On the morning of Wednesday, May 25, 2022, Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain attended a meeting in preparation for her upcoming cooperation trip to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
The purpose of the upcoming visit is to learn about the work that the “…Spanish Cooperation carries out [in Mauritania] in the areas of health, governance and gender equality, rural development, and food security…” according to the Spanish royal court.
In Mauritania there are 12 Spanish NGDOs (Non-Governmental Organizations for Development), which work in the sectors of rural development and food security, health and gender.
This is the seventh cooperation trip for Her Majesty Queen Letizia. Previous cooperation trips took Her Majesty to Honduras, El Salvador, Senegal, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mozambique, and Paraguay.
Her Majesty Queen Letizia’s cooperation trip will begin on May 31 – June 2, 2022.
On Thursday, May 19, 2022, Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain opened the two-day conference entitled, Los Puentes de las Mujeres: Propuestas Desde el Sur Para el Cambio Global (Women’s Bridges: Proposals from the South for Global Change) held at the Edificio Humanidades UNED in Madrid.
Organized by the Fundación Mujeres por África, which Her Majesty Queen Letizia is Honorary President, the conference brings together 70 African political leaders, but also an important group of Latin American politicians and activists, as well as numerous heads of international organizations.
Per a press release about the conference:
“…Women’s Bridges. Bridges that women build with their solidarity, with their shared visions and objectives, working together. Bridges that, this time, are going to unite women from the south: African women with Latin American women, and also with the European women from the south, Spanish women, to make proposals to the international community.
Proposals that we have been working on with them for months on the basis of a basic document that the leaders are commenting on, expanding and enriching with their contributions, and to which we will dedicate the entire first afternoon of the conference, because that is what it is all about. It is about the women of the south making their voices, their arguments, their demands, their objectives heard. Objectives that are not only aimed at women, but at the international community, at global citizenship.
At the Fundación Mujeres por África we are going to take these proposals to all African and Latin American governments, to regional bodies and international agencies, to all organizations with power and influence, so that they are taken into account, as the most powerful women in Africa, as well as very influential Latin American women…”
On the morning of Tuesday, May 10, 2022 Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain presided over the Medallas de Oro de Cruz Roja during the celebrations of Día Mundial de la Cruz Roja y de la Media Luna Roja held at the Oceanogràfic in Valencia, Spain.
Today’s celebration and award ceremony paid tribute to the fundamental principles, values, history, and achievements of the Red Cross movement.
In her speech, Her Majesty Queen Letizia noted that the she has valued the diversity with which the recipents of the award and entities help society to “…be better…” Her Majesty also highlighted the constant commitment of the Red Cross with “…every human being who needs help anywhere in the world, vulnerable due to wars, COVID-10, lack of opportunities, migratory movements due to poverty, climate change or armed conflicts, and that are a challenge for the Red Cross.”
On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain attended the Premios Reina Letizia 2021 held at the Asamblea de Extremadura in Mérida, Spain.
The Premio Reina Letizia 2021 aims to support the rights of people with disabilities and to ensure social inclusion, equal opportunities, rehabilitation, and prevention of disabilities. During today’s ceremony six awards and three special mentions were presented in seven different categories. Per the Spanish royal court:
In the modality of Defense of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the award went to the Fundación CERMI Mujeres, for establishing itself as a benchmark for disability feminism from an intersectional approach, as well as for its work in the approval of Organic Law 2 /2020 for the eradication of forced sterilization and its pioneering work in supporting women with disabilities during the pandemic. The president of the CERMI Women Foundation, Ms. Marta Valencia, received the award.
In addition, in this category, the jury awarded a Special Mention to the candidacy of Mr. Óscar Moral, a lawyer with a disability, for his long and continuous work defending the rights of people with disabilities.
In the Inclusive Sport category , the award went to the First Inclusive Games of the Sanitas Foundation, for his long history of more than eleven years in the work of inclusive sport where people with disabilities participate and achieve success in accordance with article 30 of the Convention. The Premio Reina Letizia for inclusive culture has been awarded to the project Valorarte: The Creativity of Unexplored Talent of the Laborvalía Association, for bringing together in an inspiring way the artistic role of people with disabilities with more support needs; productive co-creation with renowned plastic artists from the Spanish and international scene; the multi-channel format and the connection with the territory. The General Director of the Sanitas Foundation, Ms. Yolanda Erburu, received the award.
Likewise, in this modality it was decided to grant a Special Mention to the project ‘If Talía were Blind’, of the National Organization of the Spanish Blind (ONCE) , a choral cultural construction with a great load of suggestions in which the visual and performing arts are fed. and mutually expand to offer the audience a total show in which people with disabilities are completely the owners of the artistic fact, which Mr. Andrés Ramos collected.
In the category of Accessible Technology , the ‘Dactyls’ project of the ONCE Foundation for the Care of People with Deafblindness (FOAPS) was awarded for its significant impact on the autonomy of this group, taking advantage of the potential of technology to promote communication, and that it also has a great didactic utility by standardizing and unifying the signs and allowing systematized access to know the existing information on deafblindness. The coordinator of the Technical Unit for Sodoblindness of ONCE and patron of FOAPS, Ms. Raquel Alba, collected the award.
