International Malala Day is marked on July 12 every year. The activist Malala Yousafzai was born on this day, twenty-something years ago.
The United Nations (UN) designated this day to honour the young activist who has been advocating for female education.
The 24-year-old feminist, who was never allowed to go to school as a small child, now works to advance women’s rights to education throughout the world.
The day presents an opportunity to call on world leaders to ensure universal, free, and required education for all children. On Malala Day in 2022, we’ll honour Malala, who valiantly battled Taliban soldiers when she was younger.
She was shot in the head after complaining to Taliban soldiers about keeping young girls out of school.
The first Malala Day was celebrated by the UN on July 12, 2013. World leaders at the event were urged to make education for kids free everywhere.
In his capacity as the UN’s special envoy for global education, Gordon Brown, a former British prime minister, addressed the audience.
Malala spoke about the importance of ensuring that all women have access to education throughout her speech.
She remarked, “Dear brothers and sisters, do remember one thing. Malala Day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl, who have raised their voice for their rights.”
Who is Malala Yousafzai?
Malala Yousafzi is a Pakistani advocate for female education and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner. She is the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever, and the first Pashtun to ever earn the honour, having been given it at the age of 17.
She is well-known for advocating for human rights, particularly the education of women and children in her native Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistani Taliban had occasionally forbidden girls from attending school.
According to former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan’s “most prominent citizen” as a result of her advocacy, which has expanded into an international movement.
Yousafzai and two other girls were shot by a Taliban gunman on a bus in Swat District on October 9, 2012, after they had finished an exam.
The gunman fled the area after attempting to assassinate her, to put an end to her advocacy. Yousafzai was shot in the head and was initially taken to the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology where she remained unconscious and in critical condition.
However, her condition gradually improved and she was later moved to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Her assassination attempt triggered an outpouring of support on a global scale.
According to a Deutsche Welle report from January 2013, she “may have become the most famous teenager in the world.”
Following her recovery, Yousafzai rose to prominence as an advocate for the right to education. She and Shiza Shahid, both based in Birmingham, co-founded the non-profit Malala Fund.
She also co-wrote I Am Malala in 2013, which became a best-seller around the world. She was awarded the 2013 Sakharov Prize in addition to the first National Youth Peace Prize of Pakistan in 2012.
Along with Indian Kailash Satyarthi, she shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize that year. She won the Nobel Prize at the age of 17, making her the youngest recipient ever.
She was the focus of the Oscar-nominated documentary He Named Me Malala in 2015. She was highlighted as one of the most influential individuals in the world in the issues of Time from 2013, 2014, and 2015. She received honorary Canadian citizenship in 2017.