MILLENNIUM FRIENDS
Poverty is less about numbers and abstract definitions than it is about individual human lives.
Across all cultures, basic needs are the same: food, a roof, water, sanitation and medical care.
Collectively these basic human needs are known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Thousands of people across the world are working to make the MDGs a reality, some have decided to make their achievement a special calling, dedicating their talent and time to lead and inspire all of us.
To honour their commitment we are pleased to name them Millennium Friends.
MYRTIS AN ATHENIAN GIRL WHO LIVED 2500 YEARS AGO
is sending a strong message to the world.
"My name is Myrtis. Actually this is not my true name. I was named “Myrtis” by the archeologists that discovered my bones in 1994-1995, in a mass grave with another 150 skeletons in the Athens area of Kerameikos.
I may look like a girl of the 21st century but I can assure you that I’m an eleven year old Athenian girl who lived and died in Athens during the 5th century BC.
So, how can a young ancient Athenian become a Millennium Friend of the United Nations?
The scientists are certain that I was one of the victims of the plague that struck Athens during the 5th century BC. They also know that the cause of my death was the typhoid fever that also killed the ancient Athenian statesman Pericles and roughly one third of all people living in the city at that time. They also say that it was this plague that contributed to Athens´ defeat by Sparta during the Peloponnesian Wars.
My skull was in an unusually good condition and this inspired Athens University Orthodontics professor Manolis J. Papagrigorakis to begin – with the help of specialist scientists – to effect a facial reconstruction. And, here I am. You can see the result of their efforts in my photo. I look almost exactly the same as the day I died.
Prof. Manolis J. Papagrigorakis thought that my ‘resurrection’ should not only be an opportunity for the world to see the face of a girl who played at the Acropolis while the Athenians were building the Parthenon, but he also wanted my “return” to send a strong message to the world and its leaders.
My death was inevitable. In the 5th century BC we had neither the knowledge nor the means to fight deadly illnesses. However, you, the people of the 21st century, have no excuse. You possess all the necessary means and resources to save the lives of millions of people. To save the lives of millions of children like me who are dying of preventable and curable diseases.
2,500 years after my death, I hope that my message will engage and inspire more people to work and make the Millennium Development Goals a reality.
Listen to me. I know what I’m saying. Never forget that I’m much older and therefore much wiser than you."
www.myrtis.gr (only in Greek)
Myrtis´ message in Greek
| Myrtis is the central person of the exhibition "Myrtis: Face to face with the past" which has begun a planned tour of Greek and foreign cities with a two-month stint at the Goulandris Natural History Museum in Kifissia, where it will run until at least June 15. WHO estimates that the global prevalence of typhoid fever is between 16 million and 33 million cases annually, with 500,000 to 700,000 deaths. Nearly 9 million children under five die every year of preventable and curable diseases. |
PATRICIA CONDE
Successful communicator and actress, enterprising and creative, Patricia Conde has demonstrated during her young career that she’s a woman involved and dedicated with social problems, always giving support to underprivileged people. She combines professional and cooperation projects and she collaborates personally with different NGO in Africa and Asia.
Read moreShe’s working directly in the Promotional Feminine Center Kalasans, in Sam-sam (Dakar) with Mother Regina, Director and Promoter of this Literacy teaching and Education Center for young senegaleses girls. Since some years ago she has thrown herself, with the designer Bibi Russell, into Fashion for Development Project of Women Together Foundation. Patricia’s dream is show through the media that women of underdeveloped countries are the real protagonist of this century. In May 2009 she was appointed Women Together Ambassador. Her objective is spread, in Europe and Asia, Millenium Development Objectives Campaign.
Download:
PATRICIA CONDE_Spanish.pdf, 6 kB
MARY ROBINSON
Mary Robinson is the founder and current President of the Ethical Globalization Initiative (EGI) Realizing Rights. Its mission is to make human rights the compass which charts a course for globalization that is fair, just and benefits all.
Mary Robinson served as the first female President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. She is a leading figure on international human rights and has spent most of her life as a human rights advocate.
Mary Robinson is a leading member of several initiatives; she is a member of the Elders, co-founder and former Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders and Vice President of the Club of Madrid. In 2002, she was appointed the Honorary President of Oxfam International.
Born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1944, Robinson was educated at the University of Dublin (Trinity College), King’s Inns Dublin and Harvard Law School. In 1969 she was appointed Reid Professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law - Trinity College , Dublin and between 1969-89 she was a member of the Irish Upper House of Parliament.
Visit www.realizingrights.org for more information.
KOFI ANNAN
Kofi A. Annan, Chairman, Kofi Annan Foundation
Kofi A. Annan of Ghana, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, served from 1997 to 2006 and was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff. Mr. Annan was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize for Peace jointly with the United Nations.
