OSLO, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday that the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Kailash Satyarthi of India and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan for their work for children's rights.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the two "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

Satyarthi, 60, who has headed various forms of peaceful protests focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gains, has contributed to the development of important international conventions on children's rights, the committee said in a statement.

Satyarthi founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan -- or Save the

Childhood Movement -- in 1980, and has acted to protect the rights of 80,000 children.

Yousafzai, 17, has been fighting for girls' rights to education and has shown by example that children and young people can contribute to improving their own situations.

Yousafzai, the youngest ever winner of a Nobel Prize, has become a leading spokesperson for girls' rights to education, the committee commended.

Yousafzai was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls' education.

Yousafzai was seriously wounded on Oct. 9, 2012, when a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her in the head.

She survived the attack because the bullet did not enter her brain.

Yousafzai currently lives with her father, mother and two brothers in the English city of Birmingham, attending a local school.