Malala Day: The world celebrates Malala’s 20th birthday

Malala Day is being celebrated today across the world commemorating Malala Yousafzai’s 20th birthday.

July 12^th has been declared as Malala Day by the United Nations as it commemorates not only young activist’s birthday, but also the day she delivered a powerful speech at the UN to call for worldwide access to education. It was her first public speech since being targeted by the Taliban for her commitment to education.

Malala’s life, which is replete with struggle for the advocacy of women’s rights in education, took a drastic turn when on October 2012, she was attacked by Taliban gunmen in Swat. Due to being in critical condition, she was rushed to the United Kingdom for treatment.

The Nobel Prize laureate has decided to celebrate this birthday with the refugee girls living in conflict areas. In this regard, she departed on Tuesday for Middle East along with her father Ziauddin Yousafzai to offer support and pledge to stand for women rights.

Malala also plans to visit Africa and Latin America areas to empower the girls residing in those countries.

Yousafzai recently graduated school and has been offered a place to study at Oxford University.

To date, Malala has received over 40 awards and honors for her bravery and activism, including an honorary doctorate from the University of King's College in 2014 and a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album (for the audio book I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World) in 2015.

She also opened an all-girls school for Syrian refugees calling on leaders from around the world to provide "books not bullets."

In April 2017 Malala became a UN Messenger of Peace.