UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday designated 19-year-old Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan as the UN’s youngest Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls’ education.
In a ceremony held at the UN headquarters in New York, Malala said; “It is girls like me who believe in education. It is girls like me who are Muslims and are proud of their religion who stand for education and believe in education. And we tell the world that all Muslims believe in education and believe in peace”.
As youngest-ever Messenger of Peace, Malala will focus on girls’ education.
After her designation Malala had a powerful message for the young girls of the world;
“You are the real change-makers. If you do not stand up, change will not come. If you want to see your future bright you have to start working now… Change starts with us and it starts now.”
Yousafzai became an international symbol of the fight for girls’ education after being shot on Oct. 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.
Yousafzai became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2014.
