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| Pakistani Teen Girl Nominee for Nobel Peace Prize 20013 |
Malala Yousufzai of Pakistan leaving Queen Elizabeth
Hospital Birmingham, Britain, on Jan. 4 after she was discharged. She will have
to undergo specialist cranial surgery at a later date.
Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl who rose to
international fame after the Taliban nearly killed her for her efforts to
promote girls’ education, has been formally nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace
Prize.
Her name was put forward by three members of the
Norwegian parliament from the ruling Labor Party on their website Friday, which
was the deadline for nominations.
Malala’s name was put forward because of "her
courageous commitment to the right of girls to education. A commitment that
seemed so threatening to the extremists that they chose to try and kill
her," said parliamentarian Freddy de Ruiter on the Labor party web site.
De Ruiter made the nomination with fellow members of
parliament Gorm Kjernli and Magne Rommetveit.
Malala was attacked in October with two other girls while
traveling home from school in Pakistan’s Swat valley. The gunman boarded the van and asked for her
by name before firing three shots at her — singling her out for writing a blog
that criticized the Taliban for barring girls for getting an education.
A week later, Malala was flown to a hospital in the UK
for treatment. She is now facing a final major surgery to place a titanium
plate over the hole left in her skull. While in the hospital she has received
thousands of messages from well-wishers around the world, and continued to
speak out on behalf of her cause, becoming a global icon.
The Norwegian MPs said they believed that Malala was
"a worthy winner for many reasons. She has become an important symbol in
the fight against destructive forces that want to prevent democracy, equality
and human rights."
She was also reportedly nominated by members of
parliament in France, Spain and Canada. NBC News has not confirmed that
information.
To be sure, it is very early in the Nobel process, which
culminates with a winner in October.
The Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation, which has been
awarding Nobel awards for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine,
literature and peace since 1901, said 231 names were submitted for the Peace
Prize last year, including 41 organizations.
Nominations can be made only by a select group of people
worldwide, including national lawmakers, university presidents and previous
Nobel winners
.
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