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Calls for Nobel Peace Prize for Malala

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And Malala’s bravery has sparked a global movement supporting the education of girls.

More than one million people across the world have called for Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl shot by the Taliban, to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala, aged 15, is currently recovering in a Birmingham hospital after being shot in the head in October for campaigning for girls’ education in the Swat Valley, Pakistan, near to the Afghanistan border where the Taliban has destroyed schools.

The shooting provoked outrage throughout the country and the rest of the world.

The British petition was set up by Shahida Choudry, of Birmingham, who wrote: “In the face of terror Malala risked her life to speak out for the rights of girls everywhere.

“Malala’s bravery has sparked a global movement and we believe the Nobel Foundation should give her the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Choudry goes on to explain that she herself was born in the UK but taken out of school aged 16 and sent to Pakistan and forced into marriage. She was finally able to escape and get back to Britain and education when she was 28.

“I still think of the years I missed,” she said. “I also think about all the other girls in our communities today who are in the same situation. I know that there are girls like Malala here in the UK.”

And she said that a Nobel Peace Prize would send a message that the world is watching and supports gender equality and universal human rights, including the right to an education.

Only certain people, for example government ministers, can nominate a person to the Nobel Foundation for a prize.

In Canada at least three ministers have come out in support of Malala receiving it.

Tarek Fatah, who started the petition there, now wants all Canada’s federal leaders to back the nomination.

Soudah Rad, who is orchestrating the French petition, said: “I know the reality of discrimination. I was born in Iran … Recently the Iranian authorities have limited their access to universities, therefore the action of Malala is an inspiration to us all and should be welcomed.”

In India, 18-year-old Hamidh Kaur has set up a petition, writing: “There are ‘Malalas’ all over the world, fighting and risking their lives every day, to make sure that people around the world get the justice and rights that they were denied.

“It’s time to support them and recognise them.”

November 10 was designated as Malala Day, a global day of action for girls’ education (see WVoN  story) and  young people all over the world have been handing in petitions calling for education for girls to be a right.

Malala Day was set up at the behest of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now a UN envoy for education, and he spent November 10 in Pakistan and spoke to two of Malala’s friends who were also injured when she was attacked.

He said: “The president of Pakistan has agreed to work with the United Nations to ensure urgent delivery of education for all and to get Pakistan’s five million out-of-school children into education for the first time.

“No bombs, bullets, threats or intimidation can deter the international community, working in partnership with Pakistan, to ensure we build the schools, train teachers, provide learning materials and ensure there is no discrimation against girls.”

A fund for Malala was also launched on Malala Day to help her to fulfil her vision that all girls are offered an education. It is being co-ordinated by Vital Voices.

And as Megan Smith, the vice-president of Google, wrote in a Huffington Post blog: “We stand together as a world community to make it clear to those who would deny these fundamental rights for our children, all children, that we do not tolerate these actions and will diligently work together globally to make education universally available for all children everywhere.”

She said that the Malala Fund reflected the vision which Malala herself articulated before she was shot and which was reported on iamMalala:  “…just a few weeks before her shooting she told her friends that her aim was to set up the Malala Foundation to campaign for the 32 million girls round the world who are not at school.”

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