Return to Transcripts main page

Amanpour

The Prize for Peace: A Conversation with Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi

Aired December 10, 2014 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST (voice-over): Two heroes from countries that are neighbors but nuclear-armed enemies. She is from Pakistan, the

girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, EDUCATION ACTIVIST: The terrorists tried to stop us but neither their ideas nor their bullets could win and since that day our

voices have grown louder and louder.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): He is from India. Over decades, he's saved tens of thousands of children from brutal forced labor, restoring their lives and

their liberty.

KAILASH SATYARTHI, CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE: I call upon the governments, intergovernmental agencies and each one of us to put an end to

all forms of violence against children.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): One has years of experience; the other is still a teenager. Together here accepting the world's most illustrious Peace

Prize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): From Oslo, Norway, CNN presents "The Prize for Peace: A Conversation with Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi,"

recipients of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

And now from the site of the annual awards ceremony, CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

AMANPOUR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Oslo City Hall. Now there have been 128 Nobel Peace laureates since 1901, with a list that includes

Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King.

And so for this year's honorees making it to this stage is to say the least a significant achievement. And in the next hour, you'll meet children they

have helped, Pakistani survivors of the Taliban's opposition, youngsters rescued from deplorable conditions of slavery in India and you'll learn

about the laureates' hopes and dream for the future.

So now let us meet the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi.

(APPLAUSE)

AMANPOUR: Clearly, Malala and Kailash, well deserved applause and your speeches today earlier were really inspirational.

I just want to know what it was like to be up there at that moment, Malala.

YOUSAFZAI: Well, first of all, it was a great honor to be here and to receive this prestigious award, which we all know is an award for peace and

it encourages those people who are fighting for peace and fighting for human rights, women's rights, for children's rights.

So when you see yourself on a stage and people appreciate what you have done and they encourage you, that we're supporting you and your campaign,

it gives you more strength and gives you more courage.

And when I speak, I just don't speak to the people in front of me. I believe that there will be millions of people listening to me right now.

And I'm going to speak to them and I'm going to tell every child that education is very important for us, for our future generations and we have

to stand up for it.

AMANPOUR: Kailash Satyarthi, you have been doing this for decades. You've been awarded before.

What was this? What does this mean to you, the height of the world of prizes?

SATYARTHI: It is for the first time when the voices of the most deferred (ph) people, the most neglected, the most ignored, the most abused, the

most vulnerable people, they are children. They are our children. It has been heard at the highest podium of peace and humanity. So it was a great

thing. This is -- this is the first time when their voices and their faces have been recognized.

And through -- to our first, we represent the faces of all those people, all those children.

AMANPOUR: And for all of us who have children, it means a huge amount. So we thank you.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martin Luther King once said that every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle.

Malala and Kailash have both sacrificed and risked their lives for their causes and we'll see now that brought them global attention and eventually

to this stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call upon Kailash Satyarthi to come forward to receive the gold medal and the diploma.

Malala Yousafzai, please come forward.

(APPLAUSE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): As ever, both this year's Nobel laureates were chosen for their unique efforts to make the world a better place. But

their personal stories couldn't be more different. Malala Yousafzai, a teenager from Pakistan's Swat Valley has been famous since 2009 for her

anonymous blog about life under the Taliban and bravely promoting girls' education.

But after (INAUDIBLE) in a documentary about her cause, her name became public. And in 2012, the Taliban went after her. A group of armed men

boarded her school bus and shot her in the head.

Her injuries were so severe her own father said he thought about planning her funeral. But she did survive. And while the Taliban continues to

threaten her, Malala has now become a global advocate for millions of girls who are denied an education.

YOUSAFZAI: I'm totally not afraid of death. And when I look at the support of people, then I'm sure that this cause is never going to die.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): That kind of courage on behalf of girls in the Muslim world has garnered Malala many awards. And now she's the youngest

person ever to receive a Nobel Prize.

Her cowinner is a man, a Hindu from Pakistan's sworn enemy and neighbor, India, who's been fighting his cause to end child slavery for decades.

