In December 2009 Lakhdar Brahimi, Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu travelled to Cyprus to film a documentary about the search for missing persons on the island. Watch the film here – available in English, Greek and Turkish.
In February 2011, two Greek Cypriot and two Turkish Cypriot teenagers – Idil, Michael, Tayfun and Thalia – joined Elders Desmond Tutu, Gro Brundtland and Lakhdar Brahimi on a visit to London. In this video the four students answer some challenging questions from the Cypriot community in London and tell us why they won't give up on their dream for a united Cyprus.
The bi-communal Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus has been working since 2007 to recover the remains of missing persons and return them to their families. The Elders visited the divided island in December 2009 to film a documentary about the Committee's valuable work.
In December 2009, Lakhdar Brahimi, Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu joined four teenagers - two Greek Cypriot and two Turkish Cypriot - to learn about a very difficult and painful issue: the search for missing persons in Cyprus. Their journey to discover more about the Cypriots working to uncover their hidden past has been made into a documentary.
Jimmy Carter and Ela Bhatt answer your questions on promoting peace in the Middle East.
As part of their September 2009 Cyprus visit, the Elders held meetings in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia – the only place that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots can easily meet - with leading women from politics, civil society, business, journalism and academia. Speaking afterwards to local media they called for a greater role for women in the peace process in Cyprus.
On the second day of their visit, the Elders met Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as well as Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad in Ramallah. On their way to the West Bank, they stopped at the Qalandia checkpoint, where hundreds of Palestinians line up daily to cross into Israel under tight security. There they met Zaina who has made the crossing many times to go to school. Zaina joined other young Palestinians in conversation with the Elders later in the day to express their frustrations with the current situation and their hopes for peace.
On the first day of their visit to the Middle East, the Elders visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and paid tribute to the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. In a lively meeting with a diverse group of young people from all over Israel, the Elders heard of the hope that unites them, and of the frustrations they have about their society.
Graça Machel and Mary Robinson state that though women are brutalised in conflict, they are not victims; they are actors for change.
Mary Robinson and Lakhdar Brahimi argue that women must be included in the peace-building process.
