On Human Rights Day, the right to education is celebrated as education activists Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai receive the Nobel Peace Prize

10 December is Human Rights Day, with the right to education taking centre stage as GCE co-founder and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthii takes his place as Nobel Peace Prize laureate alongside fellow activist Malala Yousafzai. The ceremony will take place today in Oslo, Norway.

The Global Campaign for Education congratulates both Kailash and Malala for their ceaseless work on children’s rights, both for the direct action taken by Kailash in personally rescuing and rehabilitating child labourers, and by Malala in funding innovative education programmes in countries where children are in the most need, and for raising the profile globally of the right to education. Their work and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize together have placed this human right under the spotlight just as heads of state enter the final phase of delivery of the Education For All goals and the Millennium Development Goals, and agree new development goals to deliver people’s human rights beyond 2015.

Education is a fundamental human right and a public good; GCE believes it is the key to ending poverty and building an equitable and sustainable future. It has the power to underpin transformative change, providing opportunity, hope and protection to the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The right to quality education is also fundamental to the realisation of other rights and development objectives, including gender equality, health, nutrition, peace, the strengthening of democracy and environmental sustainability.

Current GCE President, Camilla Croso, stated:

Therefore, on Human Rights Day, and on the day that the world celebrates the enormous contributions made by Malala and Kailash, GCE calls for the right to education to be at the heart of the new global development frameworks.

ENDS

“This is a day that we will remember, when the right to education has been acknowledged at the highest level, and recognised as central to the promotion of peace. It is a day to celebrate the fight in overcoming discrimination and suppression, the promotion of gender equality and the end of patriarchy. We are honoured to continue to work with Kailash as a member of our Board of Directors, and congratulate both him and Malala Yousafzai for this important contribution to the fight for the rights of children everywhere.”

Kailash and Malala are not alone in their call for the world to focus its attentions on education. Over 6.5 million people have voted in the MyWorld 2015 public survey to find out the public’s priorities for global development beyond 2015, with almost 5 million people voting ‘a good education’ as the number one priority.