Mexico to give equality prize to Malala

Mexico to give equality prize to Malala
Updated on

Summary The award ceremony is planned for early 2014.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexico said it will award its 2013 International Prize for Equality and Non-Discrimination to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for championing girls  rights to education.

The award seeks to recognize Malala s efforts for "the protection of human rights" and especially her fight to protect the right to education without discrimination on "grounds of age, gender, sex and religion," Mexico s official National Council to Prevent Discrimination said in a statement.

The award ceremony is planned for early 2014.

The 16-year-old, who survived a gunshot wound to the head in 2012, has become a global ambassador for the rights of children.

She is currently living in Britain, where she underwent surgery after the attack.

Malala, who since age 11 has written a blog about girls  right to education, has written an autobiography, addressed the United Nations and set up a fund to help girls around the world go to school and promote universal access to education.

Last week, she was awarded the European Union s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize at a ceremony significantly held on World Children s Day.
 

Browse Topics