UAE-based Indian girl in International Children's Peace Prize race

November 20, 2016

Dubai, Nov 20: From a record number of 120 international entries, the expert committee chose Kehkashan Basu from the UAE, Divina Maloum from Cameroon and Muzoon Almellehan from Syria.

A 16-year-old Indian girl in the UAE is among three finalists chosen for this year's International Children's Peace Prize for her unique role in improving the rights and position of children.

From a record number of 120 international entries, the expert committee chose Kehkashan Basu from the UAE, Divina Maloum from Cameroon and Muzoon Almellehan from Syria.

The announcement was made by International children's rights organisation 'KidsRights' ahead of Universal Children's Day to be observed tomorrow.

According to the committee, all three have improved the rights and position of children in unique and tangible ways.

Every year, the young prize-winner gains an international platform to share his or her message with hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

In line with the tradition, this year's prize will be awarded by 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus in the Hall of Knights (Ridderzaal) in The Hague on December 2.

Yunus, 76, admired the children, saying they are fighting for a fairer world.

"Our world desperately needs young changemakers like Divina, Kehkashan and Muzoon, who through their work have proved just how powerful and resilient children are. Adults do not have all the answers. Decision-makers should and must listen to the opinions of children, who have the power to ignite change and move the world," he said.

Kehkashan began campaigning for environmental protection at an early age and at the age of just eight, she organised an awareness campaign for the recycling of waste in her neighbourhood in Dubai.

In 2012, she founded her own organisation 'Green Hope' which runs waste-collection, beach-cleaning and awareness campaigns. It is now active in ten countries with more than 1,000 young volunteers.

Through a series of campaigns and lectures, she has demonstrated to thousands of school and university students the importance of proper environmental care.

Kehkashan has addressed various international conferences and was nominated by her father.

Divina, 12, educates children in Cameroon about the dangers of violence and radicalisation, urging them to fight for peace.

Nominated by Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai and The Malala Fund, Muzoon campaigns for the access to quality education of girls and against forced marriage.

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Israel orders 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah ahead of ground invasion

News Network

May 6,2024

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

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