“One of the most incredible sources of energy for me is when I am with young people – sorry oldies!” Desmond Tutu
In May 2012 four 'Youngers' – climate change activists from Nigeria, Brazil, Sweden and China – joined the Elders at their bi-annual meeting in Oslo to discuss the upcoming Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, the role of the UN, and how to mobilise civil society, especially young people, around urgent global issues.
In February 2012 four Elders travelled to Bihar, India, to meet a group of young people campaigning to stop child marriage. After listening to the teenage girls and boys, Desmond Tutu, Ela Bhatt, Gro Brundtland and Mary Robinson raised the issue with Bihar's Chief Minister, urging him to support the growing movement to end this harmful practice.
Throughout their work, the Elders strive to hear from young people. Having met youth of Cairo, Gaza, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Nicosia, Pyongyang, Ramallah and Seoul in the past few years, they welcomed the opportunity of their biannual gathering in Rio de Janeiro, in October 2011, to meet around fifty young Brazilians.
During their visit to the divided island of Cyprus in December 2009, the Elders filmed a documentary about the dedicated Cypriots working to locate and identify the remains of the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who were killed in the 1960s and 1970s. These photographs tell the story behind the film.
At the start of their October 2010 visit to the Middle East, Mary Robinson, Ela Bhatt and Lakhdar Brahimi spent a day in the blockaded Gaza strip. A ban by Israel and Egypt prohibits the import of building materials and severely restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza. The Elders say the blockade is illegal, unconscionable and counterproductive – and call for it to be lifted immediately.
Twenty Palestinian students leave Gaza for the first time to meet Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel and Mary Robinson in South Africa, and Gro Brundtland in Norway.
Eman Mohammed is a 21 year old photojournalist and blogger based in Gaza City. She seeks to portray the positive potential of the Gaza Strip despite the harsh realities she documents through her photography.