Kailash Satyarthi's organization claims that it's helped rescue more than 80,000 child laborers from 144 countries. This 60-year old has saved

children from factories, from circuses and from brick kilns, not to mention the sex trade.

He, too, has faced many threats to his life as he tries to put an end to what is a multibillion-dollar business. He started the Global March

Against Child Labour and he set up rehabilitation centers and schools for children who've been emotionally and physically abused.

SATYARTHI: Each time when I free a child, I feel that it's a small victory of liberty over slavery.

YOUSAFZAI: Education is the only solution.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Malala is just beginning her adult life while Kailash Satyarthi has already spent a lifetime dedicated to enslaved

children, one from India, the other from Pakistan. The fact that these two nuclear armed nations have fought three wars and that tensions continue was

not lost on the Nobel Committee, which chose the pair, quote, "for their common struggle for education and against extremism."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Kailash and Malala, do either of you think about that last point we made that actually you both come from neighboring yet such tense

countries?

Do you think it'll have any diplomatic influence?

SATYARTHI: I don't know much. But as Malala can answer better, but I'm sure that it will help in building friendship, trust and deeper relations

between the people of these two countries. The children of these two countries who love us, the activists of these two countries who are

fighting for the rights of children and right for education and against child labor for so many years, they feel so empowered. They feel so

encouraged.

I'm getting hundreds of phone calls from my friends in Pakistan and, of course, from India. And they are so happy about it. And that relationship

is most important for building the peace between any nation, between two nations or between -- or among many nations in the world.

AMANPOUR: Does that cross your mind, the idea of the two nations?

YOUSAFZAI: Well, I always wanted Pakistan and India to have good relationships because I believe that this very important for the

development of both the countries and we can see that both the countries have this huge percentage of youth, young generation, and we are fortunate

-- we both are fortunate countries that we have this young generation. So this young generation needs quality education and we should give them the

message of love, friendship, that these two countries are not enemies but they're friends. And they're just like a family and tolerance should be

there, patience should be there and there should be love for each of us.

AMANPOUR: Kailash, we know because it was so public, the danger and the almost taking of her life that Malala went through. We don't know so much

about the dangers that you have faced.

Tell us what happened, for instance, when you've been on raids to try to forcibly free indentured children.

SATYARTHI: Well, I am completely recovered now, but if you look at my body right from leg to my head, you will find many, many scars: my left leg

broken, my backbone broken. I have scars on my head, my right shoulder is broken. So it's a part of life.

AMANPOUR: What is it, though? You -- what, people jumped on you? They wouldn't let you release these kids?

SATYARTHI: Well, these people are very powerful people. It's like Mafia operation. They make huge amount of illicit money. As you know that --

and people know in the world -- that human trafficking and particularly this child trafficking is the third -- or people say it's the first,

biggest illicit trade in the world. It is the biggest black moneymaker in the world.

And that meant black money, it is not less than $150 billion a year globally. This is used for all these kind of things. And the traffic of

human beings and children, trafficking of arms, in small arms, and trafficking of drugs is so common. And that makes them as real as the

Mafia. So when we go to rescue the children anywhere in India or anywhere in the world, the danger is there.

AMANPOUR: And, Malala, you were shot at point-blank range. It truly is incredible to see you just going from strength to strength and carrying on

your fight.

How difficult do you think it will be to keep taking on those vested interests, the people who don't want girls to have education in your own

country still?

YOUSAFZAI: Well, that has been my experience during the past 17 years of my life. There are these extremist people who do not want any freedom for

women, who do not want any education for girls. And not even now, like I'm becoming quite famous now, but right from the beginning, there were -- they

opposed these ideas. They opposed this mindset. And it's really important that we change the education system and we try to -- it is important that

we talk about education and building schools. But then it's important what's written inside those books and what are the children taught.

If they are taught hatred, if they are taught about sectarianism and prejudice and these things, then we can see that there will be terrorism in

society. So we need to have education system in which we teach our children to be tolerant, to be patient and to respect each other's culture,

each other's religious beliefs and each -- the language we speak or all the things we believe in.

AMANPOUR: And things are still so tense for you back in Pakistan that you actually have not been back since the attack and since you came to England

to get finally treated.

