UN Secretary-General António Guterres, has designated children’s rights activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, as a UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls’ education.

Guterres, at a ceremony at UN headquarters in New York on Monday, praised Malala for her contributions to girls’ education even in the most difficult places.

“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’,” the Secretary-General said.

Guterres, while conferring the highest UN award on her, said Yousafzai’s life was “a remarkable example of solidarity”.

“Yet, Pakistan was also such an example. We live in a world where so many borders closed; so many doors are closed. But Pakistan has received seven million refugees with open borders, open doors and hearts – open a symbol of generosity,” he said.

Guterres said he hoped “this spirit can serve as an example that it is not by closing doors that we will all be able to move forward”.

Accepting the conferment, Yousafzai, 19, underscored the importance of education, especially education of girls, for advancing communities and societies.

“Bringing change starts with us and it should start now. If you want to see your future bright, you have to start working now and not wait for anyone else,” she said.

UN Messengers of Peace are distinguished individuals, carefully selected from the fields of art, literature, science, entertainment, sports or other fields of public life, who have agreed to help focus worldwide attention on the work of the UN.

Backed by the highest honour bestowed by the Secretary-General on a global citizen, these prominent personalities volunteer their time, talent and passion to raise awareness of UN’s efforts to improve the lives of billions of people everywhere.

After her designation, Guterres, Yousafzai and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, conversed with youth representatives from around the world on the theme of girls’ education.

Malala Yousafzai and UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed. Photo Credit: UN

Malala, in her remarks, said the most difficult time she faced had been from 2007 to 2009 in the Swat Valley.

“Because we were at a point of making a decision about whether to speak out 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 said.

Malala,  who was shot in 2012 by the Taliban for attending classes, is the youngest-ever UN Messenger of Peace and the first one to be designated by Guterres since he assumed office in January.

She said while recovering from the Taliban attack, she realized that “extremists tried everything to stop me and the fact that they didn’t is clear evidence that no one can stop me.

“I have second life for the purpose of education and I’ll continue working on this issue”.

Malala went on to say that brothers and fathers must also support women and girls in the global effort to ensure education for all and, more importantly, “be who they want to be”.

According to her, her father always told people not to ask him what he “did for Malala, but ask what I didn’t do – I didn’t clip her wings”.

Source: Bellanaija