Peace prize for children's rights
Prestigious prizes for remarkable humanitarian work are not just reserved for adults - a children's peace award will soon be presented.
The winner of the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child will be chosen from three nominees who have fought to improve the lives of children.
Nkosi Johnson, from South Africa, died last year from Aids at the age of 12. He has been nominated posthumously for the award, often referred to as the 'Children's Nobel Peace Prize'.
During his short life, Nkosi gave a voice to children suffering from Aids in South Africa and asked why the adults of the world did not better protect children born with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
When Nkosi was stopped from going to school, he gave interviews stressing that he was not a danger to other children. The debate on his school situation eventually led to the decision to let children with Aids attend school, the Swedish non-governmental organisation behind the awards - Children's World - said.
Nkosi urged the South African Government to give mothers anti-HIV/Aids drugs and open a home for poor mothers and children with
the disease.
Another award nominee is Maiti, in Nepal, a centre which helps free children from the slave trade. The centre's founder, Anuradha Koirala, said that thousands of girls were sold as slaves to brothels in India every year.
Since Maiti was founded in 1993, different centres in the countryside in Nepal have educated girls and taught them to support themselves.
The third nominee, Casa Alianza Children's Home in Central America, is a division of an American organisation that helps young people around the world.
The homes - in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua - take care of street children and those who have been abused at home.
The award winner will be selected by a panel of 16 children from different countries who were once street children, child soldiers and refugees. The World's Children's Prize, first awarded in 2000, and which recognises the United Nations Convention for Children's Rights, will be announced on April 10, and presented by Queen Silvia of Sweden.
