BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- July 12 marks Malala Day, a special day designated by the UN in honor of Malala Yousafzai, a young woman who has been a prominent activist for female education since her early teens.
Born on July 12, 1997 in Pakistan's Swat Valley, Yousafzai became an international symbol of the fight for girls' education after being shot on Oct. 9, 2012 for opposing Taliban restrictions on female education. She survived the attack and became an advocate for the millions of girls denied a formal education worldwide.
In 2013, Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founded Malala Fund to raise awareness to the social and economic impact of girls' education and to empower girls to demand change.
July 12 was declared "Malala Day" by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2013 to coincide with her birthday.
Malala became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2014.
In 2017, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres designated Malala as the UN's youngest Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls' education.
On this special day , let's take a look at this extraordinary young woman who has been fearless in standing up for her beliefs and fighting for women's rights.
Pakistani people attend a protest rally condemning the attack on Pakistan's first National Peace Award winner Malala Yousufzai in eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Oct. 14, 2012. (Xinhua/Sajjad)
File photo released by the Pakistani army on Oct. 9, 2012 shows Malala Yousafzai being shifted by helicopter from Peshawar to Islamabad after she received bullet injuries during an attack by Taliban. (Xinhua/ISPR)
Children hold photos of Pakistan's child activist Malala Yousafzai as they stand alongside burning candles during a ceremony to mark "Malala Day" in Karachi, Pakistan, Nov. 10, 2012. (Xinhua/Masroor)
Children hold photos of Pakistan's child activist Malala Yousafzai as they stand alongside burning candles during a ceremony to mark "Malala Day" in Karachi, Pakistan, Nov. 10, 2012. (Xinhua/Masroor)
Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old Pakistani education activist who survived a Taliban attack, attends an International Day of the Girl event at World Bank headquarters during the 2013 World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, Oct. 11, 2013. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)
People watch as Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old Pakistani education activist who survived a Taliban attack, speaks to an International Day of the Girl event at World Bank headquarters during the 2013 World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, Oct. 11, 2013. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)
Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for going to school, receives a standing ovation during the "Malala Day" Youth Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on July 12, 2013. Malala Yousafzai, who turned 16 on Friday, urged young people to stand up for universal education. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (1st L) gives a backpack as a gift to education advocate Malala Yousafzai (2nd L) before a special event marking 500 days of action for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 18, 2014. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) designates Malala Yousafzai as the UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on girls' education at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 10, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
Screenshot of Malala Yousafzai's twitter post on June 19, 2020. On June 19 of 2020, Malala Yousafzai took to social media to celebrate her graduation from Oxford University.■
