Zayed Award committee members hail good collaboration

Vatican News staff writer

The committee meeting of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity brought together the judges who are reviewing submissions and eventually choosing the winners of the 2022 prestigious prize. 

Among them, Cardinal Michael Czerny, head of the Vatican's Migrants and Refugees Section, said he looked forward “to cooperating with the committee to advance fraternity with all its human, social, and societal values”, as the committee begins its review process. The closing date for entry submissions is December 1st this year with the award recipient(s) scheduled to be announced on February 4, 2022.

The former President of Niger H.E. Mahamadou Issoufou also expressed his joy at being a member of the judging committee and said this “great responsibility” can be guided by the example of late founder of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the values of the historic Document on Human Fraternity, signed by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Professor Ahmed Al-Tayeb.

Another juror on the committee, the President of the Aladdin Project Leah Pisar expressed her “deep honor and humility” in her role as a juror. Member H.E. José Ramos Horta, a Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of East Timor, said he was pleased to join this global initiative that aims to promote human fraternity worldwide.  UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka thanked the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity for the opportunity to be part of the new chapter of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and stressed the importance of the award’s mission to highlight and support humanitarian efforts.

The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity promotes the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and is an independent international committee instituted to promote the values of human fraternity around the world and to fulfill the aspirations of the Document on Human Fraternity which was co-signed by His Eminence Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Professor Ahmed Al-Tayeb and His Holiness Pope Francis on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity was established in February 2019 to mark the historic meeting between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Professor Ahmed Al-Tayeb, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where the two great figures became the first honorary recipients of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity.

The 2021 Zayed Award for Human Fraternity honorees were United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and Latifa Ibn Ziaten, founder of the IMAD Association and an activist against extremism.