Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been honoured by Amnesty International USA, who have presented her with the 2019 Ambassador of Conscience Award on Monday, DW reported on Tuesday.
Since arriving in the US by carbon-neutral boat last month, she has joined climate protests and had a string of media appearances as part of her Fridays For Future movement.
The 16-year-old accepted the award on behalf of “all the fearless youth fighting for their future, a future they should be able to take for granted but as it looks now, they cannot.”
Amnesty said it was for both Greta and the movement she created as she had shown “unique leadership and courage in standing up for human rights.”
The NGO’s Secretary General Kumi Naidoo, who himself was a young activist during the Apartheid regime in South Africa, gave the top human rights prize to Thunberg and other activists in Washington DC.
Naidoo told DW that politicians could learn a lot from the youth of today and that he hoped the award would inspire others to join the fight.
“I’m hoping that by giving the Amnesty Ambassador of Conscience Award to Fridays for Future and Greta we’re making a small contribution to lifting up the struggle and giving it the prominence that it deserves… Children are behaving like adults when many adult political and business leaders are behaving like children.”
Thunberg has been protesting for more than a year for more climate protection. Her weekly school strike has attracted millions of supporters across the globe.