Children’s Peace Prize for Japanese (17) who wants to involve children more in politics | Abroad

“Rena was eight years old when she learned that there are children all over the world who do not have access to education because of the political situation in their country,” KidsRights writes. The children’s rights organization is the initiator of the prize.

“She decided to take action to change this. She participated in several volunteer projects to bring about change in other countries. But she soon realized that young people in Japan also face similar problems.”

At the age of fourteen, she therefore launched the organization Earth Guardians Japan. She let children not only draw attention to change, but also take the necessary action.

Kawasaki did this, among other things, by bringing schools and local political representatives into contact with each other through virtual meetings. She also started a small online platform that young people can use to approach politicians directly.

With her organisation, Rena is also committed to the environment. This is done, among other things, by cleaning a river in Osaka. She works with Japan’s Ministry of the Environment to engage youth in government operations.

The prize was presented on Monday afternoon in the Grote Kerk in The Hague by Tawakkol Karman, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Kawasaki receives a grant to follow training and a project fund of 100,000 euros.

KidsRights invests half of that money in the theme the winner of the prize is working on. The other half goes to projects of other young activists.

The Children’s Peace Prize is awarded every year. This happened for the first time in 2005. Last year the award went to the Indian brothers Vihaan (17) and Nav (14) Agarwal, for their efforts against pollution in their home city of Delhi. The previous year, the award went to Sadat Rahman of Bangladesh for his work against online bullying.

Past winners include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Pakistani women’s rights activist Malala Yousafzai.