Malala Yousafzai addressing the European Parliament after receiving the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize in recognition of her crusade for the right of all children to education.
STRASBOURG: Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai was handed the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize yesterday in recognition of her crusade for the right of all children, girls and boys, to an education.
To thunderous applause announcing the European Parliament prize, the assembly’s president Martin Schulz praised the 16-year-old activist as “a survivor, a heroine and an extraordinary young woman” and said: “You have given hope to millions of people.”
Malala, dressed in orange and with her father at her right, became the 25th winner of the Sakharov prize at the ceremony significantly held on World Children’s Day, with 21 of the former winners present.
Accepting the religious award, she spoke out for the 57 million children in the world deprived of education, insisting too on the lack of schooling for girls, often due to forced marriages, trafficking, poverty and sexual violence.
“Children don’t want an Iphone, an Xbox or chocolates,” she concluded as lawmakers rose to their feet, “They just want a book and a pen.”
She is known for her activism for rights to education and for women.
In early 2009, at the age of 11–12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls.
AFP
