Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai to visit native Pakistan for girls' summit

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai will attend a summit on girls' education hosted by her native Pakistan, where she was nearly killed by militants as a schoolgirl.

Yousafzai was evacuated from the country in 2012 after being shot by the Pakistan Taliban, who were enraged by her activism, and she has returned to the country only a handful of times since.

A spokesperson for the Malala Fund charity confirmed Yousafzai will attend the conference in person.

I am excited to join Muslim leaders from around the world for a critical conference on girls’ education. On Sunday, I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls. https://t.co/g2ymU4lTOw

— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) January 9, 2025

"I am excited to join Muslim leaders from around the world for a critical conference on girls' education," she said Friday in a post on X.

"On Sunday, I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls."

Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban government has imposed an austere version of Islamic law which the United Nations has called "gender apartheid".

Girls are only allowed to attend primary school, while women are largely restricted to working in segregated environments in health or education.

The Taliban administration claims that Islamic law "guarantees" the rights of Afghan men and women.

The two-day summit will be held in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday, focusing on girls' education in Muslim communities.

It will be inaugurated by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and bring together ministers and ambassadors from 44 countries as well as representatives from the UN and World Bank.

The summit will confirm "the shared commitment of (the) Muslim community to empower girls through education", according to a government statement.

Yousafzai became a household name when she was attacked in 2012 by Pakistani Taliban militants on a school bus in the remote Swat valley near the border with Afghanistan.

Militancy led by the Pakistani Taliban erupted in the region as the war between the Afghan Taliban and NATO forces raged across the border.

She was evacuated to the United Kingdom and went on to become a global advocate for girls' education and the youngest ever Nobel Peace prize winner at the age of 17.