February 4, 2025
Transcript of remarks by the Honorable Mia Amor Mottley, SC, MP, after receiving the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity:
“Your Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, members of the judging committee, fellow awardees, my brothers and sisters.
As usual, a speech was prepared and I’m leaving it behind.
I want to thank all of you. First of all, for the acknowledgement and confidence that you’ve placed in us, all of the awardees.
This is not an accolade, but it is a call to action and it is a charge for us to continue doing what we do. This young lady who you saw and so many more like her are the ones who will be affected by the wildfires and the hurricanes and the destruction of the coral reefs.
But while we talk about the destruction of the climate crisis, they’re also going to be affected by the things that will be ignored if we don’t recognize that we cannot separate people and planet. That our actions to support each other must first and foremost say, see people, hear people, and feel people.
This Zayed Award for Humanity, bringing together the best of what is represented both by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence the Grand Imam, allows us to reflect on what really matters for without life, we have nothing. And without planet, we definitely have nothing.
Let us not be arrogant and believe that species live on forever and will never become extinct because we know that living species have become extinct. And let us not believe that our civilization is above all else because we know that human civilizations have also failed.
The rooting that we have with the moral imperative that we give through religion and through our shared values must be enough to take us to the next level. I do not want to be the leader here alone being saluted for my country for that does not carry us much further. I do wish, however, that we can create a platform where all leaders can be given the space: policy and fiscal to be able to do for their people because we come to leadership at a point when the world is at a serious inflection moment.
My optimism remains because as a student of history, I know that light will always prevail over darkness. Or as is said in the Bible, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh always in the morning.
It is our duty to hold on, it is our duty to press on, it is our duty to take the long, deep breaths. But it is our responsibility always to recognize that we must make history trend in the right direction; not for us who have lived life, and a lot of it already, but for the young ones who now must have that opportunity to appreciate the dignity of life.
I thank you all of the members of this committee, for this high honour bestowed upon me, and I take it not in my name, but in the name not just of Barbados and the Caribbean Community, but in the name of all those who want a voice for a better planet and for opportunities and peace for the people of the world.
Thank you.”