STOCKHOLM: A 16-year-old Syrian girl who caught the world’s attention as a seven-year-old tweeting from the siege of Aleppo won the KidsRights Prize on Wednesday for her advocacy for children affected by war.

Bana al Abed, who was evacuated to Turkiye in 2016 with her family, was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize for her work, “Reuniting families, reopening schools and offering tangible hope to children in conflict zones like Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Syria”, the KidsRights Foundation said.

“With a voice that knows no fear, I ask (ex-Syrian president) Bashar al Assad, (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Neta­nyahu, (Russian Pres­ident) Vladimir Putin, the Sudanese warlords, and all the other warlords across the globe: How many children have had their lives and dreams stolen by wars, by a regime that kills its citizens, in the name of survival by a criminal who markets war as a political agenda, by an empire that justifies aggression in the name of security, and by those who have turned violence into a deliberate policy?” Al Abed said in her acceptance speech at Stockholm City Hall.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2025