But we did go back. CNN went back and talked to some of your friends there.

Would it surprise you that for all the good she's done so far, Malala has critics, right in the heart of the Swat Valley, the place she calls home?

Next, we'll look at all the challenges she still faces.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to Oslo City Hall.

And Malala, after we learned that you had received the prize, we went back to the Swat Valley to talk to some of the people that we know you haven't

seen in years. So check out now a couple of your friends who wanted to say hello.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARWAH GUL, MALALA'S FRIEND (through translator): Malala, I am Kualah. I study in (INAUDIBLE). I hope that you come back to your school and to your

country. Keep your ambition alive. We are all with you. You are so famous but don't ever forget us.

KUALAH, MALALA'S FRIEND (through translator): Malala, I want to send you the message that you should continue the mission that you started. I am

with you. All of Khushal School is with you and you are not alone. All of us girls are with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So what do you think when you hear that?

It must make you feel good, right?

YOUSAFZAI: Yes, I do feel good and it is -- they really give me strength because I do remember the time when education was banned in Swat Valley,

where there was the Taliban and they bombed schools. More than 400 schools were destroyed. Women were flogged. People were killed and we saw so many

brutalities at that time.

So when you see these girls talking, going to school in their school uniform and saying that they love education and they support me in this

campaign, it's wonderful to hear from them.

AMANPOUR: And as you say, those people, those girls are still going to school. And we know that your work is risky. We've talked about this.

And believe it or not, there is still some considerable criticism back home, directed against Malala.

So even armed with the Nobel, the question is, can Pakistan overcome decades of entrenched obstruction and give girls the education they

deserve?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Malala Yousafzai's journey to the Nobel started here at the Khushal School in Pakistan, where this remarkable young woman

began her own education and then lobbied for all girls to have that right. She still inspires her classmates and the girls of Swat Valley.

FAZIA (from captions): I also want to do big things because life is a struggle and when I used to watch her, I really feel proud of her and she

has done really great things.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): But the battle to educate is far from over. Schools are basic and dilapidated and government education spending here is

amongst the lowest in the world. Ahmed Shah is an educational activist in Swat and he tells CNN there's lots of talk but little action.

AHMED SHAH, EDUCATIONAL ACTIVIST: I think there is a need of education in this country and on the political parties' head are talking about the

importance of education. But they are actually doing nothing for education.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Despite the international attention Malala has brought to this issue, some girls are still afraid to go to school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): People are giving some things to the students in schools and the principals and the teachers are informing the

students, don't get any lunch bags or shopping bags or anything from outside people you don't know. So I think that the situation of Swat is

now not good. The situation makes me really scared.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Not everyone in Pakistan sings Malala's praises, as CNN found out in Mingora, the largest city in Swat Valley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Malala was famous just for speaking. She's outspoken and courageous but for the cause of education,

she did nothing concrete. Right now I'm also speaking about the importance of education. Why have I not been given some prize? She's just been

promoted without any reason.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Sharp but still rare criticism. And despite that and the very real dangers, girls are going to class.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So how do you address those small pockets of people who resent your success, who say that you're betraying the country, that you're just

doing the work of the West?

YOUSAFZAI: Well, education is neither Western nor Eastern. It is every child's right and I have this dream, the simple dream that is to see every

child getting quality education. And I know it is very important for a child because we see that children have so many talents, so many skills.

And if they don't go to school, we lost that child, that child's childhood and the child's talent is lost.

So that's why I want to protect children. But I know that there is criticism and people are allowed to criticize me. But I would like to

inform people that we have been doing service in Swat so that we help those girls who are suffering from domestic child labor; they are now getting

scholarships to The Malala Fund. We help girls in Shambhala (ph) and -- which is my village. And there is no secondary school yet there. So we

are helping out there as well.

So I'm trying my best. But people should know one thing. I'll clarify it, that I'm just a normal human being. I'm no one special. And I think I

would do what I can do. And I wanted to build schools because sometimes we request the world leaders and we ask the politicians to do something.

