Desmond Tutu Awards Children’s Peace Prize to US Parkland Shooting Survivors

Archbishop Desmond Tutu last night awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize 2018 to March For Our Lives student founders from the United States, at an awards ceremony held in Cape Town, South Africa.

In a personal message to all the finalists, Nobel Peace Laureate Tutu – who is Patron of KidsRights and The International Children’s Peace Prize – said beforehand:

I am in awe of these children, whose powerful message is amplified by their youthful energy and an unshakable belief that children can, no must, improve their own futures. They are true change-makers who have demonstrated most powerfully that children can move the world.

The American students who won the award are the founders of March for Our Lives, an international movement which they created to raise awareness for gun violence and demand safer schools after a teenager shot and killed 17 people at their high school in Parkland, Florida, in February.

Tutu said last night that the students were “true change-makers” and that their organisation was one of the most significant movements led by the youth in living memory.

According to the Awards’ website, the students not only organised the March For Our Lives event which made international headlines, but have lobbied, held town hall rallies, and persuaded thousands of young people to register to vote.

“Since its advent, over 25 US states have passed more than 50 pieces of legislation consistent with the  cause of March For Our Lives,” said Children’s Peace Prize.

March For Our Lives’ say: “There is no age restriction on fighting for justice and peace. We cannot afford to be bystanders when the cost of silence is life or death and the choice to act can be stripped in an instant.”

Founders David Hogg, Jacklyn Corin and brothers Ryan and Matt Deitsch (who left college to help form the movement as two of his brothers were still students at the school) were in Cape Town to accept the award.

Gonzalez said it “serves as a major reminder that the universe is on the side of justice and that we will win because our cause is one of peace.”

The father of one of the children killed during the mass shooting also spoke at the ceremony.

The other two finalists were Moni Begum from Bangladesh who became an activist against child marriage at the age of nine, after her own sister was forced to marry a much older man who physically and sexually abused her; and Leilua Lino from Samoa, who was raped by her father when she was nine. Her courage in court, and peace work ever since, has inspired more children to report abuse.

Archbishop Tutu, who has been patron of the International Children’s Peace Prize and KidsRights for 10 years, was honoured during the special ceremony.

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