Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 14 February 2024: Secretary General His Excellency Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Vice Chancellor Mariët Westermann have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen mutual cooperation and establish joint projects and activities to promote the values of human fraternity. The MoU marks the launch of the joint program ‘Sounds of Human Fraternity’, as a music-driven platform aimed at empowering creative expression centered around the pillars of human fraternity.

The MoU was signed following the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity 2024 ceremony, which featured artistic performances from English musician Tokio Myers and the Abu Dhabi Youth Choir, and which had an audience that included university students from around the world.

The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity has launched several programs to empower the next generation of leaders to be advocates of human fraternity in their communities and schools including the Expressions of Human Fraternity initiative in the UAE and the Youth Summit on Human Fraternity & Compassion in India.

The MoU signing ceremony was attended by representatives from the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity as well as a pool of university professors and students at NYUAD and was followed by a keynote address from Judge Abdelsalam. 

The agreement with NYUAD provides a framework for the upcoming ‘Sounds of Human Fraternity’ project, which will leverage music to express the values of human fraternity around the world. By helping young, up-and-coming musicians and vocalists to create pieces about human fraternity, Zayed Award for Human Fraternity and NYUAD will provide a platform for the musical expression of human fraternity. The music produced by these artists under the project will be shared on popular streaming platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud and others.  

H.E. Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary-General of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, said: “The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity is invested in ways to engage young leaders in championing and advocating for human fraternity – our partnership with New York University Abu Dhabi is a testament to this commitment. The music-driven platform, ‘Sounds of Human Fraternity,’ provides students a creative opportunity to share their interpretations of human fraternity with the world. We will also consider using some of these creative pieces in our 2025 award ceremony and are eager to see the thought-provoking and inspiring pieces set to come out of this project.” 

Mariët Westermann, Vice Chancellor at NYU Abu Dhabi, also said: “Our mission at NYU Abu Dhabi is to educate global citizens and produce knowledge to promote human understanding and to better society. This commitment to advancing understanding and knowledge for a better future is shared with the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, which makes this a natural partnership. The upcoming ‘Sound of Human Fraternity’ project is just the first step - we hope to launch many more initiatives together with the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity that will lie at the intersection of education, creativity, and human fraternity.”