July 12th: International Malala Day

Every year on July 12th ‘International Malal Day’ is observed to celebrate the life and legacy of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani advocate for girls' education and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize.

Key Points

The United Nations first celebrated International Malala Day on 12^th July 2013 to marked one year since the Taliban attacked her for opposing their restrictions on female education in Pakistan.
The UN officially announced July 12^th as International Malala Day in 2015.
The Day calls for several leaders to ensure free and mandatory education for girl children. It emphasises that education is not a privilege but a fundamental right for everyone.

About Malala Yousafzai

She was born on 12^th July 1997 in Mingora in the Swat valley.
She shot to fame in 2009 when she wrote an anonymous blog for the BBC detailing a life of fear and oppression, often bewildered at schools being shut and even destroyed, sometimes fearful and always strongly critical of the Taliban.
On her 16^th birthday in 2013, she gave a speech to the United Nations on the topic of youth education.
In 2014, she was named the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting equal education rights for all children