Dear friends,

I have just returned from The Elders’ meeting in Johannesburg. It was the first time we have been all together in the same place, and was especially exciting that we met in South Africa on the eve of the World Cup. Despite the many challenges facing the continent, we feel that the World Cup is a fantastic opportunity to showcase Africa’s many achievements – and its even greater potential.

On a personal note, it was wonderful to see Nelson Mandela again. As our friend and chair Desmond Tutu said: “It gives us such a strong sense of purpose and determination to sit with dear Madiba who brought us all together. We take his moral courage and his vision as our guide, to do what we can to address major causes of human suffering around the world.”

Another highlight of our trip was meeting 80 of Africa’s top students for a lively discussion on the future of the continent. We were encouraged by the students’ intelligence, determination and realism, and most of all by their commitment to succeed, not only as individuals, but to use their skills to help many more benefit from the continent’s rich resources and human talent.

Gaza

Sadly, the final day of our meeting was overshadowed by the tragic events in the Middle East, where Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla of ships to prevent them from transporting humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip. We are unanimous in condemning Israel’s action and the deaths and injuries it has caused.
		We add our voices to those calling for a full investigation and have urged the UN Security Council to take action on ending the closure of the Gaza Strip. The blockade is not only illegal collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, it is counterproductive. It must be ended.

Sudan & Zimbabwe

In April my fellow Elder Jimmy Carter spent two weeks in Sudan as chair of the Carter Center’s election monitoring mission, observing the country’s first elections in nearly 25 years. I recommend his recent blog in which he writes about the challenges that an election in such a vast and divided country presents.

Mary Robinson has also written about her recent trip to Zimbabwe. It is good to hear that Zimbabwean women are really showing their male counterparts how to rise above political division and work together.

Eliminating Nuclear weapons

Earlier this month I spoke at the launch of ‘Countdown to Zero’ at the Cannes film festival. It’s a timely documentary about the dangers that nuclear weapons pose and what can be done to reduce and ultimately eliminate them. I also joined other European leaders in calling for renewed urgency in tackling the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Our future depends on us meeting this challenge. I encourage you to visit the new page on our website – Eliminating Nuclear Weapons - and to join the Global Zero Campaign.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has just marked one year since the end of its long civil war, and many of you contacted us with your concerns for the continuing humanitarian situation there.

My friends Desmond Tutu and Lakhdar Brahimi have written about the urgent need to build trust in Sri Lanka; respect for minorities, human rights and the rule of law are the only way to secure lasting peace. They have also called for an independent, international inquiry into violations of humanitarian law by both parties to the conflict.

Your messages

Thank you for the great response to last month’s update from Mary Robinson, which included good suggestions for our website. Claudette from Canada asked that we start a user blog “so that people around the world can post their human rights activities so that we, human rights activists, can connect as a whole.”

I’m new to blogging myself and I’m still getting used to it, but I’ve been told that our team is currently working on this – in the meantime I encourage you to share your stories on our new Facebook page.

I was also struck by Stephen’s comments: “The Elders are not coming out of their tents enough. They need to have more edge, take stronger positions, take more risks.”

I can assure you, Stephen, that there’s plenty of edge left in us yet – we have learned over the years to pick our moments to act, but it is good to be reminded that sometimes we need to take a few risks to succeed.

In the coming months we will continue in all of these efforts and more. As ever we are grateful for your continued support and encouragement.

With my best wishes,