10 Years
With the “10 Years” campaign, Estoril Conferences wants to accompany you in a journey through the past decade of this international event, that since 2009 has gathered more than 300 speakers and 9000 attendees from all over the world.
Thanks to this initiative, you will be able to revisit powerful ideas that were shared at the stage of Estoril Conferences, engaging speakers as well as key topics in the global agenda throughout the years.
Shirin Ebadi
Iran
Human rights lawyer who was jailed in 1999 for proving that government members were involved in the murder of students of University Tehran. In 2003 she became the first Muslim and Iranian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Human rights is a universal standard. It is a component of every religion and every civilization.”
Edit Schlaffer
Austria
Founder of “Women Without Borders”, a movement have been speaking with women, and specially mothers, all over the world about being more empowered, providing resources and education that gives them the means to educate their children in the most vulnerable parts of the world.
“The mothers saw certain signs. They observed the early behaviours, and many of them expressed to us a “gut” feeling but lacked the knowledge and the confidence to respond properly.”
Bunker Roy
India
Indian social activist and educator who started the Barefoot college to create economic mobility by ensuring that every girl and woman has the chance to seek the education and skills she desires.
“School is something that you learn – reading and writing. Education is what you learn from the family, from the environment, from the community.”
Garrett McNamara
Usa
International surfer best known for riding the world’s biggest wave at Nazaré beach, Portugal. Following his motto “everything is possible”, he launched a campaign to protect and preserve the oceans’ ecosystems from pollution, after recognizing the need to “give back” to the place that brought him fame.
“Everything I have came from the ocean and I feel it’s time to give back.”
Rigoberta Menchú
Guatemala
Guatemalan activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Her testimonial book “I Rigoberta Menchú” won the prestigious Casa de las Américas award in 1983 and has been translated into a dozen languages.
“(…) There is no excuses for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path toward the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous people.”
Mohamed ElBaradei
Egypt
Director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) between 1997 and 2009. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest way possible.”
“We’re now in the XXI Century and we need to figure out a better system of security that is more inclusive, more equitable, and that does not depend on nuclear weapons. The dependable nuclear weapons is a doctrine that is not sustainable, that is dangerous, that is not immune to human fallibility.”
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
Croatia
President of Croatia between 2015 – 2020, she is a diplomat and politician. In 2008, she became Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the United States of America. In 2011, she was appointed NATO Assistant Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy position.
“Through education and media, we can combat intolerance and prejudice, including sexism, and promote equality, diversity, understanding and acceptance.”
Bernard Kouchner
France
Co-founder of Médicins du Monde and 1999 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Since 2015, he has been leading the AMU (Agency for the Modernization of Ukraine), contributing with his expertise in healthcare.
“Mankind’s suffering belongs to all man.”
Frederik De Klerk
South Africa
Former president of South Africa, responsible for dismantling the apartheid system. Frederik and Nelson Mandela were awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for their work in restoring a non-racial democracy in South Africa.
“In our quest of peace, we should constantly ask ourselves what we should do to create conditions in which peace can prosper.”
Farida Khalaf
iraq
Farida is a Yazidi woman abducted and sold to slavery by ISIS in 2014. Fortunately she escaped and wrote her story in the book “The Girl Who Escaped ISIS: This is My Story”. She works as a Human Rights activist and co-founded the Farida Global Organization, which gives voice, assists and advocates for vulnerable people, minorities, and genocide victims.
“We should make sure that Yazidi survivors in Germany, Australia, Canada, France and elsewhere are not excluded from their basic rights in the Yazidi Female Survivors Law.”
Global challenges, local answers
From the very first moment, in 2009, the Estoril Conferences used a “problem-solving” approach to tackle globalization and were based on the need of finding both global and local solutions, while global challenges were rising.
The architecture of global governance
Political and social transformations have always been at the heart of the Estoril Conferences, with an agenda covering several topics, from the euro crisis and its impact on European integration to a particular emphasis on the transformations taking place in the Middle East and Maghreb area, for instance.
Changing the world through education
Education broadens our minds, enhancing our ability to hold different perspectives, which will shape our decisions and our actions when we go out into the world. How can education change the world?
Gender justice: thinking parity on a global scale
Migration as a challenge per se
Climate change justice: urgent action alert
Thinking fairness: what do we owe to one another?
Back to basics: democracy and the fight against corruption
Corruption remains one of the most significant challenges of our democracies, preventing people from leading dignified lives under the consecrated protection of their states. Is it possible to find alternative ways of political participation that allow for greater scrutiny of governmental activities?
From theory to action: building the world we dream about
Some issues cannot be solved without coordinated action and the implementation of transnational policies. What type of real solutions can we present to problems of global injustice?
Sexual Violence: a weapon of war and armed conflitc
The absence of the rule of law and the collapse of traditional values has led to thousands of victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts, with no justice being brought to those responsible for sexual violence. What is the world waiting before taking sexual violence as a weapon into account?
“It’s wrong to focus only on economic cooperation and then to hope that a sufficiently stable system will be become democratic more or less by itself.”
Álvaro de Vasconcelos, EC 2009
“Literacy is the only path to democracy, because only in a society where citizens know and understand the law, their rights and obligations, is possible a conscious and active participation.”
Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, EC 2011
“There is a universal desire for respect for individual and collective dignity, which is combined with the democratic system, where there is freedom of expression and choice, inclusion and citizenship.”
Francis Fukuyama, EC 2011
“I believe that the collaboration between governments, businesses, non-governmental organisations and educational institutions is the key to our success.”
David Thomas, EC 2013
“I will spend the rest of my life empowering women in the underdeveloped world.”
Meagan Fallone, EC 2013
“If we give people their own space to grow and develop, then anything is possible.”
Bunker Boy, EC 2013
“Diversity does not mean conflict. Uniformity is the source of conflict.”
Vandana Shiva, EC 2015
“Globalization is an opportunity and not the cause of all world problems.”
José María Aznar, EC 2009
“These crimes never happen accidentally. It is a choice to employ them: therefore, they can be stopped.”
Dr. Denis Mukwege, EC 2019
“I realized that if we all speak out about what we think is wrong in society, we can change it.”
Ahmad Nawaz, EC 2019
