UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell and former European Council President Charles Michel, two judges on the commission to select the honorees of the 2025 Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, share their perspectives on the importance of promoting human fraternity in the midst of a world marked by conflict and division.
By Kielce Gussie
In a world marred by ongoing violence and division, human fraternity can seem so distant and impossible.
Yet, each year, a group of men and women are given the task of awarding the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity to one or more individuals or organizations who are working across different cultures, religions, and ways of life to create peaceful coexistence through concrete action.
This morning, the organizers and judging committee met with Pope Leo at the Vatican (@Vatican Media)
This year, a record number of people were nominated for the 2026 edition, with more than 350 applicants from over 75 countries, which shows the global mission of building fraternity—even in the midst of division.
Are fraternity and reality compatible?
As conflicts—both national and international—continue to color the daily life of so many people around the world, the Zayed Award serves as a reminder of the power of examples.
Speaking to Vatican News, Charles Michel, one of the members of the judging committee, highlighted how these global challenges reveal why this generation has a responsibility to human fraternity.,
“We have to make decisions so that the world in the future will be better, will be fairer, with more opportunities for everyone all across the world” the former Belgian Prime Minister and former President of the European Council stressed.
Charles Michel, one of the members of the judging committee, is the former Belgian Prime Minister and former President of the European Council
To achieve this, he explained, everyone has to agree and believe in “some common-sense principles: fraternity, tolerance, peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, and efforts for more mutual understanding.”
A mission for everyone
But human fraternity is not just for those involved with the Zayed Award.
As UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell—another judge on the commission—argued, everyone can do something in their communities to make a difference.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell
As head of the United Nations children’s agency, she stressed how important it is to place children as a priority in building a better world.
“Children often get caught up in so many things they have no control over; they never create a bad situation. But they are directly impacted,” she noted.
The only way to help care for and protect the future of these children is through creating better human bonds with one another.
“When you look at all these initiatives all across the world inspired by fraternity, inspired by the spirit of tolerance, inspired by the spirit of mutual respect, it shows that all of us are responsible,” Mr. Michel added to the UNICEF Executive Director’s words.
The two judges reiterated that the Zayed Award is an invitation for everyone to be part of the global team dedicated to breaking down barriers of discrimination, division, and violence and putting in its place pathways of openness, love, and fraternity.
Presentation of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity 2025
Ms. Russell noted that this can take many shapes: “Some people run massive organizations, do incredible work, work in underprivileged circumstances, in war zones. People do all sorts of things. But everybody can do something.”
Examples of hope and fraternity
But the demand for change requires more than words. “We need more than that,” Mr. Michel highlighted, noting how with the “Zayed Award, there is this commitment to support concrete projects and actions.”
At the same time, Ms. Russell pointed out that the award rewards initiatives that take concrete steps “in a way that brings in people of different faiths and different beliefs.”
That’s the beauty of this award, Mr. Michel argued, “because we have different views on many topics, but we agree on the fundamental challenges.”
If there were common values and principles shared globally, he explained, it would be possible to have more peace, stability, and more positive opportunities for the future.
The award after Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al Tayeb, signed the document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” in 2019
After meeting with Pope Leo XIV on Thursday morning and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar just days ago, Ms. Russell and Mr. Michel join their fellow judges in combing through their nominee finalists and selecting honoree(s)—to be announced in February 2026—that represent the future of human fraternity in the world today.
