On Friday 20 May, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of ‘He Named Me Malala’, an insightful and emotional portrait of Malala Yousafzai, that usher us into Malala’s life; both now and before she was shot by the Taliban while campaigning for Pakistani girls’ right to education. The screening was followed by a panel discussion moderated by BBC journalist Sima Kotecha, with Gulwali Passarlay, an author and Afghan political refugee, Philippa Lei, Director or Policy and Advocacy at Malala Fund, and Elin Martinez, researcher in the Children’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. The panel discussed the right to education for refugees, all contributing their individual expertise.

A constant theme throughout the evening was lack of access to education for refugees around the world, whether in refugee camps in Jordan, or in foster care in the UK, and what barriers need to be overcome for this to change. Passarlay arrived in the UK when he was 13 years old, after travelling for one year, through ten countries. He initially found it very difficult to access education, and describing it as “the key to freedom”. All panel members agreed that education was vital for all refugee children, with Lei commenting that many governments do not spend enough money on an infrastructure to facilitate providing education to all refugees, and that rich countries should be providing more resources to those countries that are hosting the majority of the world’s refugees, stating that: “…governments have a financial responsibility to provide an education for every child”.

The panel all dismissed the financial argument that educating and housing refugees will use up their resources, with Martinez observing that “resources can be found when they want to be”. Passarlay stated that these arguments, which create an “us and them” are unfair, asking

“Why are we blaming refugees [for austerity]? We should see refugees not as a burden, but as an investment”

And stating that, as Malala has said before, “we have a voice in the West but we take it or granted”. In agreement, Lei observed that “Malala is using her voice to bring some of that moral conscience back”, when she is not scared to ask difficult questions and talk about the issues that matter to her.

In answer to an audience member asking what do refugee children need the most, Passarlay, with agreement from the other panel members, told her that “What is in short supply is dignity, human value…understanding and compassion. Education is important, but, they are traumatised, before that they need love”.

For more information about any future screenings of ‘He named me Malala’ and the work of the Malala Fund, visit https://www.withmalala.org/

He Named Me Malala is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) shows us how Malala, her father Zia and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide. The film gives us an inside glimpse into this extraordinary young girl’s life – from her close relationship with her father who inspired her love for education, to her impassioned speeches at the UN, to her everyday life with her parents and brothers.

The release of He Named Me Malala coincided with a 12-month social action and advocacy campaign – #withMalala. Through audience engagement with global and in-country calls to action, the campaign aims to raise mass awareness, funding, and policy change by activating millions of people worldwide as newfound champions for girls’ education globally.

Sima Kotecha (moderator) is a British television and radio journalist working for the BBC. She currently is a multimedia reporter for BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme and makes regular appearances on the main BBC News TV bulletins as a reporter. She also presents the BBC1 TV news bulletin at 8pm and has presented Radio 5Live’s Up All Night and Newsday on the BBC World Service.

Gulwali Passarlay is an Afghan political refugee currently reading politics and international relations at the University of Manchester. He has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 News and TEDx.

Philippa Lei is Director of Policy and Advocacy at Malala Fund. Philippa studied NGOs and International Development at LSE after spending 3 years in Romania working with children orphaned by AIDS. She held senior positions at World Vision and Save the Children before joining Malala Fund and has published papers and worked extensively on child rights policy, lobbying and programming related to international development.

Elin Martinez joined Human Rights Watch in July 2014, as a Researcher in the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, focused on the right to secondary education. She previously worked for the Global Partnership for Education’s Secretariat in Washington, as well as Save the Children UK, where she led the organization’s global advocacy efforts on the right to education in humanitarian emergencies and armed conflict.
Prior to focusing on global education advocacy, she worked at Franciscans International, a faith-based international NGO. Focused on human rights issues in the Asia Pacific, she worked with grassroots human rights defenders and advocacy organizations to develop national human rights advocacy strategies and to increase accountability for human rights violations through UN human rights bodies. You can follow her work on twitter via @Martinez_Elin or by visiting: https://goo.gl/V9m0jW

https://www.withmalala.org/
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim
Country: UK
Year: 2015
Runtime: 88′