might try again.

In 2013, TIME magazine named her one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World", and on her sixteenth birthday she addressed the United Nations, calling for equal access to education for girls everywhere.

The Nobel Committee described her as having been honoured "for her fight for the right of every child to receive an education", carried out under the most dangerous circumstances, and the presentation speech noted this made her the youngest Peace Prize laureate of all time.

Why did the committee honour them jointly?

The committee was explicit that pairing the two laureates was itself meaningful. It wrote that it was an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join together in a shared struggle for education and against extremism.

The presentation speech framed them as living proof against the idea, promoted by extremist groups, that the world must be divided into "us and them": an older Hindu man from India and a young Muslim woman from Pakistan standing for the same cause showed, in the committee's words, a model of "fraternity between nations", the very phrase Alfred Nobel used in his will. The table below sets out how their individual contributions compared.

Taken together, the committee presented the two campaigns as two halves of the same cause: keeping children safe from exploitation on one side, and keeping them in school on the other.

How did the work develop?

Although Satyarthi and Yousafzai worked independently and were decades apart in age, the committee's sources let their efforts be placed on one shared timeline leading up to the award.

The timeline shows that Satyarthi's campaign had already run for over three decades by 2014, while Malala's public struggle had unfolded in just a few years, yet both reached the same recognition in the same year.

Why does it matter?

The committee's press release cited a measurable sign of progress: there were about 168 million child labourers worldwide at the time of the award, compared with a figure 78 million higher in the year 2000, meaning the world had moved closer to eliminating child labour.

The committee stated plainly that "the world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour".

At the same time, the presentation speech warned that the problem was far from solved.

It noted that India alone still had roughly 60 million child labourers, most working in farming, and that ratifying the two main ILO child labour conventions would be "a big step in the right direction" for the country.

In Pakistan, with a population of close to 200 million, a quarter aged between 5 and 16, nearly half of the 52 million children were still not attending school, most of them girls, despite a constitutional guarantee of free and compulsory education.

The committee framed girls' education in particular as carrying unusually high returns, saying "few things provide a larger economic and social yield than investments in girls' education", and linked keeping young people hopeful about their futures to resisting extremism.

Satyarthi, for his part, was reported as believing child labour could be "more or less eliminated" within his own lifetime, a hope the presentation speech said the whole audience shared.

The speech also connected the two laureates' campaigns to a wider problem beyond South Asia. It argued that Europe's difficulty was not usually a lack of schooling but that too many young people found no use for their education or no opportunities for work once they finished it, leaving them without hope for the future.

The committee said that giving young people a sense of a future, rather than leaving them trapped by what it called "dark thoughts and dark forces", was probably society's strongest defence against extremism of every kind, in every country.

It closed its argument by describing both laureates as part of what it called the "row of gold" in Nobel history, campaigning people who together build what it termed a shared global conscience demanding freedom and justice.

How did the committee connect religion, extremism and children's rights?

A recurring theme in the Oslo ceremony speech, delivered by committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland, was that the laureates' struggle was not a religious or national conflict but a shared human one.

Jagland said a kind of "world conscience" exists beyond national borders, independent of religion or culture, insisting that children have a right to childhood and to school rather than being forced to work or treated as the property of others.

He argued that the Taliban and so-called IS dislike knowledge because it is a condition for freedom, and that school attendance, especially by girls, takes away the power that they and movements such as Boko Haram rely on.

The speech was careful to separate violence from faith itself, stating that Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism all protect life and cannot rightly be used to justify taking it, and that violence and repression cannot be justified by any religion.

Jagland linked both laureates to Mahatma Gandhi's own words, quoting his statement that "There are many purposes I would have died for. There are no purposes I would have killed for", and noted that Satyarthi and Yousafzai lived by that same principle of non-violence.

He described the pairing of a Muslim Pakistani girl and a Hindu Indian man, standing for the identical cause, as direct evidence against the idea that the world must be split into "us and them", the very division extremist movements try to create.