One of Mr. Annan’s main priorities as Secretary-General was a comprehensive programme of reform aimed at revitalizing the United Nations and making the international system more effective. He was a constant advocate for human rights, the rule of law, the Millennium Development Goals and Africa, and sought to bring the organization closer to the global public by forging ties with civil society, the private sector and other partners.
Through Mr. Annan’s initiative, UN peacekeeping was strengthened in ways that enabled the United Nations to cope with a rapid rise in the number of operations and personnel. It was also at Mr. Annan’s urging that, in 2005, Member States established two new intergovernmental bodies: the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council.
Since leaving the United Nations, Mr. Annan has continued to advocate for better policies to meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly in Africa. Mr. Annan chairs several initiatives: the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Africa Progress Panel, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the Prize Committee of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Mr Annan is a member of the Elders, serves as the Chancellor of the University of Ghana, a Global Fellow at Columbia University in the United States, and Li Ka Shing Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Mr. Annan is also a Board member of various charitable Foundations.
JEAN-PAUL KNOTT
Jean-Paul Knott is a Belgian designer who has worked with the UN in Europe on several campaigns. For the WeCanEndPoverty campaign Jean-Paul has designed a t-shirt for the online European retail store 3 Suisse.
Read moreAfter 12 years working on different products for Yves Saint Laurent, Jean-Paul opened his own company in Brussels in 2000 and has been developing his own lines ever since. His first project with the UN was for the network Friend of the United Nations F.U.N, for which he made the first blue bracelets.
In 2009 he worked with UNRIC on a campaign on climate change and developed the idea of teaching people how to make their own campaign materials.
In 2001 he was named artistic director for Krizia. In 2002 he designed costumes for Maurice Bejard Ballet and in 2003 he started working as the creative director for Louis Féraud Paris. 2004 and 2005 were dedicated to strengthening the concept by adding a line of underwear with DIM, designing rooms for the Royal Windsor Hotel in Brussels and developing accessories lines. In 2006 Jean-Paul Knott launched his first concept gallery, in the heart of Brussels, dedicated to clothes, fashion and art.
BIANCA JAGGER
Bianca Jagger is a prominent international human rights and climate change advocate. She is the Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, member of the Executive Director´s Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA and Trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust.
For over 30 years, Bianca Jagger has campaigned for human rights, social and economic justice and environmental protection throughout the world.
Ms Jagger has been the recipient of many prestigious international awards, not least of which is the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “alternative Nobel prize”. Others include the United Nations Earth Day International Award, the Amnesty International USA Media Spotlight Award for Leadership for her human rights work around the world, the World Citizenship Award from The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the World Achievement Award from Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Golden Peacock Award for the Protection of Human Rights.
She holds two doctorates honoris causa from Stonehill College, Massachusetts, and Simmons College, Boston.
Bianca Jagger is a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch America, and the Advisory Board of the Coalition for International Justice, and was a member of the Twentieth Century Task Force to Apprehend War Criminals.
IRENE KHAN
Irene Zubaida Khan, born 24 December 1956 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a human rights activist.
Irene Khan helped to create the organisation Concern Universal in 1977, an international development and emergency relief organisation working in partnership with Children in Crossfire. She began her career as a human rights activist with the International Commission of Jurists in 1979.
Ms Khan joined the United Nations in 1980. She spent 20 years at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In 1995 she was appointed UNHCR Chief of Mission in India, becoming the youngest UNHCR country representative at the time.
Ms Khan joined Amnesty International in 2001 as its seventh Secretary-General. She is the first woman, the first Asian, the first Bangladeshi and the first Muslim to hold the position of Amnesty International Secretary-General. In her first year of office, she reformed Amnesty´s response to crisis situations and initiated a global campaign against violence towards women. She was Secretary-General of Amnesty International until 11 December 2009.
Irene Khan is the author of “The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights”, published in 2009.
DR. GRO HARLEM BRUNDTLAND
Gro Harlem Brundtland has served as Prime Minister of Norway, the Director-General of the WHO (World Health Organization) and is a UN Special Envoy on Climate Change. She is a member of the Club of Madrid and a founding member of the Elders.
In 1980 she chaired the so-called Brundtland Commission on the Environment and Development. Its report “Our Common Future” is credited with developing the broad concept of sustainable development. The Commission´s recommendations led to the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Born in Oslo, Norway, in 1939, Gro Harlem Brundtland started her career as a physician and scientist in the Norwegian public health system. She spent over 20 years in public office, becoming the first female Prime Minister in Norway.
