Press release -
"Children’s Nobel Prize" goes to Indian activist against child marriage
Dr. Ashok Dyalchand from Pachod, India, has been chosen by millions of children to be this year’s Child Rights Hero and recipient of the World’s Children’s Prize, (WCP), dubbed the “Children’s Nobel Prize” by worldwide media. Dr. Dyalchand has been campaigning against child marriage and fighting for equal rights for girls for 40 years, also involving boys and men in the fight for equality.
Dr. Dyalchand and two Honorary Award recipients were honored at a ceremony on 9 May at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, Sweden. Children from 13 countries got to help Sweden’s HRH Princess Sofia present the awards. Peter Ericsson, the Swedish Minister of International Development Cooperation, commended Dr. Dyalchand on his achievements. The prize money, SEK 700,000, is shared between the recipient of the World’s Children’s Prize (SEK 350,000) and the two recipients of the Honorary Award (SEK 175,000 each) and is to be used in their work for children.
Decided in Global Vote
Two million children around the world, including in India, took part in the Global Vote, which determines who will be the recipient of the World’s Children’s Prize (WCP). The vote marks the end of the WCP program, the world’s largest annual education initiative, which empowers children to become changemakers who stand up for the equal worth of every individual, the rights of the child, democracy and sustainable development. Almost 44 million children have participated since 2000.
Fight for girls’ rights
In India, 15,600 girls are subjected to child marriage every day and risk death if they fall pregnant because their bodies are not ready to give birth. Dr. Dyalchand and his organization IHMP have developed a system of Girls’ Clubs. Through knowledge, greater self-confidence and support from one another, the girls can convince their parents to let them finish school instead of marrying too young. Dr. Dyalchand and IHMP are also setting up Boys’ Clubs, where so far 5,000 boys and young men have joined the fight for equality.
Two other child rights champions were also honored in Sweden in May: Spès Nihangaza, Burundi, for her 25-year fight for orphaned children who have been severely affected by the AIDS epidemic and a brutal civil war, and Guylande Mésadieu, Haiti, who has been fighting for 20 years for children who have been forced into slavery, children in prison and children on the street.
The candidates in this year’s Global Vote, had been nominated by a Child Jury, the members of which are experts in children’s rights through their own life experiences as refugees, slaves, and indigenous people. One of the jury children, Annanthi, is from Madurai in South India.
Malala and Mandela patrons
WCP’s patrons include Malala Yousafzai, the late Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, Desmond Tutu, Sweden’s Queen Silvia, and Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. Previous Prize Laureates from India include Kailash Satyarthi, Barefoot College, Paul and Mercy Baskar, and Inderjit Khurana.
Contact in India
Lucknow: Shishir Srivastiva, shishir.india2015@gmail.com, tel. 09839182184.
Darjeeling: Janeit Gurung, gurung.janeit113@gmail.com, tel. 6296323327.
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The WCP is supported by 70,000 schools in 116 countries, and by over 778 organisations, institutions and departments of education. Since the launch of the program, half a million teachers have been trained to work with child rights and democracy in their schools.
The World’s Children’s Prize Foundation (WCPF) is supported by donors including the Swedish Postcode Lottery, Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), Forum Syd, Julia & Hans Rausing Trust, H.M. Queen Silvia’s Care about the Children Foundation and the Survé Family Foundation.
