Five child activists you need to know

1. Malala Yousafzai

2. Greta Thunberg

Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg started a school strike for the climate outside the Swedish Parliament. Since then, Greta has become a global phenomenon and has helped spread the movement, dubbed Fridays for Future, around the world. 

Greta has spoken at climate rallies in Stockholm, Helsinki, Brussels and London. In 2019, she gave a searing and emotional speech at the United Nations, calling on decision-makers around the world to commit to meaningful climate change action. 

Greta has inspired other young activists too. In Australia, 14-year-old activist, Izzy Raj-Seppings, led thousands of protestors in “School Strike 4 Climate” protests through Sydney, becoming a face of Australia’s youth climate movement when she stared down riot police outside of Kirribili House.  

In what Greta Thunberg called ‘a huge win for the whole climate movement’, Izzy and seven other teenagers, won a class action lawsuit against the Federal Government, which ruled that the Minister for the Environment has a duty of care not to act in a way that would put young people at risk of climate-related harm. 
 

 

Thunberg has also spoken about the need for an equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. She donated 100,000 euros (AUD $155,000) from her Foundation to the WHO Foundation in support of COVAX and UNICEF to help achieve this goal.  

COVAX is part of the global effort to ensure equitable access of vaccines to the most at-risk around the world, including health workers and older people. As part of COVAX, UNICEF aims to deliver more than 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines.  

Yet cases of deadly COVID-19 continue to devastate vulnerable communities across the globe. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Learn how you can play your part.

Follow Greta on Twitter.

 

“I want you to act as if the house was on fire. Because it is.” @GretaThunberg #FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/Ybh8W8VWw8

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) March 14, 2019

 

3. Thandiwe Abdullah

4. Bana Alabed
 

At just seven-years-old, Bana Alabed became well known for documenting her experience of the siege of Aleppo in Syria through Twitter.

With the help of her mother, Bana told of the suffering for people inside and outside of Syria and gave a face to the everyday reality of life in Aleppo. Her Twitter account urged leaders to do more for the millions of children stuck in the middle of conflict.

Good afternoon from #Aleppo I'm reading to forget the war. pic.twitter.com/Uwsdn0lNGm

— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) September 26, 2016

5. Children around the world

“I saw Greta Thunberg speak at COP24. Her example showed me what I had to do," says Alexandria Villasenor, then 13, to a group of young people protesting in favour of climate action outside the United Nations in March 2019. 

On Fridays, throughout the winter, Alexandria took a cue from Thunberg and sat on a bench in New York to protest the lack of action on the environment.
  The marchers also demanded that leaders take to heart the landmark October 2018 report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimating the planet was only 12 years away from catastrophe unless “far-reaching and unprecedented changes” are taken.

In the past year, thousands of young people across Australia and around the world have taken to the streets to protest about what is important to them and what they feel is being ignored by the world’s leaders.

Children have the right to have an opinion and expect to be heard.