Greta Thunberg gets top Amnesty prize

Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg and the millions of school students she inspired to skip school to protest for climate action yesterday won a global human rights award. A growing movement of young protesters demanding action on climate change - inspired by 16-year-old Thunberg who started a weekly vigil outside Sweden’s parliament last year - has spread to countries like Brazil, Uganda and Australia. Thunberg and her “Fridays for Future” global movement won Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award, joining the likes of South African leader Nelson Mandela and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. “You have to fight for what you think is right. I think all those who are part of this movement are doing that,” said Thunberg in a statement. The viral school strike phenomenon has flipped traditional patterns of authority, handing leadership roles to teenagers who feel aghast at the mismatch between calls for transformative action from climate scientists and rising carbon emissions.