Islamabad, April 8 (IANS): Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is set to become the United Nations’ youngest-ever “Messenger of Peace”, the international body’s chief has announced.
Yousafzai, 19, will be honoured by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York on April 10. She will help promote girl’s education around the world as part of her new role.
The ceremony will be followed by a conversation between Guterres, Yousafzai and other youth representatives around the world on the theme of girls’ education, Daily Pakistan reported on Saturday.
“Even in the face of grave danger, Malala Yousafzai has shown an unwavering commitment to the rights of women, girls and all people,” Guterres said on Friday on his selection of Yousafzai for the designation.
“Her courageous activism for girls’ education has already energised so many people around the world. Now as our youngest-ever UN Messenger of Peace, Malala can do even more to help create a more just and peaceful world,” he said.
Born on July 12, 1997 in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, Yousafzai became an international symbol for the fight for girls’ education after being shot on October 9, 2012 for opposing Taliban restrictions on female education.
She survived the attack and became an advocate for the millions of girls denied a formal education worldwide.
In 2013, Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founded Malala Fund to bring awareness to the social and economic impact of girls’ education and to empower girls to demand change. Yousafzai became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2014.
