Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai attends girls' education summit in Pakistan
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai is attending a two-day summit focusing on girls' education in Muslim communities to be held in Pakistan's capital Islamabad this weekend. Neighbouring Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai was invited to attend the summit on girls' education hosted by her native Pakistan, where she was nearly killed by militants as a schoolgirl.
She was evacuated from the country in 2012 after being shot by the Pakistan Taliban, who were enraged by her activism, and she has returned to the country only a handful of times since.
A spokesperson for the Malala Fund charity confirmed Yousafzai would attend the conference in person.
"I am excited to join Muslim leaders from around the world for a critical conference on girls' education," she said Friday in a post on X.
"On Sunday, I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls."
Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban government has imposed an austere version of Islamic law which the United Nations has called "gender apartheid".
