An international campaign is being organised to nominate the 15-year old young woman shot in the head by the Taliban for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala Yousafzai was targetted by a gunman in response to her campaign against the destruction of girls schools in Pakistan.

In the face of terror, Malala risked her life to speak out for the rights of girls everywhere. Her bravery has sparked a global movement to ask the Nobel Foundation to award her the Nobel Peace Prize.

Shahida Choudhry, from Birmingham, whose personal experience shows the importance of the work Ms Yousafzai has been doing, is encouraging people in Britain to as UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander and the three main party leaders David Cameron (Conservative), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) and Ed Miliband (Labour) to nominate her. This is one important part of the process.

Petition (http://tinyurl.com/blrbh4z) sponsor Ms Choudhry was born in the UK, but at the age of 16 was taken out of school, sent to Pakistan and forced into a marriage.

"I missed out on years of my education and I know there are other girls in our communities who still suffer in the same way. There are girls like Malala in the UK," she writes.

"While my friends completed their GCSE’s and A-levels I was trapped, afraid of what would happen to me if I resisted. Eventually, I managed to escape back to the UK and when I was 28 I was finally able return to education, but I still think about the years I missed. I also think about all the other girls in our communities today who are in the same situation," adds Ms Choudhry.

"A Nobel Peace Prize for Malala will send a clear message that the world is watching and will support those who stand up for gender equality and universal human rights, including the right to education for girls," she says.

While Tarek Fatah, the person who started the first 'Nobel Prize for Malala' petition, lives in Canada, almost half the people who have signed the petition come from countries around the world.

Petitions are being initiated all over the world. Those in Europe include:

* UK: http://tinyurl.com/blrbh4z

* Canada Petition: https://www.change.org/Malala

* German Petition: https://www.change.org/malalaspreis

* French petition: http://www.change.org/nobelpourmalala

Twitter Hashtag: #Nobel4Malala

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