The American Society of International Law (ASIL) recently presented its 2024 Champion of the International Rule of Law Award to Malala Fund and its Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, for their advocacy to secure free, safe, quality education for all girls and specifically for their work to end gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Foley Hoag LLP served as a co-host and Christina Hioureas, partner and Co-Chair of the International Litigation and Arbitration Department and Chair of the United Nations Practice Group served as the chair of the Gala, which took place in New York on October 9, 2024.
Yousafzai began her activism for girls’ education at age 11 when she anonymously blogged for the BBC about extreme rights violations under the Taliban’s affiliate organization in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Twelve years ago, at age 15, Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban for speaking out against the regime for their extremist policies banning girls from attending school. In 2014, she co-founded Malala Fund with her father to pursue her fight to see every girl complete 12 years of free, safe, quality education and have the freedom to lead their own futures. Yousafzai was the youngest-ever recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts.
In the 10 years since its inception, the Malala Fund has helped millions of girls around the world learn by funding grassroots activists and organizations, building communities and movements, and pushing governments to take stronger action and implement the right policies. The Fund targets its work by breaking down specific barriers keeping girls out of school.
Foley Hoag is a longstanding supporter of the cause this award recognizes. Led by Hioureas’ efforts, the firm represents and advises the Civic Engagement Project and the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project in connection with its efforts to codify the crime of gender apartheid under international law and works in collaboration with Afghan human rights defenders on accountability measures with respect to the Taliban.