In 1965, she started working for the Ministry of Health on children´s health issues including breastfeeding, cancer prevention and other diseases. In 1974, Dr Brundtland was offered the job of Minister of the Environment and she quickly acquired international recognition in environmental circles and a political reputation at home. Dr. Brundtland served as Prime Minister for two subsequent terms - from May 9, 1986 until October 16, 1989 and from November 3, 1990 until October 25, 1996,
Brundtland served as Director-General of the World Health Organization between 1998 and 2003. In this capacity, Dr. Brundtland adopted a far-reaching approach to public health, establishing a Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and addressing violence as a major public health issue.
MORT ROSENBLUM
Mort Rosenblum´s spirited career as a foreign correspondent has made him acutely aware of the problems facing our world, as well as its great wonders. For four decades he has reported from seven continents covering not only war and peace but also the ever-worsening crises of poverty and ecological calamity.
He is founding editor of the quarterly, Dispatches, and former editor of the International Herald Tribune. He was bureau chief and special correspondent for The Associated Press for 35 years.
Rosenblum´s thirteen books include Escaping Plato´s Cave and Squandering Eden: Africa at the Edge. His forthcoming book, Little Bunch of Madmen (August 2010) is a textbook for global reporting and a guide to help readers follow world news.
Based in Paris, he spends part of the year as professor of practice at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and he conducts workshops around the world as an Inspire Fellow for the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University. His teaching involves helping students to understand how poverty and inequality are at the root of the global conflict which threatens our very survival.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he was Edward R. Murrow fellow.
MARIA DE JESUS BARROSO SOARES
From 1997 to 2003, Maria de Jesus Barroso Soares was the President of the Portuguese Red Cross. In 1994, she created the Pro Dignitate Foundation which promotes human rights and provides humanitarian aid, in particular to Portuguese-speaking African countries. She also founded Child Emergency and Aristides Sousa Mendes Foundation, in tribute to the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, which saved the lives of an estimated 30,000 refugees, mostly Jews, at the beginning of World War II.
Read moreMaria de Jesus Barroso Soares started her fight for freedom of opinion and expression when she was 15. From 1944 through 1948, she was an actress at the National Theatre, but was banned because of her defence of democratic values. For the same reason, she was prevented from teaching until the dictatorship fell in 1974. In 1949, she married Mário Soares, who was under arrest for political reasons, and supported him when he was in exile. She continued her fight for democracy and was the only women to address the opening of Congress of the Democratic Opposition, in 1973. After democracy was restored, she was elected to Parliament. As First Lady (1986-1996), she was actively involved in promoting peace, education, social solidarity and the prevention of violence. She supported peace in Mozambique, with the opening of the first peace corridor in 1991, following her meetings with then President Joaquim Chissano and the leader of Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama.
FLORENCE ARTHAUD
French sailor Florence Arthaud, daughter of publisher Jacques Arthaud, developed a passion for the sea at an early age: she took part in her first race across the Atlantic when she was 17. After a very serious car accident, she decided at age 20 to participate in the Route du Rhum (from Saint-Malo, France, to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean) and in 1990 became the first woman to win the single-handed ocean race. The accomplishment earned her the nickname The little fiancée of the Atlantic and she became a pioneer in a world dominated by men. The same year, Florence Arthaud set a new record for sailing across the North Atlantic alone. In 1997, she won the Transpacific Race.
Still active in the sailing world, Florence Arthaud is committed to raising awareness of peace and environment issues.
In 2005, she crossed the Mediterranean Sea to carry messages of peace to Israel and Palestine, and the following two years she took part in the Route Elissa, a race for women to promote peace.
PETIT PRINCE
The SpokesPrince of the UN Regional Information Centre since 2007, the hero of Antoine de Saint Expupery’s most famous novel, is a humanist at heart.
Read moreOn the strength of his popularity and his values and his universal message, Le Petit Prince has been translated into nearly 200 languages. The book, with which most of us grew up, has sold over 50 million copies and is consistently on the list of the top 50 best-selling books world wide. It has been adapted into a movie musical by Lerner and Loewe, two different operas, as well as into an animated series. It is often used as a beginner´s book for French language students.
The WeCanEndPoverty campaign on the MDGs is honoured to have Le Petit Prince and (the name of the Foundation and Olivier d’Agay) once again as its spokesman and as a Millennium Friend.
It is only with the heart that one can truly see; what is essential is invisible to the eye
ANNA CATALDI
Stop TB Ambassador and Former United Nations Messenger of Peace
Anna Cataldi, the Italian author, journalist and human rights activist, was appointed a UN Messenger of Peace in 1998. Her book "Letters from Sarajevo" (1993) chronicled the impact of war on the inhabitants of Sarajevo during the siege. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Ms. Cataldi initiated a project to create and distribute a "passport" version of the Declaration for children.
