Fernando Henrique Cardoso offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Elders’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro in October 2011. The Elders meet twice a year to discuss their initiatives to promote peace and human rights. With fellow Elders Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Jimmy Carter and Martti Ahtisaari, President Cardoso talks about the Elders’ recent work on child marriage, the Middle East peace process and the Korean Peninsula.
In June 2011 Elders Gro Brundtland, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu travelled to Ethiopia to visit communities affected by child marriage and convene a meeting of experts and activists working to end child marriage around the world.
The Elders' Chair Desmond Tutu reads a letter from fellow Elder Ela Bhatt at The Elders' founding event in Johannesburg, South Africa on 18 July 2007.
On his 89th birthday, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of The Elders: a small dedicated group of leaders who will work objectively, free from any vested personal interest, to help address global challenges.
The Elders Chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes the new organisation as global Elders for the global village - a group that understands the essential interdependence of all human beings.
