Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, one of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, on Friday said he loves Taiwan and its people, citing the hundreds of young Taiwanese who volunteer to help him in his fight for children’s rights.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday said it had selected Satyarthi and Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai as the recipients of this year’s honor.
After learning that he had won the prize, Satyarthi told the Central News Agency in New Delhi: “I love Taiwan and Taiwanese, because there have been hundreds of Taiwanese boys and girls coming to be our volunteers and work with us... They recognize me and love me. We are brothers and sisters, which makes me happy.”
In its announcement, the committee cited both winners’ “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”
Satyarthi told the committee that winning the prize “will help in giving bigger visibility to the cause of children who are most neglected and most deprived.”
“Everyone must acknowledge and see that child slavery still exists in the world in its ugliest face and form, and this is crime against humanity — This is intolerable, this is unacceptable and this must go,” he added.
Asked how to combat child slavery, Satyarthi said: “This is a global problem. We have to fight together, common people, governments, judiciary authority and enterprises should work hand in hand and stand together.”
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