That's why I just thought if they don't listen to me then I have to do something from my side. If I can't educate those 50 million children, then

at least I can educate five children or 50 children or 500. That's why we build schools and we do projects.

AMANPOUR: And actually, to that point, you have also told some very poignant stories. I've heard you say this to me before, about a friend of

yours who you contacted, who you'd known when you were in primary school together and now at about 12 or 14, she got married and had children.

YOUSAFZAI: It's really disappointing because I remember how she was really bold and confident and she was -- she would always be talking and we were

just scholar-like, very clever girl. And she had this view of becoming doctor. But unfortunately, she couldn't go forward and these are the

social travails and the mindset that girls are supposed to get married.

And in some families, they're a burden even. And she got married then she just suddenly disappeared from the school. And we were wondering where is

she and I was talking to my friend, but when I was 14, I just received this call. And when I talked to her, I said, "Are you -- old friend, and where

are you, what are you doing?"

She said, "Oh, I got married and now I have a son and I'm living with this husband."

And I said, "What does your husband do?"

She said that he's like -- he is at the age of 20 and he hasn't got a job but he's finding a job. And she was living a miserable life.

AMANPOUR: What is it about your own family -- your parents are here; your brothers are here. Your relatives are here. What is it about your own

family that saved you from that fate?

YOUSAFZAI: Well, I'm really thankful to my father, that he gave me this opportunity to come forward and to -- and to be independent, that it is

really hard to see independence for women, rights for women in such patriarchal societies. But I'm really proud to have a father who gave me

this freedom to be who I am and to not just be a wife or a sister or a mother, but to give woman's identity, that you are a woman as well, or a

human being as well.

So I'm really thankful to him as well as thank you to my mother. She has always encouraged me to believe in myself and to go forward and as well as

be kind to my brothers, which I don't follow, except that when I listen to every advice that she gives.

(LAUGHTER)

YOUSAFZAI: And --

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: Malala, this is a Peace Prize. And you are now on the stage that the way -- that the only place you have war is with your two brothers.

Now, can we say from today going forward that there will be peace inside the Yousafzai household?

YOUSAFZAI: So when I went -- I received the award, I went back to my hotel room and my brothers started saying that, "Malala, listen, you got the

Nobel Peace Prize. But it does mean that you are not like the boss. You will treat us the way that you treated us before."

(LAUGHTER)

AMANPOUR: Once upon a time, I asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up. Well, most people think you are grown up. You have give such a

poise and adult presentation for so many months and years and even today, obviously, on the podium.

Do you want to go into politics? You're criticized politicians for not doing the right thing.

Will you one day run for prime minister of Pakistan?

YOUSAFZAI: I make this wish that I want to become the prime minister and do join politics for a reason, because usually people think it's such a

very thing, I can't even express my wish to seek office of politics. And so I believe that through this field, I can help my whole country. And we

need a change in system. If I think about education, there are so many issues that if I want every child in my country to be educated, then I

should -- then I need to change the system. Then I need to make sure that we have proper system there and we are doing what that is needed. For that

reason I chose politics. But I'm still 17. I have still a long life -- I hope so -- and I'm hopeful that I will.

My main goal is to serve humanity and to help children to go to school. If I find another good profession for that, then I'll choose that one.

AMANPOUR: And we're going to talk to Kailash after a break, but I think he said to you that in order to keep up with him, you have to struggle in

this cause for another several decades.

Now, Malala, you were not the only one so badly injured in that attack on you two years ago, which we all know so much about. And later, we're going

to meet the two other girls, your friends, who were in the bus with you, who were also shot but who thankfully survived.

Next, Kailash and his work, ridding India of child labor is a noble cause, of course. But as he says, it's about changing minds, not just laws.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

We saw the kind of obstacles that Malala and the girls face in Pakistan. In India, Kailash Satyarthi discovered that freeing children from slave

labor sometimes also has its opponents, including, incredibly, some of the parents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reaching for the skies, 12-year-old Ramish Kamar (ph) has big dreams: become a lawyer

and free his parents from bonded labor.

"When you're living and working in the brick kiln, your concept of the world becomes so small," he says. "My world was just the brick kiln. The

bricks were my toys."

