Neha Gupta wins International Children’s Peace Prize

Indian American Neha Gupta, 18 has been awarded with the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize 2014. Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu the patron of the Dutch children’s rights organization presented her with the award in The Hague, Netherlands.
She was awarded this award for her exceptional work to raise money for underprivileged children around the world. Her work has helped orphans in India and other vulnerable children.
She is the first American to be awarded with this prize.
About Neha Gupta

• Neha is a citizen of the United States of America, born in New Zealand to Indian parents
• She was inspired to the work for underprivileged children during a visit to India with her grandparents. After this visit she founded Empower Orphans, an organization designed to support orphaned and abandoned children in India and the US.
• Through her own organization, she has helped more than 25000 vulnerable children by raising over 1.3 million US dollar. She started working for underprivileged children of the world at the age of nine.
• The list of projects of her includes opening libraries, developing paths to health care, and promoting education.
• She has also won numerous awards including the 2011 World of Children Award, the President’s Volunteer Service Award, the Congressional Award, and also the national Prudential Spirit of Community award.

About International Children’s Peace Prize

The International Children’s Peace Prize is awarded annually to a child who has made a significant contribution to advocating children’s rights and improving the situation of vulnerable children such as orphans, child labourers and children with HIV/AIDS.
The prize is an initiative of Marc Dullaert, Chairman and Founder of the Amsterdam-based children’s rights organization, KidsRights.
The first Children’s Peace Prize was launched in November 2005 during the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome, an annual meeting of Nobel Peace Prize winners and international organisations such as UNICEF and Amnesty International.
Since then, the prize has been presented every year by a Nobel Peace Laureate.
In 2006, Om Prakash Gurjar from India was conferred with this award for setting up network of child friendly villages which aims to give all children a birth certificate as a way of helping to protect them from exploitation.
In 2013, the award was conferred on Malala Yousufzai, who went on to win this Nobel Peace Prize 2014.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2014