Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Juan Manuel Santos and Zeid Raad Al Hussein join The Elders
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Laureate, Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and Nobel Laureate, and Zeid Raad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, joined The Elders in 2019.
“I am delighted to welcome three such esteemed new members to our group. Ellen, Juan Manuel and Zeid each bring valuable and distinctive perspectives on issues that are central to our work, from human rights and peacebuilding to gender equality and justice for all.”
- Mary Robinson
The Elders launch Access to Justice initiative
Access to justice for all is an important human right, yet, more than five billion people worldwide do not have meaningful access to justice.
Mary Robinson and Hina Jilani launched a new initiative to close this justice gap and The Elders will work with governments and civil society to make this right a reality, for, without justice, the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved.
The Elders launch Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament initiative
Presenting the new programme at the Munich Security Conference, Mary Robinson and Lakhdar Brahimi called on nuclear-armed states, particularly the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, to commit to a “minimisation” agenda that offers a realistic long-term path to the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Elders visit China to meet President Xi Jinping
Mary Robinson, Ban Ki-moon, Lakhdar Brahimi, Ricardo Lagos and Ernesto Zedillo met President Xi Jinping and other senior Chinese leaders. They welcomed China’s commitment to multilateralism and dialogue on rights and development.
“China has shown a clear desire to fulfil its commitments under the Paris Agreement, and play a central role in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. At a time when international cooperation is faltering, this is welcome news.”
- Ban Ki-moon
Gro Harlem Brundtland links pandemics and universal health coverage
After challenging world leaders to deliver Universal Health Coverage through publicly-financed primary healthcare-led reform, at the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, Gro Harlem Brundtland urged leaders to ensure resilience to pandemics and epidemics by investing in health systems that are capable of meeting its challenges.
