Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzai Fides) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize, recently announced in Cape Town, the five candidates for the International Child Prize for Peace 2011. This is an initiative sponsored by Kids Rights, a German organization, launched during the Summit of Nobel Peace Prize 2005, chaired by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The event presents a child each year who has been marked by bold and important initiatives to help children around the world. This year the prize went to a seventeen year old South African committed to children with disabilities. However, among the 5 candidates chosen from the 98 minors proposed by organizations and individuals in 42 countries, Malalai Yousafzai, a student from Gulkada, in the Pakistani province of Mingora on the border with Afghanistan, made her voice heard, determined to fight for the right education of girls, in particular those who were deprived from education during the Talibanisation of Pakistan.
This seventeen year old, through national and international media, had the courage to be the spokesperson of her peers to tell the world that girls have the right to go to school. In a statement released by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Malalai reported to have understood the importance of education when the militants had taken possession of the less developed area of Swat and destroyed most of the schools and colleges for women. The objective of the girl is not only to promote girls' education but also to establish a forum where those working as domestic servants could study. In fact, many would like to attend school but the economic possibilities of the families do not allow this. Malalai also stressed that education is essential for men and women and urged all parents reluctant to education because of the social peculiarities of the Pashtun culture to allow their children to study. "Education is the only tool that makes man civilized, makes a good citizen and helps to improve the Pashtun society," she said. Finally, Malalai urged the government to re-establish as soon as possible schools and colleges in the Swat area. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 29/11/2011)