From 6:00 AM until midnight, Ramish was forced to toil at a brick kiln like this. He was five years old, never paid.

"Our owner used to come to us and say, 'You belong to a lower caste. You are born to work, nothing else.' So uneducated people like my parents

actually start believing it," he says.

Ramish was rescued by Kailash Satyarthi and his team four years ago and raised in this children's shelter. But his parents eventually came back

for him, forced him to mold bricks again. They had debts to pay off.

It's a cycle of injustice, and while as a percentage of its child population, India's not the worst offender. With over a billion people,

the country has the distinction of having the highest number of child laborers. The government has banned children under the age of 14 from

working in hazardous conditions, like brick kilns, but activists say implementation at the state level is often weak.

When poverty is so acute, parents themselves make their children works. Society often looks the other way, and convincing impoverished families to

send their children to school is not easy. "I can barely feed my family. My children needed to work to survive. Education was always secondary," he

says.

Hanman Gucha (ph) lives in Raghunathpur Village, where he says child labor and child marriage were rampant.

UDAS (on camera): In this village of about a thousand people, this government school was temporarily closed down because no one was attending.

All these children were forced to work instead.

But since 2011, Raghunathpur become a so-called "child-friendly village," which means 100 percent of the children go to school, there's no child

labor here, no child marriage, and most importantly, the children have a voice.

UDAS (voice-over): Kailash Satyarthi has built hundreds of these child- friendly villages across India. He says it's the only way to get to the root of the issue: raise awareness, empower children, and change mindsets

from village to village.

Sumnima Udas, CNN, Rajasthan, India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: That is truly remarkable to see that you have built these hundreds of child-friendly villages. How do you answer those poor, poor

people who say, what else do I have? This is my bread and butter, my five- year-old.

KAILASH SATYARTHI, 2014 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: First of all, let me tell you that these five-year-olds are not responsible for poverty. It is

the geopolitics, it is the geoeconomy, it is the national politics. It could be the national economy. Eventually, it is the adult people who are

responsible for poverty, not the children.

No child on the earth has ever created poverty. No child on the earth has ever created war. No child has ever created any abuse or any nonsense in

the life of the people. But it is we who create all these problems, and then the children have to suffer. Children are further victimized for

these problems.

So first of all, it is the responsibility of the state, society, businesses, and even the religious institutions to ensure that the children

must be protected.

AMANPOUR: Is what you're doing and what you're saying now, are they having an effect? You've talked about, actually, the number of global children in

labor and in slavery decreasing. So, are you having an effect?

SATYARTHI: Definitely. We have seen it. I have been always advocating and working on one -- comprehensive aspect of the problem. That is, we

call, the triangular paradigm. The relationship between poverty, child labor, and education.

They create cause and consequences, all the kind of chicken-and-egg relations. Each one is cause and each one is effect. So, if we have to

remove poverty, we have to ensure education for all of our children, quality education, as Malala pointed out.

And also, we cannot bring the children to school until and unless they are free to go to school. Even if you hire teachers, even if you build the

schools, even if you do everything, spend money on it, who is going to bring those children to schools?

So, additional efforts have be made to bring the children to schools, and that work has to be done collectively by the government, businesses,

society, NGOs. Everyone should work on this.

AMANPOUR: You were into your mid-30s a successful electrical engineer. What you brought you to this work? What brought you to cast that aside?

SATYARTHI: Well, being an engineer is not so lucrative as sitting here in the podium of the Nobel Peace Prize.

(LAUGHTER)

SATYARTHI: And giving a live interview to CNN and millions of people are watching.

(LAUGHTER)

SATYARTHI: That is much more better. So (inaudible).

AMANPOUR: OK. But you didn't know you'd end up here.

SATYARTHI: No, I didn't know. Actually, my father was a simple police constable when I was born. My mother was herself illiterate, and I lost my

father in early years, so she was a widow. My brothers and my mother had to spend a lot of money in making me an engineer.

That was one of the most promising and lucrative careers those days, and even now. But I'm talking about 30, 40 years ago. My mother cried, my

friends told, Kailash has become crazy, mad. What did he drink?

