Teenage education campaigner Malala Yousafzai will this week be reunited with two friends who were injured in the same Taliban assassination attempt that almost took her life exactly a year ago.
Malala – who since being attacked has addressed the United Nations and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize – will meet publicly with school friends Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan for the first time in Edinburgh on Saturday morning, before opening a primary school together in Fife.
Shazia and Kainat – who thanks to support from Gordon Brown’s office are both now studying in the UK – will discuss with Malala their experiences since last October and share their hopes for the future.
The reunion, taking place in the University of Edinburgh’s McEwan Hall, is part of the launch event of the Global Citizenship Commission, a joint initiative between Mr Brown, New York University and the Carnegie UK Trust, which will reassess 1948’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr Brown, who in his role as UN Special Envoy for Global Education has supported Malala, The Malala Fund and championed her cause since the attack, said:
“We all know of Malala’s incredible courage, strength and determination, and I’m so pleased that she will be reunited with Shazia and Kainat, two young women equally determined that every girl and boy should enjoy the most basic of human rights – a secure, safe place at school.”
Following the event, Malala, Shazia and Kainat will join Mr Brown at the topping out ceremony of a new school in Burntisland, Fife, in Mr Brown’s Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.
“I’m delighted that the people of Fife will meet these three courageous girls at first hand and, as global campaigners for the right of every child to decent schooling, their attendance marks an exciting new chapter for Burntisland Primary School.”
As UN Special Envoy Mr Brown is leading a campaign to find primary school places for 57 million children who currently go without.
