Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai, born in 1997 in Pakistan is an
activist for the education rights of children, especially for Pakistani girls.
She recently won the Nobel Peace Prize and is the youngest person in history to
be awarded with the honour.
Yousafzai was
born in Mingora, Pakistan in the Swat valley of the country. The town was a popular
tourist destination known for its summer festivals. This began to change when
the Taliban`s influence began to grow in the area. In late 2008, the BBC Urdu
website came up with a novel idea of covering the Taliban`s growing influence
within the Swat Valley. They wanted a schoolgirl to blog anonymously about her
life there. By the time Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC in early 2009, the
Taliban had banned girls education, and women from going shopping.
Yousafzai continued to advocate for the right of all women to an
education, and she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize
in 2011. The Taliban eventually issued a death threat against Yousafzai and her
father, and in late 2012, a man boarded the bus Yousafzai was riding home from
school and Yousafzai was shot in the head.
Yousafzai was taken to a hospital in the United Kingdom where she made a
full recovery without any brain damage. Yousafazi was discharged from the
hospital in January 2013 and has since become a global icon for human rights
and the advancement of women. Yousafazi is currently based in Britain where she continues her activism,
speaking at the United Nations, Harvard
University and with U.S.
President Barak Obama.
On October 10, Malala Yousafzai was announced as the winner of the 2014
Nobel Peace Prize, an honour she shares with Kailash Satyarthi of India. They are
being honoured for “their struggle against the suppression of
children and young people, and for the right of all children to education”. At
17, Yousafzai is the youngest Nobel Prize winner and the first Pakistani.
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