Wednesday, December 12, 2012

UNESCO and Pakistan launch Malala Fund for Girls' Education

From left to right: Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women,
Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan, Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General,
French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown

On 10 December, UNESCO and Pakistan launched the Malala Fund for Girls’ Education at a high-level event held as part of the celebrations for Human Rights Day. At the event – Stand Up for Malala, Girls’ Education is a Right – the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari announced that his country would donate the first $10 million.

Opened by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and President Zardari, the occasion was dedicated to 15-year-old Pakistani school girl Malala Yousafzai,  who was the target of an assassination attempt by the Taliban last October because of her defense of the right of girls to go to school. The aim was to give new momentum to the quest to provide access to school for all girls by 2015.

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