Mary Robinson is a founding member of The Elders and was appointed Chair in November 2018. As a tireless champion of equality and justice, she has traveled to countries around the world, meeting with global leaders, political leaders and civil society, to promote peace, ethical leadership and human rights. Mary Robinson was the first woman President of Ireland and served for seven years from 1990 to 1997 as a principled and transformative leader who fought for equality throughout her time in office. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 until 2002, Mary Robinson integrated human rights into the United Nations system. Between 2013 and 2016, she served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy in three roles; first for the Great Lakes region of Africa, then on Climate Change and then as Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate until the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015. She is a strong advocate for climate justice and intergenerational dialogue and led the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice from 2010 until its planned closure in 2019. She was appointed Adjunct Professor for Climate Justice at Trinity College Dublin in 2019.


Mary Robinson will speak at the World Justice Forum's World Justice Challenge Award Ceremony and Closing Plenary and participate at the Working Session Intergenerational Dialogue on People-Centered Justice