Global Child Forum Co-Hosts the 2025
International Children’s Peace Prize
in Stockholm

On 19 November 2025 at Stockholm City Hall, the International Children’s Peace Prize — the world’s leading youth award — will be presented. Co-hosting for the first time, Global Child Forum joins at the invitation of KidsRights to amplify youth voices and translate them into action on children’s rights.

This year’s award will be presented to an exceptional young changemaker by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, honouring their courage and leadership in promoting children’s rights.

The International Children’s Peace Prize has recognised some of the world’s most impactful youth voices, including Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg. In 2024, when the prize was awarded in Amsterdam, the winner’s message reached more than 3.8 billion people worldwide — underscoring the prize’s global resonance and authority.

Elevating Youth Voices

Global Child Forum’s role as co-host reflects our conviction that children and youth are already leading on climate, digital safety, equality, and justice — and that their perspectives must shape how all sectors respond. The 2025 ceremony is designed to keep youth voices at the centre and to catalyse collaboration across society — from governments and NGOs to communities, and business.

A Swedish Stage for Global Impact

Founded in 2009 by Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Global Child Forum brings a distinctly Swedish–Nordic perspective to this partnership. Hosting the International Children’s Peace Prize at Stockholm City Hall underscores Sweden’s long-standing leadership in children’s rights and sustainability, positioning the country as a global meeting point for youth, advocacy, and business.

Ekin Ergün Björstedt, Secretary General, Global Child Forum:
“Children are not waiting for permission to change the world — they are already leading the way. Business must not only hear them but act with them. The International Children’s Peace Prize is a vital platform to elevate courageous young changemakers and bring their solutions to the center of global decision-making. By joining forces with KidsRights — whose steadfast leadership has amplified youth voices worldwide — we can extend that impact by connecting youth leadership with the power of business.”

Marc Dullaert, Founder and Chair of KidsRights:
“The International Children’s Peace Prize is a powerful platform to spotlight courageous young people who are creating change in the most challenging environments. Joining forces with Global Child Forum allows us to extend this mission. Their commitment to leveraging the power of business as a driver of change enriches the international dialogue and ensures that corporations, alongside governments and NGOs, are actively advancing children’s rights in their communities and operations.”

The 2025 International Children’s Peace Prize ceremony will not only celebrate youth leadership but also challenge businesses, policymakers, and civil society to collaborate with young changemakers to create lasting impact for the world’s children.

Princess Laurentien congratulates 2022 Children’s Peace Prize Laureate, Rena Kawasaki.

For more information, visit www.globalchildforum.org or www.kidsrights.org.

KidsRights is an international non-governmental children’s rights organization that strives for a world where all children have access to their rights and are enabled to realise the great potential they carry within them. KidsRights sees children as changemakers with the power to move the world, and facilitates in voicing their opinions and taking action in order to bring about change. KidsRights supports children by commanding global attention for the realization of children’s rights and acts as a catalyst to ignite change, together with children and youth. KidsRights is the founder of world’s most important youth prize – The International Children’s Peace Prize; The State of Youth, the world’s first digital borderless state and the organisation behind the first and only global annual KidsRights Index that annually measures how children’s rights are respected worldwide and to what extent countries are committed to improving the rights of children. KidsRights has a consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).