Japanese Teenager Wins Int'l Children's Peace Prize

London, Nov. 14 (Jiji Press)--Japanese teenager Rena Kawasaki has won this year's International Children's Peace Prize for her activities to help increase young people's participation in society, the KidsRights Foundation, the prize organizer, said Monday.

The 17-year-old from the city of Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, became the first Japanese to receive the prize, which was launched in 2005.

A 12th-grader at Osaka International School, Kawasaki has taken part in various volunteering projects since reading a book about children who are unable to receive education.

She launched a nongovernmental organization at the age of 14 to carry out activities aimed at promoting young people's engagement in the decision-making for policies that affect their future, according to the Netherlands-based international children's rights organization.

Her "pioneering work to increase child participation in politics, the environment and society in her home country and across the world has made her the leading youth advocate in Japan," the foundation said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]