Professor Catherine Powell, Eunice Hunton Carter Distinguished Research Scholar at Fordham Law, co-authored a post for the Council on Foreign Relations’s Women and Foreign Policy Program blog, looking back at one of her 2024 highlights—meeting Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai, at the American Society of International Law Gala.
Powell is an adjunct senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
A highlight of 2024 was commemorating Malala Yousafzai on Human Rights Day. As we move into 2025, we are taking one last peak in the rearview mirror at 2024 to draw inspiration for the fight ahead for women’s rights. Malala was only eleven when she began advocating for girls’ education and her right to learn under the Taliban’s rule in the Swat District of Pakistan. When she was fifteen, the Taliban targeted her in an attack meant to silence her voice and growing activism, and eight of her ten attackers were acquitted. In 2014, at seventeen, Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate in the awards’ history. This past October 9—marking the twelve-year anniversary of the attack on her—the American Society of International Law (ASIL) awarded Malala and her organization, the Malala Fund, the 2024 Champion of the International Rule of Law Award at their 2024 gala. Held at the New York City Bar Association, the event commemorated the work that Malala and her organization have pioneered—providing resources and investing in girls’ right to twelve years of education. The following day marked the tenth anniversary of the Norwegian-based Nobel Committee announcing Malala as the youngest recipient of its coveted Peace Prize. This was a highlight of 2024 for any of us who work on women’s human rights.