Finally, the speech noted that both laureates themselves had said that if the prize helped bring Indians and Pakistanis, two neighbouring peoples it called "so near to one another and yet so distant", closer together, that would add an extra meaning to the award, a hope the committee said it shared.

Quick facts for exams

The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi of India and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, each receiving one half of the prize, "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

The award was announced on 10 October 2014 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the prize amount was 8,000,000 Swedish kronor.

Satyarthi, born in 1954 in Vidisha, campaigned against child labour through the Bachpan Bachao Andolan and GoodWeave and the 1998 Global March Against Child Labour.

Yousafzai, born in 1997 in Mingora, survived a 2012 Taliban shooting and campaigned for girls' education, becoming the youngest Peace Prize laureate.

Note: Source. The prize facts in this note are from the Nobel Prize's official site, nobelprize.org.

Glossary

• Child labour — work done by children, often instead of attending school, usually under exploitative or dangerous conditions.
• Suppression — the act of preventing a person or group from exercising their rights or freedoms.
• Norwegian Nobel Committee — the five-member body appointed by the Norwegian Parliament that selects the Nobel Peace Prize laureates each year.
• Bachpan Bachao Andolan — the Save the Childhood Movement founded by Kailash Satyarthi to free and rehabilitate child labourers in India.
• GoodWeave — the certification body, originally called Rugmark, that verifies rugs are made without child labour.
• ILO (International Labour Organisation) — a United Nations agency that sets international labour standards, including on child labour.
• Global March Against Child Labour — the 1998 protest march led by Satyarthi, ending at the ILO headquarters in Geneva.
• Taliban — an armed Islamist movement that controlled parts of Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan and opposed girls' education there.
• Swat Valley — a region in northwest Pakistan where Malala Yousafzai grew up and where the Taliban closed girls' schools.
• Fatwa — a formal ruling on a point of Islamic law issued by a recognised religious authority.
• Exile — living away from one's home country, often because it is unsafe to return.
• Fraternity between nations — the phrase from Alfred Nobel's will describing the kind of international cooperation the Peace Prize should reward.
• Prize motivation — the official short statement explaining why a Nobel Prize was awarded to a particular person or group.
• Laureate — a person who has won a Nobel Prize.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Malala Yousafzai won the prize alone. Correct: the 2014 prize was shared equally between Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi.
• Misconception: Satyarthi is a lesser-known co-winner added to Malala's award. Correct: each laureate received one half of the prize for decades-long, independent work.
• Misconception: Malala was shot because of her blog alone. Correct: the committee's sources describe her broader public campaigning and fame, built up over years, as the context for the attack.
• Misconception: child labour had worsened by 2014. Correct: the committee's own figures show the number of child labourers worldwide fell from about 246 million in 2000 to about 168 million by 2014.
• Misconception: Satyarthi worked only through rescue raids. Correct: he also built lasting systems such as Rugmark/GoodWeave and pushed for international conventions.
• Misconception: Malala's campaign was only about Pakistan. Correct: her United Nations speech called for equal education rights for girls "all over the world".
• Misconception: the joint award was accidental. Correct: the committee explicitly stated it saw value in honouring a Hindu Indian and a Muslim Pakistani together.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. In which year was the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 announced? [1 mark]

1. It was announced on 10 October 2014.

Q2. What share of the prize did each laureate receive? [2 marks]

1. Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai each received one half of the Nobel Peace Prize 2014, sharing it equally.

Q3. State the official citation for the Nobel Peace Prize 2014. [2 marks]

1. The citation was "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

Q4. Explain two methods Kailash Satyarthi used to fight child labour. [4 marks]

1. Satyarthi led direct rescue operations, entering factories across India to free children working there, an effort for which he was sometimes brutally attacked.
2. He also built lasting institutions, founding the Bachpan Bachao Andolan and establishing Rugmark (later GoodWeave) in 1994, a certification scheme letting buyers check that rugs were made without child labour, backed by a network of inspectors.

