On the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

On October 10, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on children’s rights and education rights. At 17, Yousafzai has become the youngest Nobel laureate in history. Satyarthi, 61, has worked for three decades campaigning against child slavery and forced labor in India.

Yasmine Ergas, the director of SIPA’s specialization on Gender and Public Policy, spoke with SIPA News about the Nobel Peace Prize winners and what their wins mean for human rights awareness.

What does it mean to have children’s rights, especially girl’s education, highlighted this year with the Nobel Peace Prize?

I think it’s very significant. It’s a recognition of children’s rights but it’s also a recognition of the impact that young people —children—like Malala can have when they mobilize for rights.

Malala and Satyarthi were given the prize together. This prize forces us to think about what makes their activism so necessary. It should be obvious that children have a right to education, but it is currently anything but obvious. Giving the prize to Malala is about all children but it is also specifically about girls—it’s an acknowledgement that girls often are denied access to education. Malala is a children’s rights activist and a girls’ rights activist. That’s an important aspect of her work. Her story—like that of so many others— makes us ask, “Why is the opposition to girls’ education some times so intense?”

Malala is now the youngest winner ever of the Nobel Peace Prize. What are your thoughts on this?

It’s interesting that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to her and to Satyarthi, who is 61. We see convergences among generations. Young people can be a major source for social change. I think that’s very positive.

There has been some backlash to Malala being awarded the prize. Some commentators have said her win could be seen as pushing a western agenda in Pakistan.

There are human rights activists all over the world, in Pakistan as in the United States. These aren’t just western ideas. I think we all agree that effective rights strategies are based on empowering local communities. But that means recognizing that local communities may be characterized by many different voices. Many cultural traditions generate human rights movements. To dismiss Malala—or any other activist—as the instrument of others, to see her as manipulated, is to deny the authenticity of her commitment. I find that worrying.

You ask if receiving the prize may be dangerous for Malala herself. She’s a young woman who has already suffered a great deal. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t honor her and the work she does. She’s pursuing her own education. In many ways, she seems to strive for normalcy even as a world-famous activist. Let’s hope she is able to keep doing so.

Will the prize impact our curriculum? The Nobel Prize committee has drawn attention to the importance of education, including education of girls. Education is a topic that is widely discussed at SIPA. Malala is not the reason that we work on education, although we may share her reasons for doing this work. But this prize has certainly given education, including, specifically, for girls, heightened visibility.

Photograph: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development; License: Creative Commons