The Fondation Chirac was launched by former French President Jacques Chirac, after having served two terms in office between 1995 and 2007. Since 2008, this foundation strives for peace through five advocacy programmes:
It supports field projects involving local people with innovative solutions. The Fondation Chirac has also awarded the Prize for Conflict Prevention every year since 2009. [1]
The foundation's stated priorities include combating falsified medicines, deforestation and desertification, and helping to preserve endangered languages and cultures. [2] [3] The "Sorosoro programme" took its name from an Araki word for "breath, speech, language". The endangered Araki language, in Vanuatu, was spoken by then by only eight people, and the programme's stated objective was to "participate actively in the struggle for the preservation and revitalisation of these endangered languages". [4]
The foundation was directed from its creation until 2013 by Catherine Joubert. Facing difficulties, the foundation must in 2012 leave its premises on rue d'Anjou and thank the staff, except Marc-Antoine Jasson, currently the only employee. [5] At the same time, Claude Chirac and Alain Juppé joined the board of directors. [6]
The Foundation was officially launched on June 9, 2008, at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, [7] with the attendance of most of its Honour Committee's members, such as:
Jacques René Chirac was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophones, or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.
Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a K'iche' Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting Indigenous rights internationally.
Abdou Diouf is a Senegalese politician who was the second President of Senegal, in office from 1981 to 2000.
Michel Camdessus is a French economist and administrator who was Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 16 January 1987 to 14 February 2000. To date, he is the longest serving Managing Director of the IMF.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a French environmentalist, activist, journalist and photographer. He has also directed films about the impact of humans on the planet. He is especially well known for his book Earth from Above (1999) and his films Home (2009) and Human (2015). It is because of this commitment that Yann Arthus-Bertrand was designated Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme on Earth Day.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza is a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat, and poet. He served as director-general of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999. He is currently the chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and member of the Honorary Board of the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World as well as the honorary chairman of the Académie de la Paix.
The Stockholm Appeal was an initiative launched by the World Peace Council on 19 March 1950 to promote nuclear disarmament and prevent atomic war.
Marguerite (Maggie) Barankitse is a humanitarian activist who works to improve the welfare of children and challenge ethnic discrimination in Burundi. After rescuing 25 children from a massacre, she was forced to witness the conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi in her country in 1993. She established Maison Shalom, a shelter that provided access to healthcare, education, and culture to over 20,000 orphan children in need. Because she protested against a third term for President Nkurunziza, she lives in exile.
Araki is a nearly extinct language spoken in the small island of Araki, south of Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. Araki is gradually being replaced by Tangoa, a language from a neighbouring island.
Andrea Riccardi is an Italian historian, professor, politician and activist, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio. He served as minister for international cooperation without portfolio in the Monti Cabinet.
Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist and Pentecostal pastor. He founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been raped by armed rebels. In 2018, Mukwege and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict".
Project Aladdin is a multi-faceted cultural initiative launched in March 2009 under the patronage of UNESCO with the aim of countering Holocaust denial and all forms of racism and intolerance, while promoting intercultural dialogue, particularly among Muslims and Jews. The project was initiated by the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, a French foundation dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust.
The Mémorial de Caen is a museum and war memorial in Caen, Normandy, France commemorating World War II and the Battle for Caen. More generally, the museum is dedicated to the history of the twentieth century, mainly focused on the fragility of peace. Its intention is "pay a tribute to the martyred city of the liberation" but also to tell "what was the terrible story of the 20th century in a spirit of reconciliation".
Raoni Metuktire, also known as Chief Raoni or Ropni, is an Indigenous Brazilian leader and environmentalist. He is a chief of the Kayapo people, a Brazilian Indigenous group from the plain lands of the Mato Grosso and Pará in Brazil, south of the Amazon River and along Xingu River and its tributaries. He is internationally famous as a living symbol of the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and indigenous culture.
Park Jae-kyu is the president of Kyungnam University in Masan, South Korea, and the former Unification Minister and National Security Council Chairman of South Korea.
Mario Giro is an Italian trade-unionist, and since 1990 a mediator for peace in the Community of Sant'Egidio.
Latifa Ibn Ziaten, is a French-Moroccan activist. She is the mother of Imad ibn Ziaten, born in 1981, the first service member in Toulouse killed by Mohammed Merah on 11 March 2012.
Bineta Diop is a Senegalese women's rights activist. She is the founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité, a non-profit organization which promotes women's rights in Africa.
The Brazzaville Foundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in London. Its goal is to develop initiatives, primarily in Africa, in the fields of conflict prevention and resolution, development, the environment and conservation and to bring countries together in peaceful cooperation. It was first registered in the United Kingdom with the Charity Commission in 2015 and granted special consultative status by the UN Economic and Social Council in 2018.