Momal Mushtaq reports about her very own "foreign policy"

Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to children’s rights will certainly provide added impetus to Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai and her advocacy work. Momal Mushtaq is also from Pakistan and is on similar path. At the age of 20 she founded the Voice of Youth network in 2010, which is now active in more than 150 countries. Momal’s advocacy revolves around the rights of young people and children, especially young women and girls. She attended the 2014 Global Media Forum as a speaker for the Global Experience network based in Münster, Germany. Since the conference, she has regularly contributed to the conference blog – media4sustainability – helping to ensure that the conference stays in people’s memories.

New prospects
Now aged 24, the next conference’s theme, Media and Foreign Policy in the Digital Age, is also a topic Momal can well relate to. Gradually she has freed herself from the confines of her existence. As a woman, she hardly stood a chance in her home country. In the blog, Momal writes, “Back in university, like many other girls in my class, a private van would pick me up and drop me off. If I had ever wanted to go anywhere else, like the shops or the hospital, my father or brother would accompany me to and from the venue.”

This way of life seemed dismal and lacking perspective to Momal, especially given the different, colorful alternatives she saw depicted in magazines. But she didn’t only dream of far away places: “Travelling changed my life; it is as simple as that,” she writes. “They say that you can learn about different cultures by travelling to places, but travelling taught me more about myself than anyone else. It widened my perspective; helped me become more accepting of other beliefs, ideologies, and lifestyles.”

Up to that point Momal had assumed that her life would continue its familiar course. "During my time in Canada, Germany and the U.S., nobody stared at me or passed nasty comments as I walked by alone. I could go wherever and whenever I wanted to!”

Experiencing freedom
When Momal returned to Pakistan, it became dramatically clear that nothing had changed in her country. There were the same social problems, acts of corruption and extremist ideas as before. She was particularly troubled by the question of her own freedom of movement. “Almost half of Pakistan’s population - her womenfolk - sits back at home, not because they want to, but because they don’t have a choice. There’s no law restricting free mobility of women in Pakistan, but the harassment that they face on streets or while taking public transportation have limited their movement.”

Momal developed an online platform called The Freedom Traveller (TFT), where women who want to travel can network with one another, find support and encouragement, especially in countries where women’s freedom of movement is severely limited. The network now includes people from many different nationalities, who share their travel stories and exchange ideas with each other. “I felt that if women read about other women who are courageous enough to travel alone in their communities or across borders, other females would be encouraged to follow suit,” writes Momal in the blog.

Momal is convinced that you have to experience freedom to be able to talk about it. In Pakistan she got her driver’s license and in Münster she learned how to ride a bicycle. She documented her interesting experience in a video, which you can click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxK7YrdBPsc) to watch.

She has made a promise to herself to go on a bike tour every summer for the next ten years. In 2014 she cycled 200 kilometers from Münster to Aachen. “I did it to prove to every female around the world that there is no one stopping them from achieving their dreams,” she says.

Momal Mushtaq’s commitment to freedom inspired the participants at her workshop during the Global Media Forum, and she continues her mission through online activities on her platform www.thefreedomtraveller.com and the Global Media Forum blog, www.media4sustainability.de.

We hope to see her again at the Global Media Forum in 2015, when the conference focuses on Media and Foreign Policy in the Digital Age.

More information on Momal:
Momal is a women’s rights activist and an aspiring social entrepreneur from Pakistan. Her work in development and media communications, with focus on youth and gender equality, has been recognized by global awards, including a first-place award from the United Nations for her work with women. Having seen the effects of violence on a first-hand basis and messages of hate it can bring to youth, Momal founded The Voice of Youth, an award-winning youth network spread across 151 countries of the world. Currently, she’s working on The Freedom Traveller (TFT) to connect and empower female travellers, especially from the countries where freedom of movement for women is highly restricted.