A veteran peace campaigner, Desmond Tutu is perhaps best known for his leadership in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. He was later elected Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town in 1986, the highest position in the Anglican Church in South Africa. In 1994, after the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela, Tutu was appointed Chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate apartheid-era crimes.
Tutu is a founding member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights created in 2007, and a co-founder of Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage.
As a Girls Not Brides champion, Archbishop Tutu continues his life-long mission of promoting peace and justice by advocating against child marriage, a practice that affects 12 million girls every year.