19岁诺贝尔和平奖得主玛拉拉·尤萨夫扎伊 最年轻的联合国和平使者

    The United Nations on Monday made Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai the youngest-ever U.N. Messenger of Peace.

    The 19-year-old, who was shot by a Taliban gunman in the head for attending school in 2012, will take the role with a special focus on girls’ education.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in her honor: “You have been to the most difficult places [...] visited several refugee camps. Your foundation has schools in Lebanon, in the Beka’a Valley. [You are a] symbol of perhaps the most important thing in the world, education for all.”

    Accepting the honor, Yousafzai said: “If you want to see your future bright, you have to start working now [and] not wait for anyone else.”

    The ceremony in the Trusteeship Council chamber at U.N. Headquarters, New York, followed a conversation session with youth representatives from around the world on the subject of girls’ education.

    Yousafzai talked about her most difficult times and said her toughest struggle was between 2007 and 2009 when she was living in the Swat valley in her native Pakistan and was not sure whether to speak about girls’ education or remain silent.

    “And I realized that if you remain silent, you are still going to be terrorized. So speaking out, you can help people,” she added and urged men of the families to support women and their rights.

    Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. At the age of 12, she became an advocate for girls’ education by giving public speeches and blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban’s threats to deny her an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her. On October 9, 2012, a gunman shot Yousafzai when she was traveling home from school.

    The deadly attack on the young girl sparked international outrage, and she was transferred from a hospital in Pakistan to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital for life-saving treatment.

    She survived, and has continued to speak out on the importance of education. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. In 2014, she was nominated again and won, becoming the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

    She has also written an autobiography, “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban,” which was released in October 2013.

    On her 18th birthday on July 12, 2015, also called Malala Day, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. With its expenses covered by the Malala Fund, the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18.

    Yousafzai and her family have since made Birmingham their home.

    (SD-Agencies)