Q5. Why did the Nobel Committee consider it significant to award the prize jointly to an Indian and a Pakistani laureate? [4 marks]

1. The committee stated it was an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join together in a common struggle for education and against extremism.
2. This was presented as a practical example of "fraternity between nations", the phrase Alfred Nobel used in his will, showing unity rather than division between two countries that are often seen as rivals.

Q6. Describe the events leading to Malala Yousafzai becoming a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. [5 marks]

1. Growing up in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, Malala began, at around age eleven, writing a diary under a pseudonym for BBC Urdu about life under Taliban pressure, during which girls' schools were periodically closed.
2. An American documentary made her internationally known, drawing Taliban hostility.
3. On 9 October 2012, when she was fifteen, a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her three times, severely injuring her.
4. She survived, moved to the United Kingdom, and continued campaigning, being named one of TIME's 100 most influential people in 2013 and addressing the United Nations on her sixteenth birthday to call for girls' right to education.
5. In 2014 she was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Kailash Satyarthi.

Q7. Discuss the problem of child labour as described by the Nobel Committee, and the progress noted by 2014. [6 marks]

1. In poor countries, 60% of the population is under 25, making children's rights central to peaceful development.
2. Where children's rights are violated, especially in conflict areas, violence tends to repeat itself across generations.
3. In India, child labour was often debt-driven, with children sometimes hired out by parents who could not manage their debts.
4. Satyarthi argued that child labour is not merely caused by poverty but maintains poverty, carrying it on from generation to generation.
5. Despite this, the committee reported progress: child labourers worldwide fell from about 246 million in 2000 to about 168 million by 2014, moving closer to eliminating the practice.
6. Much remained to be done: roughly 60 million child labourers remained in India alone, most of them in farming.

Q8. What role did international organisations play in the laureates' work? [3 marks]

1. Satyarthi's 1998 Global March Against Child Labour ended at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, and the following year the ILO adopted its convention against the worst forms of child labour, later ratified by 172 countries.
2. Malala addressed the United Nations on her sixteenth birthday, using that international platform to call for equal education rights for girls worldwide.

Key takeaways

• The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 went jointly to Kailash Satyarthi of India and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan.
• Both laureates received one half of the prize for the shared cause of children's suppression and education rights.
• Satyarthi campaigned against child labour through rescue operations, GoodWeave certification and the 1998 Global March.
• Yousafzai campaigned for girls' education, surviving a 2012 Taliban shooting on her school bus.
• The committee valued honouring a Hindu Indian and a Muslim Pakistani together as a symbol of fraternity between nations.
• Global child labour fell from about 246 million in 2000 to about 168 million by 2014.
• India still had roughly 60 million child labourers, mostly in farming, at the time of the award.
• Nearly half of Pakistan's 52 million school-age children were still out of school, mostly girls.

Test yourself

Where and when was Kailash Satyarthi born?

Kailash Satyarthi was born on 11 January 1954 in Vidisha, India.

Where and when was Malala Yousafzai born?

Malala Yousafzai was born on 12 July 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan.

What happened to Malala Yousafzai on 9 October 2012?

A Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her three times, severely injuring her, but she survived.

What was Rugmark, and what did it later become?

Rugmark, started in 1994, certified rugs made without child labour through inspections; it was later renamed GoodWeave.

Where did Satyarthi's 1998 march end?

The Global March Against Child Labour ended at the International Labour Organisation headquarters in Geneva.

What did the committee say about honouring a Hindu Indian and a Muslim Pakistani together?

It said this was an important point, showing a common struggle for education and against extremism across religious and national lines.

How many child labourers were there worldwide at the time of the award?

About 168 million child labourers existed worldwide in 2014, compared with roughly 78 million more in the year 2000.