Equal rights in the USA
1955 2010
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In 1955 a woman called Rosa Parks, who is black, refuses to give up her seat on the bus for a white man. Rosa is fined, because in the American South black people do not have the same rights as white people. They are not allowed to go to the same schools as white children, and sometimes they are not allowed to vote. Civil rights champion Martin Luther King starts a boycott of the bus company. This marks the beginning of a major protest movement across the USA, against racism and for freedom and equal rights.
Voting rights for everyone in South Africa In 1994 Nelson Mandela becomes South Africa’s first democratically elected president. He has been in prison for 27 years for his fight against the country’s racist apartheid system, which separated people according to skin colour. The election of Mandela is the first time that all South Africans are able to participate in an election on equal terms.
The Arab spring In 2010 a poor young man in Tunisia has his vegetable cart confiscated by the police. He sets himself on fire in protest, and when news of his death spreads, hundreds of thousands of people go out on the streets to demonstrate. They manage to topple the dictator who rules the country, Ben Ali. People in neighbouring countries are inspired, and the dictatorships in Egypt and Libya are overthrown by mass protests too. The democracy movement in the Middle East is often called the Arab Spring.
Dictatorships remain Today, many countries in the world are still ruled by dictators, but even in many democracies human rights continue to be violated. The rights of the child are violated in all countries. In dictatorships people are denied the right to vote and the right to express their views – freedom of opinion. The rulers decide everything, and enrich themselves and their families on the people’s expense.
Towards democracy in Burma
2010
In 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest by the Burmese dictatorship, after having spent fifteen of the previous 23 years under house arrest because of her brave struggle for democracy in Burma. In 2011 she becomes a patron of the World’s Children’s Prize Foundation.
2016/2017
The children’s democratic Global Vote In 2016/2017 the World’s Children’s Prize Program will take place for the sixteenth time. So far, over 38,4 million children have learned about their rights and democracy – knowledge needed by every new generation. It helps you and your friends to go through life making your country a better place, where democracy is strengthened and children’s rights and human rights are respected. When you have learned all about the rights of the child, and the prize candidates, you are ready for the democratic Global Vote. Your vote is your decision. No-one should tell you who to vote for. The candidate who receives the majority of the votes will receive the 2016/2017 World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child!
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