This speech was originally delivered at the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award ceremony in Dublin, Ireland on 17 September 2013.
Dear respected brothers and sisters, Secretary General Salil Shetty,
Lord Mayor, Minister for Education, Bono, Roger Waters and Harry
Belafonte: It is a great honour for me to be here in Ireland again,
where Irish eyes are always smiling and, you can hear the angels sing.
Last time I was invited to Tipperary,
I saw natural beauty and that reminded me of my hometown Swat where you
can find lush green hills, mountains with tall trees and crystal clear
rivers. And we call Swat a paradise on earth. Ireland shares this beauty
of Swat.
Apart from the fact of natural beauty, the most important thing for
me is the love and kindness that the people of Ireland have shown me.
I would like to thank Amnesty International for their continued
campaigning to protect human rights and for giving me this award for our
global campaign for girls’ education. I am truly humbled to share this
award today with not only the king of Calypso, but the king of
campaigning for the rights of humans across the globe. I am truly in awe
of you, Mr Harry Belafonte.
Dear sisters and brothers, as many of you may know, my beloved home
country of Pakistan and its people are suffering at the hands of violent
terrorists. War continues to be waged against the innocent civilians of
Afghanistan, whilst girls around the world are deprived of their basic
right to an education. Girls like 5 year old Sambul are a target of
sexual violence. Human rights defenders are killed; like Sushmita
Banerjee, a health worker and author who was shot dead in Afghanistan.
We can see that the people of Syria are homeless and children are out of
school. In India children are suffering from child labour and child
trafficking.
In many countries, women have been victims of sexual abuse, early
forced marriages and domestic labour. They are not accepted as human
beings but inferior, neglected, and marginalized. Women are deprived of
their basic right of equality and justice. I could go on and talk at
length of the atrocities and human rights violations that are occurring
every hour, every minute, and every second, of each passing day.
I know that every time a person comes, delivers a speech, the
audience claps and that is the end. Dear brothers and sisters, I am not
here to explain the issues that we are faced with in detail, rather we
are here to find a solution to these problems. You may be asking
yourselves, what is the solution? I believe the only solution is
education….education….education!
With this powerful weapon we can fight against violence, terrorism,
child labour, and inequality. The only tools that are needed are a pen
and a book to guide us on our way to an enlightened future for one and
all.
Today, I would like to ask each and every one of you to do one small
thing after today’s event, this small thing is to put pen to paper
appealing to your governments to focus on education and for them to take
real action.
It is vital that education is their top priority.
I want to live in a world where free compulsory education is available everywhere to every child.
Let no one be forgotten.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento