25 January 2012 

Who will be a Child Rights Hero for 27 million children??

Today children around the world will reveal which three Child Rights Heroes are the candidates for the World’s Children’s Prize 2012. Millions of children worldwide will be deciding in a Global Vote who will be the children’s prize laureate for outstanding contributions to the rights of the child.

The three candidates were selected by the World’s Children’s Prize Child Jury. The young jury members are experts in children’s rights through their own life experiences, including as child soldiers and debt slaves.
   “We have selected three strong women who have made outstanding contributions for children,” says Lisa Bonongwe, 16, from Zimbabwe. 
 
Patrons of the World’s Children’s Prize include Queen Silvia of Sweden and Nelson Mandela. 
  

The three candidates are:



• Anna Mollel for fighting for more than 20 years for Maasai children with disabilities in Tanzania..
> More about Anna

• Sakena Yacoobifor her long and often highly dangerous fight for mainly girls’ right to an education in Afghanistan.
> 
More about Sakena

• Ann Skelton for her 25-year long fight for the rights of children who have been caught up in South Africa’s legal system.
> More about Ann

The world’s largest rights education initiative
The World’s Children’s Prize is a unique program for children promoting a humane world. Some 58,000 schools with 27 million pupils in 104 countries are linked to the initiative as Global Friend schools. Every year, millions of children learn about their rights, democracy and global friendship through the program. Many of the participating children have had their rights violated and for many, the World’s Children’s Prize is their first introduction to the fact that they even have rights. The world’s largest annual rights education initiative gives them faith in the future and the opportunity to demand that their rights are respected.

The Global Vote decides
The annual program ends with the Global Vote. In the Global Vote the children decide which candidate will be the recipient of their prestigious award for his or her contributions to children’s rights, The World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child. The highest turnout in a year so far has been 7.1 million children. The candidates in the Global Vote are chosen by a Child Jury, which is made up of children and young people who are experts in the rights of the child through their own experiences of living in vulnerable situations, including as child soldiers, debt slaves, homeless children and child rights champions.
   Tributes are paid to all three candidates at the Award ceremony at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred on 23 May, where the children are assisted by Queen Silvia in presenting the awards. The prize laureates become Child Rights Heroes for millions of children. The prize money, which this year totals 100,000 US dollars, is used to help improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.

Three legendary patrons
The World’s Children’s Prize has three global legends serving as its patrons: Nelson Mandela, democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, and freedom fighter Xanana Gusmão, now Prime Minister of East Timor. Queen Silvia of Sweden, and child rights expert and global leader of The Elders Graça Machel are also patrons.

Many involved
The World’s Children’s Prize program is carried out in partnership with 100,000 teachers and hundreds of organisations, education departments and others. The World’s Children’s Prize Foundation, based in Mariefred in Sweden, is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Swedish Postcode Lottery, Save the Children Sweden, the Hugo Stenbeck Foundation, the Survé Family Foundation, Sparbanksstiftelsen Rekarne, eWork, Crown Princess Margareta’s Memorial Fund and Grupo Positivo.
   The World’s Children’s Prize reaches over a hundred million people every year with information in the media about violations of children’s rights. You can view a CNN feature at: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/20/ctw.foster.intv.child.vote.cnn

Previous prize laureates
Recipients of the award include Decade Child Rights Heroes Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel, Murhabazi Namegabe, who rescues child soldiers in D.R. Congo, and Somaly Mam, who rescues girls from the child sex trade in Cambodia.

Jury children
The World’s Children’s Prize International Child Jury is made up of 15 children who are experts in children’s rights through their own experiences of living in vulnerable situations.
 

Child Rights Partners
The World’s Children’s Prize is supported by Child Rights Partners and Child Rights Sponsors. The main partners are the Swedish Postcode Lottery and Save the Children Sweden (which distributes funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida). Other partners include the Hugo Stenbeck Foundation, the Surve Family Foundation, Sparbanksstiftelsen Rekarne, eWork, Crown Princess Margareta’s Memorial Fund and Grupo Positivo.