Twinkle, Twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Your Majesties,
Nobel Laureates,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,

This very hour, a little girl will be born in a village in the Swat valley that has no school for her. This very hour a little boy will be born into extreme poverty in Northern India. What future awaits them? What life opportunities do they have?

Neither we nor the children themselves have the answers. All we know is that in the childhood that awaits them, they will look up to and imitate their grown up role models.

Let’s hope they will have the chance to sit down in the shade of a fairy tale tree and listen to stories about princes and princesses, thieving magpies, and insatiable caterpillars that gobble up anything in their path.

Perhaps they – like us – will gather round the dinner table while they listen. Perhaps the fairy tale tree will bear ripe mangos. And perhaps someone will have given them a large glass of milk to drink. The pleasures of childhood – when all of us, both rich and poor, can be princes and princesses. 

Honourable guests,

Our greatest moral obligation as human beings is to make the most out of our abilities and to do our best in the social arenas we form a part of. We can only truly fulfil our potential as individuals in our meetings with other people. This is why the greatest obligation we have as individuals and as a society is to provide the means by which each individual is able to do just this.

The moral shaping of our lives starts at birth. Children are changed and formed by the societies they grow up in and by the knowledge they gain along the way. Those who are not allowed to go to school are denied the opportunity to develop their innate talents. This is not simply a tragedy for the children themselves; it is destructive for society as a whole.

A society found wanting in knowledge is a vulnerable society. A society in which fewer of its citizens have the opportunity to play an active role. A society open to different forms of extremism. A society where conflicts are allowed to germinate and fester. Universal schooling isn’t only about the right to education; it’s far more than that. It’s about participation, democracy and peacebuilding.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is recognition of just this perspective. The contribution Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi have made to world peace is their fight for the right of children to be children. The right to go to school and the right to gain the knowledge that is the foundation of a good adult life. They are giving children and young people hope. This is a prize for the future; for the children born today.

India and Pakistan are just two of many countries where change is sorely needed. Across the globe, poverty, child labour and lack of schooling are depriving the young of their childhoods. The future belongs to these children as well.

Malala, you asked us why it is easier to make a tank than to build a school. Perhaps the answer is that building a school means being willing to make fundamental social changes. Many of these must challenge traditions, religious conceptions, powerful capitalist forces or the political establishment.

Such changes require strength and courage. Human beings are not programmed for change. Yet the capacity for change is one of the hallmarks of the human race. This dichotomy gives hope but can also lead to conflicts and resistance. Someone has to carry the burden of change, even when it is at a price.

Perhaps as adults we need to use more of the openness and curiosity we had as children when we try to bring about change. Kailash, your example earlier today – when you told us to listen to the childhood voice within our hearts – was a wonderful way of doing this.

You also quoted Mahatma Gandhi. He once said: “You must be the change you want to see in the world”. We live in a globalized world. There are over seven billion of us on this planet. But it is still the individual who drives development forward and changes society for the better.

This year’s prize winners are two individuals who have done just that. Defied all resistance, put fear and considerations of personal well-being to one side, and taken up the fight against injustice. You are the foremost examples of how information about what is happening in society can lead to change, not only in one’s own life but in others’ lives as well.

Dear friends,

The gap between the child listening to fairy tales under the mango tree and the magnificent meal we are enjoying here this evening is vast. Yet we must all be able to dream of a better future. A future in which children no longer have to worry about whether their family will have food on the table, or whether they will be allowed to go to school. And a future in which adults can turn their eyes to the sky with the openness and curiosity of a child, gaze at the stars and wonder at life’s boundless opportunities.

Twinkle, twinkle little star, still I wonder what you are.

And with this appeal to our dreams, I would like to thank and propose a toast to this year’s Nobel laureates for reminding us about the dream, and to the Nobel Committee for providing us with such a special occasion and a marvellous meal.