(LAUGHTER)

SATYARTHI: The reason was not that I was working on child labor. The reason was also that child labor was a non-issue. Not only in my country,

but globally, there was no strong movement. Even the whole notion of child rights in the United Nations and the international community got shaped in

1989, 90.

So, almost eight, nine years later when I started advocating that it was not simply poverty. It is the denial of human rights, it's the denial of

child rights. So the rights perspective to deal with the issues was not there. So, it was a difficult time

But I was very keen and very interested in such activities right from my childhood, and I -- as I was narrating the story of my childhood, the very

first day of my school was a change engine for me when I saw a cobbler boy sitting outside the school. And we all were going to schools.

And I questioned to teachers, I questioned to the father of that boy, and nobody could answer me. They said, all these people are born to work. Why

some people are born to work and why some people like me are born to school and have all kinds of dreams and be the engineers and doctors and leaders

and whatnot?

I challenged it then, and I'm challenging it now. I will keep challenging until every single child on this planet receives the best quality

education.

(APPLAUSE)

AMANPOUR: Thank you, Kailash. And in your speech, you called for the globalization of compassion, and you just so eloquently talked about that.

And soon, we're going to meet the girl that some call the Malala of Syria, plus a young man who was rescued by Kailash Satyarthi when he was just a

little boy. Years later, his mission is to rescue those who are like him. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Malala's family is here with us, it's great to see them. And you have also brought with you some special guests who may not be family

but you may consider themselves as sisters. First, friends and schoolmates, Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan.

They were wounded in the school bus attack that day, but thankfully, they survived, and they're here, and they are now at university in the UK. So,

we're very, very pleased that they are here.

And I also want to acknowledge three other special people that you've invited. From left to right, Kainat Soomro from Pakistan, who for eight

years has been fighting for justice after she says she was gang-raped by four men when she was barely a teenager. Malala and Kainat are meeting in

person for the very first time this week here in Oslo.

Sixteen-year-old Mazoon Rakan is a Syrian refugee. She goes from tent to tent in the camps out there, encouraging girls to go to school, and some

even call her the Malala of Syria.

And finally, Malala met Amina Yusuf on her visit this year to Nigeria where, as we know, Boko Haram is terrorizing families and their girls.

Like Malala, many girls in her community consider Amina's role -- Amina a role model as she struggles to help them.

And also, Kailash Satyarthi, your family, your son is here, and he is the one who has helped you and has been on many of the raids with you as you

have sought to liberate some of these child laborers. So, what does it mean to you to have these wonderful girls in the audience right now?

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, 2014 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: I'm really happy that they are with me today. They are my sisters, and they are presenting those

girls whose voices need to be heard. Shazia and Kainat, they have this passion for education, and they are encouraging girls to stand up for their

rights.

And Kainat Soomro, she has been through an extreme violence, but she has not stopped, and she's still continuing her education, the Malala

Foundation is supporting her. We are supporting her.

And most of all, Mazoon, she really inspires me, her energy and the way she talks about education and its importance.

And we should try to understand the life of these girls because Mazoon, she is homeless now, because when you are a way from your country, when you are

living as a refugee, it is very hard. You have no hope that you would be able to go to your home ever again.

So, she's going through a very difficult time, which some of us cannot even imagine. But she still continues her fight. And then, Amina, my sister

from Nigeria. She is fighting for girls' rights because we know that in Nigeria, Boko Haram threatens and kidnaps girls just for wanting to go to

school, which is extreme.

And so, that's why they're here. They're speaking out, they're standing up for girls' rights. And I'm hopeful that their voices would be heard.

And now, when I speak, when I spoke at the -- here at the Nobel ceremony, and further on when I'll speak, I'm going to raise their voice, and we are

going to raise the voice of those 66 million girls who are deprived of education. And every child, whether a boy or a girl, who do not have

access to quality education.

AMANPOUR: And I was struck in your speech when you really gave a very impassioned plea to the world, when you said, why is it so easy to give

people a gun and so hard to give people books? Why is it so easy to build tanks and so difficult to build schools?

