The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

Malala Yousafzai (Urdu: ملالہ یوسفزئی, Pashto: ملالہ يوسفزی; born 1998) is an eighth-grade Pakistani student from the town of Mingora in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and is known for being a children's rights activist. At 13 years old she gained notability for championing the cause of the people of Swat by blogging for the BBC under a pseudonym about the atrocities of the Tehrik-i-Taliban regime. The international children's advocacy group KidsRights Foundation included Yousafzai among the nominees for the International Children's Peace Prize, making her the first Pakistani girl nominated for the award. South African Nobel laureate, Desmund Tutu announced the nominations during a 2011 ceremony in Amsterdam, Holland, but Yousafzai did not win the prize

Yousafzai lived in Mingora Swat, occupied by the Taliban before the military operation in 2009. During this time, education was banned and many townspeople were executed. Schools were destroyed, and girls' schools bore the brunt.^{[citation needed]} She wrote a diary for the BBC under the pseudonym of "Gul Makai" where she related the deeds of the Taliban in Swat.

Ms. Judy Cheng-Hopkins of Malaysia is Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Peace building Support. She was appointed on 17 August 2009.

She was previously the Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees in charge of Operations (2006–09), active in over 118 countries.

Cheng-Hopkins hails from Penang where she attended St. George's Girls' School. She received an American Field Service scholarship to study in the United States. She has a bachelor degree in English Literature from Beloit College in 1976 and a Master's degree in Economic Development from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in 1978, and diplomas from l'Université d'Haute Bretagne in France and Harvard University, USA.

Khoo Salma Nasution, Alison Hayes & Sehra Yeap Zimbulis: Giving Our Best: The Story of St George's Girls' School, Penang, 1885-2010, Areca Books, 2010

Marta Santos Pais (born in 1952) is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children. She brings to this position more than 30 years experience on human rights issues, engagement in United Nations and intergovernmental processes and a firm commitment to the rights of the child.

Before her appointment, Marta Santos Pais was the Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, a position she has held since 2001. She joined UNICEF in 1997 as Director of Evaluation, Policy and Planning. Previously she was the Rapporteur of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Vice-Chair of the Coordinating Committee on Childhood Policies of the Council of Europe. Ms Santos Pais was a Special Adviser to the UN Study on Violence against Children and to the Machel Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children.

Marta Santos Pais is a Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Children’s Rights, and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Inter-disciplinary Course on Children’s Rights. Previously, she was also a Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Child Centre in Paris, and Visiting Professor at the International University in Lisbon, Portugal. In Portugal, she was Senior Legal Adviser for human rights in the Comparative Law Office and a member of the Portuguese Commission for the Promotion of Human Rights and Equality.

Marta Santos Ferreira is a Brazilian paracanoer who has competed since the late 2000s. She won two medals at the 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Poznań with a gold in the K-1 200 m TA and a silver in the K-1 200 m LTA events.