In research the ‘PiTDAHgoras’ project was awarded for being a solvent initiative, at no cost to the beneficiaries, that promotes the child development of girls and boys with ADD. A work that is developed in an interdisciplinary way, and that bases its application on games as therapy and learning. The project director, Mr. David Delgado, received the award.
In the category of ‘Accessibility and Universal Design of Municipalities’, the award went to Merida Inclusiva, for the decisive commitment of this municipality to universal accessibility, so that all citizens, without exception, participate in this heritage city. The acting mayor of Mérida, Carmen Yáñez, received the award.
In addition, in this modality, a Special Mention for Inclusive Culture was awarded to Inmaculada Vivas Tesón for her professional career in the work of people with disabilities, as well as for her academic and research career in the legal field, developing compliance with the precepts set forth in the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In Labor Inclusion of People with Disabilities, the jury decided to declare this category Void, as the candidates submitted did not meet the quality and commitment required by the call.
For each category, a single prize has been awarded, which consisted of a commemorative diploma and a physical award, created by a disabled designer.
The awards ceremony ended with a flamenco performance from Extremadura by the disabled singer, Tomás Lara.”
On the morning of Thursday, April 7, 2022, Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain arrived at the Riojaforum Auditorium in Logroño, Spain, to attend the Premio Fundación Princesa de Girona 2022 award ceremony.
During today’s ceremony, Her Majesty announced the winner of the Social Award. This award is presented to an individual for their outstanding leadership, and personal commitment; moreover, who has achieved success in creating and promoting social projects, with new visions and tangible results, within the framework of social entities or companies.
The recipient of the Social Award 2022 went to Ms.Claudia María Tecglen García, a psychologist and social entrepreneur from Madrid. The Fundación Princesa de Girona jury of experts presented the award to Ms. García for her “…social impact in promoting equal opportunities in her actions and for her management quality and transparency. The jury has also highlighted her exemplarity as an inspiring model and being a reference for other young people…” according to the Fundación Princesa de Girona press release.
On Thursday, March 31, 2022, Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain presented awards during the closing ceremony of 2nd Edition of the School Short Film Festival project, Diversidad en Serie: Historias que Merecen ser Contadas, at the Casa del Lector in Madrid.
The project, promoted by Netflix and the Fundación FAD Juventud, aims to promote discourses on diversity (gender, cultural and/or generational) and motivate artistic or audiovisual vocations through the scriptwriting of short films by students between 14 and 20 years.
Almost 900 schoolchildren from different educational centers have participated in this edition, presenting 109 short film scripts with stories of diversity.
Of the scripts presented, there have been five winning teams that have agreed, in addition to a master class with Ms. Susana Casares,film director and head of talent training at Netflix Spain-Portugal, to have their works professionally recorded in the hand of the artistic company Lanau. The winning scripts have shown some situation or content that reflects a reflection on the importance of diversity, especially those referring to cultural, gender and intergenerational diversity.
Miss Daniela Valentina Mangones Paternina, from Valencia,has been awarded for her script, Different Flavors of Pizza, which tells the story of a social experiment that tests the differences and peculiarities of a large human group that ends up understanding each other because of what they do have in common.
Not Everything is Always What it Seems, a script by Miss Laura Chana Morales from Madrid, has been awarded for telling the story of Mia, a young woman discriminated against for her physical appearance who is unjustly accused of a robbery. She gets shelter, reasons to move on, and the truth to be known, thanks to friendship.
The script for, Daniela, confronts discrimination based on gender in the school. The award-winning authors, Miss Natalia Alamillos Agudo, Miss Patricia López Merino, and Miss Alba Campos Clavo from Valencia, highlight the situation of some Transgendered people and the need for support from their classmates, to denounce discriminatory treatment by a teacher.
For their part, Mr. Víctor Sánchez Romero, Mr. Raúl Gaia, and Mr. Erik Borrella Navarro from Valencia tell in their award-winning script, Alcalde, the story of a young mayor who understands cultural diversity as an opportunity for progress and the generation of social wealth. This character has the idea of repopulating his town and doing it better with a call to people “outside”.
The last of the recognized scripts have been, My Story, by Mr. DavidValladarez Melgar from Valenciawhich narrates the biography of a young man who decides to go live with his mother in a country “On the Other Side of the Pond”. The protagonist of it faces various types of discrimination, all around having to adapt to being “different” and the suffering that this entails.
On the morning of Tuesday, March 15, 2022, Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain opened the 2022 Rare Diseases World Day event held at the Auditorio Ciudad de Leon in Leon, Spain. The event is organized by the Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras (FEDER).
The theme of this year’s event is, How do you see yourself in 2030? which focuses on “…ensuring equal access to social and health resources, coinciding with a future European Action Plan on Rare Diseases…” according to the Spanish royal court.
During today’s event, Her Majesty gave a speech stating:
“…at the end of the day, and behind the figures, the obstacles, the difficulties, what remains is the value of a person’s life. Of that person, who on many occasions (because a very high percentage of those who suffer from rare diseases are children) is a small person, and who looks at us (a mother, a father, a grandmother). They look at us sometimes tiredly or unconcernedly or with questions that crowd in his throat. Those of you who live with a rare disease know what I’m talking about. And that’s what FEDER is for, for answers, for help, for information, for relief, albeit momentary, for consolation at times. To reach out. And accompany. For administrations and institutions to commit. To push in the same direction, which is the value that a person’s life has, every day…”
The Royal Correspondent 