History
Malala’s unlikely journey to the Nobel Peace Prize
The Pakistani girl once shot by the Taliban for daring to want an education just like the boys celebrated being the joint winner of the prize with her classmates in Birmingham, the city in central England she now calls home.
Malala Yousafzai celebrated her Nobel Peace Prize where she always wished to be: in school.
The Pakistani girl once shot by the Taliban for daring to want an education just like the boys celebrated being the joint winner of the peace prize Friday with her classmates at Edgbaston High School for girls in Birmingham, the city in central England that she now calls home.
The teenager had traveled to Birmingham for medical treatment after being targeted by the Taliban for her relentless objections to the group’s regressive interpretation of Islam that limits girls’ access to education. She was shot while returning home from school in Pakistan’s scenic Swat Valley two years ago, almost to the day.
“This award is for all those children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard. I speak for them and I stand up with them. And I join them in their campaign,” she said at a news conference Friday at Birmingham Library. “They have rights. They have the right to receive quality education, they have right not to suffer from child labor, not to suffer from child trafficking. They have the right to live a happy life.”
She said it was an honor for her to share the prize with Kailash Satyarthi of India, 60, who has spent a lifetime working against child slavery and exploitation. She also invited the prime ministers of both India and Pakistan to attend the Nobel awards ceremony.
Malala’s case won worldwide recognition, and the teen, now 17, became a symbol for the struggle for women’s rights in Pakistan. In an indication of her reach, she spoke before the United Nations and made the shortlist for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2012.
NBC News: Peace Prize Winner Malala Thanks Dad for ‘Not Clipping’ Her Wings