As a freelance journalist specialising in crisis situations, Ms Cataldi has reported from Chechnya, Ingushetia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Angola, Algeria, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan and Indonesia.
In the course of the past eight years, as a Messenger of Peace committed to raising awareness of the plight of children in armed conflict and that of displaced persons and refugees, she has undertaken several missions to war-affected countries.
As one of the founding members of the “CRIMES OF WAR PROJECT” (http://www.crimesofwar.org) Ms Cataldi is currently researching genocide and war crimes in the Sociology Department of Milano-Bicocca University.
Recently Ms Cataldi has been focusing on health and human rights and on highlighting the plight of tuberculosis sufferers.
On 20 September 2007 Anna Cataldi, was appointed ambassador of the Stop TB Partnership. Her new role is to raise awareness worldwide of the disproportionate burden of TB on refugees, migrants, people living in poverty and other disadvantaged groups.
Welcoming the announcement, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised Anna Cataldi for her tireless efforts and devotion. "She was an active, compassionate and productive Messenger. She travelled to difficult places, such as Afghanistan and Somalia, to bring support, encouragement and hope to the desperate and voiceless. I am delighted she will now devote her energies to the Stop TB campaign," he said.
ALAIN HUBERT
Founder of the International Polar Foundation, Alain Hubert is a Belgian environmentalist, UNICEF Goodwill ambassador and modern day adventurer.
Hubert has traveled to both the North- and the South-Pole and made five attempts to climb Mount Everest. He has contributed to scientific research while traveling to the poles and is a leading activist in the fight against global warming in his homeland. In 2002 he co-founded the International Polar Foundation to inform and educate people about polar science and to popularise the research that's being undertaken there. During the winter of 2007-2008 Hubert was in charge of the construction of a new Belgian science station on the South-Pole, the first "zero emission" polar research station.
As Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Hubert recently visited earthquake-struck Haiti to assess the relief programmes that UNICEF is implementing on the ground.
Hubert is also sponsoring the 2010 edition of Oxfam Trailwalker, a unique walking challenge taken up in teams. The aim is to help conquer poverty and injustice in the world. With Trailwalker, teams of four people are required to cover a distance of 100 km in a maximum of 30 hours to raise money for the benefit of Oxfam Solidarity projects.
Active on a scientific and educational front, Hubert is a popular speaker at events across the word. In 2003 he was awarded the Georges Lemaître International Prize and in 2008 the first Climate Change Prize ever given by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
GéRARD FELDZER
A former airline pilot with 20,000 hours of flight experience in over a hundred different aerial machines, Gérard Feldzer has devoted his life to aviation.
In 1994 he became president of the French Aero-Club, later becoming its honorary president in 2005. In the same year he became the head of the Paris Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget Airport.
Gerard Feldzer is not only an aviator but also a philanthropist and an active member in environmental politics, most recently being elected to the Regional Council of Ile-de-France as part of the Europe Ecologie list.
Since 2001 he has been vice-president of the Zebunet Association which delivers micro-credits for stockbreeding to more than 1,500 families in need in Africa and Asia. He is also the founding president of “Les Ailes de la Ville” an organisation which helps disadvantaged young people acquire work experience in aircraft construction.
In 2009 he launched a new project called Condom Fly which aims to fly a 40m tall condom around the world to garner support in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases.
His involvement in environmental politics is extensive and includes becoming president of the “Transports Passion” Association in 2003, and organizing the “Fête des transports et de la mobilité durable” in 2005 at the Grand Palais in Paris and on the Champs Elysées in 2006 and 2007.
He was campaign director for French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot from 2006 to 2007 before being elected in March 2010 as regional councillor for the Ile-de-France region where he was named President of the Regional Committee for Tourism.
As an aviator Gérard Feldzer has set a number of records in his career:
* The first crossing of the Channel in a microlight aircraft in 1981 and in a paramotor in 1985.
* The fastest speed and low consumption rate in an amateur-built plane in 1984 with French singer, songwriter and actor Alain Souchon.
* The world record in a pedal-powered dirigible during an attempt to cross the Atlantic in 1993 with French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot.
PHILIPPE DOUSTE-BLAZY
Philippe Douste-Blazy was appointed as Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development, with the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General in February 2008 following his experience as chairman of the Executive Board of UNITAID, the International Drug Purchase Facility hosted by the World Health Organization.
Read moreHis main responsibilities as the Special Adviser include promoting UNITAID and other sources of innovative financing for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), advising the UN Secretary General on innovative financing solutions to the implementation of the Monterrey consensus. Mr. Douste-Blazy (born on 1 January 1953) a French cardiologist and centre-right politician is a former mayor of Toulouse. He served as French Minister for Health (1993-1995 and 2004-2005), Minister of Culture (1995-1997) and Foreign Minister (2005-2007).
