Education will end oppression

Mai fears for women in South Asian countries Geneva - Arabstoday Pakistani gang-rape victim, Mukhtar Mai has spoken about the importance of education at Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. Mai, who has started a girls' school in Pakistan, revealed that she often receives death threats from people who want to bring her down. She described the attack on Malala Yousafzai, an education activist who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year, as "horrific." "I won't stop my work," Mai told AFP, "we should always be hopeful that the situation in Pakistan will change." Mai has been running a girls' school and campaigning for women’s education since 2002. She commented that she was determined to give the 100 girls at her school essential tools to stand up for themselves and push for social change. She also stated that women in Pakistan and neighbouring India were particularly ill-served by custom and tradition and were often beaten, raped and abused. "The problem is that the laws in Pakistan and India are weaker. They don't give us justice," she said, adding that while laws do exist to protect women they are often not implemented. Mai was gang-raped by men from a local tribe in an honour revenge attack, after her 12-year-old brother was accused of having sexual relations with a girl from the tribe. Mai refused to bear shame for her brother's actions by leaving the village or committing suicide.