And even with this Nobel, even armed with all that you have now, your notoriety, your Malala Fund, it's still going to be hard to achieve and to

implement the promises that your own government has made years and years ago, that there will be primary and secondary education for everybody.

YOUSAFZAI: It's really sad that we are not working together. The world leaders, they make promises, but they do not fulfill it, and it's really

disappointing that now people have stood up, because they have lost hope. They have lost hope, and that's why they are sending up that if the leaders

can't do, then we have to go forward.

So, it's a symbol of hope that now people are not waiting for others to come and stand up for their rights, they say that we want to do it by

ourselves.

But I would once again request the world leaders that it is really important. If we want the future generation to be bright, if we want to

have a developed future, than we need to think about the next generation, and that is the children.

AMANPOUR: And even the head of the Nobel committee in his opening address said that it is not just a luxury or a nice thing to do to give education.

All over the world, education to young people, especially young girls, has shown to be a macro-economics investment, and to have raised all

communities up to be able to be really productive members of our human race and our society.

Malala, we have not asked you to go back to the day when you were shot. You've told that story so many times, and we don't want to put you through

that again today.

But, you've done something quite extraordinary. You have for the first time allowed your school uniform that you were wearing that very day in

that bus to be publicly displayed. And the world can now view the uniform that she wore when she was shot by the Taliban two years ago.

It is a traditional headscarf, it is a blouse, it is trousers, and it is displayed here at the Nobel exhibit here at the City Hall. So, why did you

decide to do that?

YOUSAFZAI: My uniform really matters for me, and it is very special to me. It gives me that feeling of being a student and showing that I had the

right to go to school, and I had the right to learn.

And when you wear the uniform, there's a special feeling when you -- it is more important in a society where hardly any girl gets education. And when

you see that there are so many children deprived of this basic right, and you get this opportunity, then it's something special.

It's like, for children here, in the developed countries, for them, Xbox and PlayStation does specials for us. The school uniform and books are

special. So, this uniform really matters for me, and it is -- I want to tel children that they respect their school and they should give importance

to their studies.

It can really bring change, it can really help them in finding the talents they have, in finding the skills they have, and can really make their

future bright and make the future or their country bright.

AMANPOUR: And next, how one young man who was rescued by Kailash Satyarthi is hoping to do the same for other children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back. Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest Peace Laureates once said that you can measure the health of a society by the way

it treats its children. And we have a story now of a child who long ago was saved by Kailash Satyarthi, and now, as an adult, wants to return the

favor to others.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARIAL, RESCUED FROM CHILD SLAVERY (through translator): Kailash Satyarthi has given me a new life. He gave me an education and a chance to

live again.

SATYARTHI: Amarial was freed from stone-breaking. His parents used to do it, his brothers used to do it, and he himself at the age of six or seven

was doing all these things, digging the holes and breaking the stones like a truck. Then we freed him from there, and of course, his brothers.

AMARIAL (through translator): We used to live in darkness. Working in the stone quarries had become a daily part of our lives. Our parents, my

entire family did it for generations. No one had gone to school, no one had opened a book, not even touched a pen.

I'm studying law, now. I'm in my second year of college. I want to become a lawyer, because when I was a child, someone rescued me and changed my

life. There are lots of children in this country who need help. They are unaware of their rights and live far from justice. I want to help them by

becoming a lawyer.

If it wasn't for Kailash Satyarthi, I would have lived all my life like my parents did. Not only that, I would have been married at an early age,

like my brother. I would have never gone to school, and I would have spent all my life breaking stones.

When I'm not studying, I come to this children's center to counsel children who have just been rescued. I feel like a miracle has happened. My life

has turned 180 degrees. Now I feel like I can achieve anything in this world. Now I have a voice. I can think, speak, and do anything that I

want in my life.

Kailash, sir, all of us here feel very lucky and are so grateful that you came into our lives. So, on behalf of all the children, I want to say a

big thank you to you.

(CHILDREN SINGING)

AMARIAL (through translator): We will do our best to fulfill your dreams for us, and we hope and pray that every child like us gets the education

and justice they deserve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Kailash, that kind of story makes it all worthwhile. Tell us how many of those kinds of children have gone on to try to do the same

thing.

