Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and women’s rights activist has spoken out in support of the people of Afghanistan following the fall of the country’s government to the Taliban.
The human rights campaigner has called on world leaders to open their borders to Afghan refugees. In an interview with BBC Two’s Newsnight Yousafzai said “My request to all countries, especially the US, UK, and western countries, is that they must protect all those human and women’s rights activists right now.”
Yousafzai also said she has talked to other world leaders and members of the US and UK governments to try and help diffuse the situation which, could see millions of women stripped of some of their basic human rights such as the right to education and to being allowed to travel freely, as well as the right to choose to marry and work.
When the country was previously controlled by the Taliban girls were prevented from going to school and women were forced to marry Taliban members against their will.
As the US troops leave the country and the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan once again it is still unclear what lies ahead for women in the country.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in 2012 at the age of just 15 because she campaigned for girls’ education.
After surviving the attack Yousafzai sought refuge in the United Kingdom where she studied at Oxford University and became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She has since become a leading human rights campaigner.
