WASHINGTON: Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future youth movement received Amnesty International’s “Ambassadors of Conscience” award on Monday for their work highlighting the need for urgent action to avert climate disaster.

The 16-year-old, who is taking a year out of high school, received a standing ovation from students at The George Washington University in the US capital where the ceremony was held.

“The politics required to take on this crisis simply doesn’t exist today,” Thunberg said, standing on a step to reach the microphone.

“That is why every single one of us must push from every possible angle to hold those responsible accountable and to make the people in power act.”

She added that the prize was not just for her but the millions of youth who have taken part since last year in weekly school strikes held every Friday, inspired by the sit-in she began outside Sweden’s parliament in August 2018.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2019