SATYARTHI: There are hundreds, and I guess they must be in thousands, because we work in hundreds of the villages. And in most of these

villages, the children take the leadership. And some of the former child laborers took the leadership.

You'll be surprised to know that two of the most important posts in the organization, one was the secretary-general of my Indian organization,

Bachpan Bachao Andolan, and one was the treasurer. Both of them have gone to former child laborers.

Of course, the treasurer is still continuing, and the secretary -- national secretary, who has been elected by 80,000 volunteers and members of the

organization -- it is not something that -- so, ours is a movement which is spread out all across the country. So, these people are the leaders. They

are the liberators. And my dream has always been that they become their own liberators and their own leaders.

AMANPOUR: And given the present success of what you've done, how do you cope with the same kind of criticism that I asked Malala about, certain

quarters in your own home country saying that you're just doing the bidding of the West, you're just a post-colonial NGO?

SATYARTHI: I never bother too much about it, because I never wanted to remain in the limelight or media. I work with ordinary people. I'm really

an ordinary activist, and I will keep on working like that in all my life.

Of course, the media is here and the people are here, that's true. That's good for the cause of children. But for me, the more important thing is

that children like that, if one single child feels that he's freed, if one single children feels that his life is saved, my life is worth.

And we are here talking about thousands and thousands and thousands of children like that. And each time, I said this afternoon also, that each

time when I free a child, and the child goes back to the mother's lap, mother who lost all hope, the child will never come back home, she thought.

And when the first tear of joy comes on her face, her cheeks, and the first tear of joy, of freedom, appears on the face of that child, I always see

the glimpse of God. And that is my worship, that is my religion. And I'm so happy with that. I don't worry.

If my God is happy with me, and God is trying in tears and blessing me through the mother, through the boy, I'm more happy.

AMANPOUR: Well said. And up next --

(APPLAUSE)

AMANPOUR: -- some final thoughts from Oslo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: And finally tonight, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi will split this year's award of more than $1 million US, so naturally, the

question is, what do they do intend to do with it? And that is what we're going to ask you. What do you both want to do with that money, and what is

your message after all of today's incredible honors? Malala?

YOUSAFZAI: This money is really important because it can really change the life of some children who are in my village, some girls who cannot get

education because there is no school there at all.

So, this money will go to my home, my home of sort in Shangla (ph), and it will be spent there on building schools, especially for girls, because they

need secondary education especially.

Other than that, I would like to give a message to all my friends and my sisters and brothers and the world leaders all around the world that it is

the time we take action. Let's not wait.

Let this become the last time that we see a child out of school, and let this become the last time that we see a child suffering from child labor,

child trafficking, and child losing his life in war. So, let's bring this change. And we have to unite for it, we have to work together.

AMANPOUR: And Kailash, what will you do with the money?

SATYARTHI: This entire money will go for the cause of children. Not only for my organization, not for me, and not in any organization where I'm

sitting now, but for the cause. And let young people take the leadership.

And also spending that money for the cause of children who are most deprived and who are facing violence and illiteracy. Because they are the

heroes.

The very presence of these beautiful daughters and so many other young people around brings hope. But their hope has to be substantiated by

strong support from the governments, from the intergovernmental agencies, from the business, from the faith leaders, from the civil society

organizations, from everyone.

Because we live in a world where no problem could be solved in isolation. This problem of children cannot be solved in isolation. So, let us begin a

new movement for children with the children.

AMANPOUR: All right. And now, Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." I want to

thank Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi for their moral leadership and shining example.

This is our 20th year doing this program in Oslo, and every year, we're grateful for the partnership and the cooperation of the Norwegian Nobel

Institute. We're also grateful as well for the technical support of our colleagues at Norwegian State Television, NRK, and for production support

from SVT Swedish Television.

And of course, thank you to all of our audience here and all of you watching us around the world. On behalf of all of us here at CNN, I'm

Christiane Amanpour. Good-bye from Oslo.

(APPLAUSE)

END