Malala

Why Malala deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

Sun, Oct 12, 2014

By Shamil Shams

Malala Yousafzai, a teenage Pakistani activist who was shot by the Taliban for advocating girls' right to education, has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. But does she really deserve it? DW looks at the reasons.

Malala was shot by militants in October 2012 in the Swat Valley of Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack and said in a statement that Malala had been attacked for promoting "secularism" in the country. After receiving initial medical treatment in Pakistan, Malala was flown to the United Kingdom where she is presently residing with her family.

Before being shot, the teenager had been campaigning for girls' right to education in Swat and was a vocal critic of Islamic extremists. She was praised internationally for writing about the Taliban atrocities in a BBC Urdu service blog.

Malala has come a long way since then. She has now become an international icon of resistance, women's empowerment and right to education, and has received numerous awards, including the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize and the European Union's prestigious Sakharov Prize. Furthermore, the teenager co-founded the Malala Fund - a New York-based nonprofit that aims to improve girls' access to education - in 2013.

Rahman said that international recognition for Malala was important because it would strengthen the progressive forces in Pakistan. She said that Malala deserved the Nobel Peace Prize more than many other people who had won it in the past.

Ghazala Naqvi, a Karachi-based writer, said that although national and international lobbies played a big role in nominations for international awards, Malala's nomination projected the soft and liberal image of Pakistan to the rest of the world.

http://www.dw.com/en/why-malala-deserves-the-nobel-peace-prize/a-17986245

Structure of the Lead:
WHO-Malala Yousafzai
WHERE-not given
WHEN-not given
WHAT-won this year's Nobel Peace Prize
WHY-advocating girls' right to education
HOW-not given

Keywords:
1. restive : 倔強的
2. campaign : 從事運動,參加競選
3. secularism : 宗教與教育分離論
4. atrocity : 暴行
5. empowerment : 授權
6. progressive : 先進的 
7. prestigious : 享有聲望的
8. nomination : 提名