(Amsterdam) An Afghan teenager living in Canada, who recorded herself singing in protest against the Taliban regime, won the International Children’s Peace Prize on Tuesday, awarded in Amsterdam by the organization KidsRights.
Posted at 12:50 p.m.
Nila Ibrahimi, 17, follows in the footsteps of environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai in winning the prestigious award.
“Nila Ibrahimi, originally from Afghanistan and residing in Canada, courageously fights for the rights of girls and women in her home country,” organizers said at a ceremony Tuesday in Amsterdam.
“After recording a powerful protest song that went viral on the internet, she continues to inspire other Afghan women to assert their rights and oppose the injustices they face by speaking out in public and championing their cause at international events,” said KidsRights, the Dutch children’s rights foundation behind the initiative.
Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have applied an austere interpretation of Islamic law since their return to power in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US military forces.
Women and girls are most affected by these restrictions: they are prohibited from studying beyond primary school, from going to parks, gyms or beauty salons, and are advised to to only leave their home accompanied by a male chaperone.
Since last summer, a morality law has banned Afghan women from speaking out loud in public.
The United Nations has called this situation “gender apartheid,” but the Taliban government rejects these claims as “unfounded” and “propaganda based on the words of a few women on the run.”
“By winning the International Children’s Peace Prize, the voices of Afghan women and girls will resonate around the world,” Nila Ibrahimi said shortly after receiving the Prize.
“We must all continue to give them strength and hope in their darkest times,” she added.
Last year, the teenager told how she and her family fled to Pakistan five days after the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
The young girl now lives in Canada.
“Although I feel safer in my new home, I think every day of those girls who remained in Afghanistan,” she said at a human rights summit held in held in Geneva last year.
“They were left without hope,” she added.
Nila Ibrahim was selected from 165 candidates from 47 countries. Her prize was presented to her by Yemeni journalist and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
