Malala to donate $50,000 to Gaza

Published October 29, 2014

JERUSALEM: Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is to donate $50,000 (39,000 euros) to help rebuild United Nations schools in Gaza, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency said Wednesday.

The 17-year-old Pakistani children's rights activist won the World Children's Prize in Stockholm on Tuesday, and said she would donate all of that prize money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA said in a statement.

“Innocent Palestinian children have suffered terribly and for too long,” UNRWA quoted Malala as saying. “We must all work to ensure Palestinian boys and girls, and all children everywhere, receive a quality education in a safe environment.”

Also read: No pro-Malala resolution in KP Assembly without a pro-Aafia one

Several UNRWA schools were damaged during the 50-day conflict in July and August between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, and nearly 2,200 Palestinians were killed, almost a quarter of them children.

On the Israeli side, 73 people were killed, including one child.

UNRWA's director Pierre Krahenbuhl said he was “deeply touched” by Malala's decision to donate her prize money to the agency.

“Recognition by you, a Nobel laureate... will lift the spirits of a quarter of a million UNRWA students in Gaza and boost the morale of our more than 9,000 teaching staff there,” he said.

Malala, who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier in October, alongside India's 60-year-old Kailash Satyarthi for their championing of children's rights.

Earlier this month, Malala also received the US Liberty Medal and pledged her $100,000 award to education in her homeland Pakistan.

Opinion

Editorial

Military convictions
22 Dec, 2024

Military convictions

THE sentencing of 25 civilians by military courts for their involvement in the May 9, 2023, riots raises questions...
Need for talks
22 Dec, 2024

Need for talks

FOR a long time now, the country has been in the grip of relentless political uncertainty, featuring the...
Vulnerable vaccinators
22 Dec, 2024

Vulnerable vaccinators

THE campaign to eradicate polio from Pakistan cannot succeed unless the safety of vaccinators and security personnel...
Strange claim
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Strange claim

In all likelihood, Pakistan and US will continue to be ‘frenemies'.
Media strangulation
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Media strangulation

Administration must decide whether it wishes to be remembered as an enabler or an executioner of press freedom.
Israeli rampage
21 Dec, 2024

Israeli rampage

ALONG with the genocide in Gaza, Israel has embarked on a regional rampage, attacking Arab and Muslim states with...