Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai received
the 2013 Sakharov prize in a ceremony in Strasbourg
on Wednesday, joining former winners such
as Nelson Mandela and San Suu Kyi.
Malala was awarded the prize in recognition
of her fight for universal and equal access
to education.
The 16-year-old activist was shot in the head
by the Taliban a year ago after campaigning
for better rights for girls in Pakistan.
After MEPs gave her a standing ovation, she
gave an emotional speech about the millions
of children in the world deprived of education.
Let us change the ideology of being powerful,
the powerful countries shall not be judged
by counting their soldiers and navy, but rather
we must see which country has the higher literacy
rate, which country has more educated people,
which country has provided their basic rights
to citizens.
The top EU human rights award was handed out
by European Parliament President Martin Schulz,
who praised the 16-year-old activist as "a
global icon".
More 
than twenty former winners were present in
the plenary chamber for the award ceremony,
as part of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary
of the Sakharov Prize.
The human rights prize is awarded by the European
Parliament every year in memory of Soviet
physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and
it includes a €50.000 award.
