{"id":25163,"date":"2017-04-10T17:12:54","date_gmt":"2017-04-10T17:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=25163"},"modified":"2018-04-22T11:53:49","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:53:49","slug":"malala-yousafzai-designated-youngest-ever-un-messenger-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2017\/04\/malala-yousafzai-designated-youngest-ever-un-messenger-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Malala Yousafzai designated youngest-ever UN Messenger of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-overflow:visible;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>United Nations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/en\">Secretary-General<\/a> Ant\u00f3nio Guterres today designated children\u2019s rights activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai as a UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have been to the most difficult places [\u2026] visited several refugee camps. Your foundation has schools in Lebanon, in the Beka\u2019a Valley,\u201d said Mr. Guterres at a ceremony in the Trusteeship Council chamber at UN Headquarters, in New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[You are a] symbol of perhaps the most important thing in the world, education for all,\u201d he highlighted.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Yousafzai, 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 Secretary-General Guterres since he assumed office in January this year.<\/p>\n<p>Accepting the accolade, Ms. Yousafzai underscored the importance of education, especially education of girls, for advancing communities and societies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Bringing change] starts with us and it should start now,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cIf you want to see your future bright, you have to start working now [and] not wait for anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/outreach.un.org\/mop\">UN Messengers of Peace<\/a> 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 global Organization.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s efforts to improve the lives of billions of people everywhere.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-slider-sc fusion-flexslider-loading flexslider flexslider-hover-type-none\" data-slideshow_autoplay=\"1\" data-slideshow_smooth_height=\"0\" data-slideshow_speed=\"7000\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:100%;\"><ul class=\"slides\"><li class=\"image\"><span class=\"fusion-image-hover-element hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/10-4-17malala2.jpg\" \/><\/span><\/li><li class=\"image\"><span class=\"fusion-image-hover-element hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/10-4-17malala.jpg\" \/><\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h5><strong>If you speak out, you can help people \u2013 UN Messenger of Peace Malala<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>Following the official presentation, Secretary-General Guterres and Ms. Yousafzai conversed with youth representatives from around the world on the theme of girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n<p>Taking a question from a young speaker in the audience, Ms. Yousafzai said the most difficult time she faced had been from 2007 to 2009 in the Swat Valley, \u201cbecause 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While recovering from the Taliban attack, she realized that \u201cextremists tried everything to stop me <div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-2 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\">[and the fact that they didn\u2019t] is clear evidence that no one can stop me. I have second life for the purpose of [pressing for] education and I\u2019ll continue working on [this issue].<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Yousafazi 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, to \u201cbe who they want to be.\u201d Indeed, she said that her father always told people not to ask him what he did for Malala, \u2018but ask what I didn\u2019t do \u2013 I didn\u2019t clip her wings.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Summing up the conversation, Mr. Guterrers called Ms. Yousafzai\u2019s life \u201ca remarkable example of solidarity.\u201d Yet, he said, Pakistan is also such an example. \u201cWe live in a world where so many borders are closed; so many doors are closed, but Pakistan has received seven million refugees with open borders, open doors and hearts \u2013 a symbol of generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He hoped this spirit could serve as an example that \u201cit is not by closing doors that we will all be able to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/apps\/news\/story.asp?NewsID=56536#.WO0OB1MrJBw\">UN News Centre<\/a><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres today designated children\u2019s rights activist and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai as a UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12,13,4],"tags":[297,6707,6711,6715],"class_list":["post-25163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-partnerships","category-education","category-gender-equality","category-news","tag-education","tag-malala","tag-un-messenger-of-peace","tag-women-empowerment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}