Teen Climate activist Greta Thunberg wins Amnesty prize

The 16-year old climate activist, Greta Thunberg of Sweden won Amnesty International’s ‘Ambassador of Conscience’ Award 2019 for mobilising world public opinion global warming.

About Greta Thunberg

• She is a Swedish teenage climate activist and a fierce campaigner who began protesting outside Swedish parliament in August 2018. She skipped school every Friday demanding Swedish government take more serious action to tackle climate crisis. Her demand was soon joined by other students. She announced that she would take a year off school to pursue her campaigning.
• She has now become a figurehead for young climate activists internationally. Her ‘Fridays for Future’ movement has spread globally with students around the world strike from school to participate in climate protests. The schools strikes has become mass movement with more than 1 million young people participating from all over world and demonstrations in more than 100 countries.
• She has been invited by International organisations to climate change events in an effort to put a human face on fight to curb carbon emissions.

About Amnesty’s Ambassador of Conscience Award

• It was established in 2002.
• Objective: It celebrates individuals and groups who further human rights cause with their acts of conscience, confronting injustice and using their talents to inspire others. Past awardees include Nelson Mandela, Harry Belafonte, Malala Yousafzai, Colin Kaepernick, Ai Weiwei and Joan Baez.
• 2019 Award: Thunberg was awarded the prestigious Amnesty International prize in recognition of her efforts for mobilising world public opinion on imminent danger posed by global warming. The Amnesty award justifies that every young person taking part in ‘Fridays for Future’ embodies what it means to act on your conscience. The initiative remind us that we are more powerful than we think and we all have a role to play in protecting human rights against climate catastrophe.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2019