The Elders (organization)
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| Founded | 18 July 2007 |
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Members
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12 (including one honorary) |
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Key people
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Nelson Mandela (Founder) Kofi Annan (Chair) Gro Harlem Brundtland (Deputy Chair) Lesley-Anne Knight (CEO) |
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Employees
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20 |
| Mission | "help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts" and other issues. |
| Website | theelders |
The Elders is an international non-governmental organisation of public figures noted as elder statesmen, peace activists, and human rights advocates, who were brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007. They describe themselves as "independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights". The goal Mandela set for the Elders was to use their "almost 1,000 years of collective experience" to work on solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems such as climate change, HIV/AIDS, and poverty, as well as to "use their political independence to help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts".
The Elders is chaired by Kofi Annan and consists of eleven Elders and one honorary Elder.Desmond Tutu served for six years as chair before stepping down in May 2013, and remains an Honorary Elder.
The group was initiated by Richard Branson and musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel, together with anti-apartheid activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela. Mandela announced the formation of the group on his eighty-ninth birthday on 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
At the launch ceremony, an empty chair was left on stage for Aung San Suu Kyi, the human rights activist who was a political prisoner in Burma/Myanmar at the time. Present at the launch were Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter, Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Yunus, and Li Zhaoxing. Members who were not present at the launch were Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Lakhdar Brahimi, and Fernando Henrique Cardoso.Martti Ahtisaari joined The Elders in September 2009.Hina Jilani and Ernesto Zedillo joined the group in July 2013.
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