Ban Ki-moon assures UN’s support to Satyarthi, Malala

The inaugural award has been instituted by leading educational and cultural organization Asia Society honouring “true leaders making a positive contribution to the future of Asia.”

Ban said the world got a head start on the awards ceremony with the announcement last week that the year’s Nobel Prize for Peace was being “shared by two remarkable Asians”.

The UN Chief said that Satyarthi and Yousafzai “give hope to people around the world struggling against exploitation, discrimination and violence.

“They are also good friends of the United Nations. Both have brought their calls for empowering children to UN gatherings. The United Nations will continue to support their vitally important work,” he said.

The Asia Society Game Changer Awards has been given to 11 pioneers, including to Yousafzai and two Indians, Pawan Sinha, Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and Madhav Chavan, Co-Founder and CEO of the Pratham Charitable Trust.

Yousafzai addressed the ceremony via video message from Birmingham, England, where she is completing her studies.

“I thank the Asia Society for this honor, of being included in [this] list of remarkable people,” Yousafzai said.

“There are so many countries and there are issues that children are suffering through, but there are game changers as well who are going to speak, who are going to change the game, and who are going to work for their future. We have to do it together,” she said.

The other honourees include Chairman of the Alibaba Group Jack Ma, Oscar-winning Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Founder of Shigeru Ban Architects in Japan Shigeru Ban, Minister and Senior Advisor to the Indonesian President Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Professor at Shanghai Normal University Zhang Minxuan and Moby Group Chairman Saad Mohseni of Afghanistan.