Malala Yousafzai (
Pashto:
ملاله یوسفزۍ [mə ˈlaː lə . ju səf ˈzəj];
[2] Urdu:
ملالہ یوسف زئی
Malālah Yūsafzay, born 12 July 1997)
[3] is a
Pakistani school pupil, education activist and
Nobel Peace Prize winner from the town of
Mingora in the
Swat District of Pakistan's northwestern
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for her activism for rights
to education and
for women, especially in the Swat Valley, where the local
Taliban had at times
banned girls from attending school. In early 2009, at the age of 11–12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the
BBC detailing her life under Taliban occupation, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls in the Swat Valley. The following summer, a
The New York Times documentary by journalist
Adam B. Ellick was filmed
[citation needed] about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, culminating in the
Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai rose in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television, and she was nominated for the
International Children's Peace Prize by South African activist
Desmond Tutu.
On the afternoon of 9 October 2012, Malala boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. A gunman asked for Malala by name, then pointed a Colt 45 at her and fired three shots. One bullet hit the left side of Malala's forehead, traveled under her skin the length of her face and then into her shoulder.
[4]
In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in
Birmingham,
England, for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a
fatwā against those who tried to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and
her father.
The assassination attempt sparked a national and international outpouring of support for Yousafzai.
Deutsche Welle wrote in January 2013 that Yousafzai may have become "the most famous teenager in the world."
[5] United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education
Gordon Brown launched a UN petition in Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015 – a petition which helped lead to the ratification of Pakistan's first Right to Education Bill.
[6] In the 29 April 2013 issue of
Time magazine, Yousafzai was featured on the magazine's front cover and as one of "
The 100 Most Influential People in the World". She was the winner of Pakistan's first
National Youth Peace Prize. On 12 July 2013, Yousafzai spoke at the UN to call for worldwide access to education, and in September 2013 she officially opened the
Library of Birmingham.
[7] Yousafzai is the recipient of the
Sakharov Prize for 2013. On 16 October 2013 the
Government of Canada announced its intention that the
Parliament of Canada confer
Honorary Canadian citizenship upon Yousafzai.
[8] In February 2014, she was nominated for the World Children's prize in
Sweden.
[9] On 15 May 2014, Yousafzai was granted an honorary doctorate by the
University of King's College in Halifax.
[10]
On 10 October 2014, Yousafzai was announced as the winner of 2014
Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate ever, together with Indian
Kailash Satyarthi.
[11] Malala become the second Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize after
Abdus Salam.
