A message of hers was filmed for inclusion in Children of Peace (produced by UNESCO), along with other personalities, including the Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan, Shimon Peres (Nobel Peace Prize), Yasser Arafat (Nobel Peace Prize), Federico Mayor, Rigoberta Menchu Tum (Nobel Peace Prize), and others. She took the initiative in organising a fund-raising drive aimed at providing support for the children - victims of war in the Balkans. She organised a telemarathon in collaboration with Mega Channel, the ELPIDA Association and the Foundation for the Child and the Family; thanks to the support of the Greek viewers an important sum of money was gathered, which was disbursed as follows :
- For the delivery of 120 tonnes of basic materials, medicine and clothes, to selected areas in the Balkans.
- For the creation of a Surgical Centre in Gracanica in Kosovo, in a hospital created in collaboration with the "Medecins du Monde".
- For the creation of an Early Childhood Cultural and Training Centre for children in Zemun (New Belgrade). This initiative was placed under the aegis of UNESCO and is included in the "Chain of Peace" Programme. This is a 500m2 building, situated in a 1.2 hectare park which was donated by the Mayor of Zemun for the construction of the building, and for the further arrangement of the park for children. The centre is in the course of construction and is expected to be completed soon.
 
She is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alexandria. The Chairman of the Board is the First Lady of Egypt, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, while the other members are distinguished personalities from the world of letters, arts, science and culture. Among them are Dr. Ismail Serageldin (General Director of the Library of Alexandria), Umberto Eco (Nobel Prize for Literature), Wole Soyinka (Nobel Prize for Literature), Ahmed Zewail (Nobel Prize for Chemistry), Vigdis Finnbogadottir (former President of Iceland), Dr Luis Monreal (General Director of the "La Caixa" Foundation in Spain), Professor. Leila Takla (President of the Egyptian Federation of Women Lawyers), and others. In this capacity, she has organised talks and press conferences for the Library's General Director in Athens and Rethymnon. She has contributed to the completion of certain sections of the Library. She was present at the official opening of the Library (October 2002) and attends the annual meetings of the Board of Directors in Alexandria.
 
In June 2003 she invited Mrs Mubarak to Athens and arranged for her to deliver a talk at the Athens Concert Hall, on the subject of the Library of Alexandria, peace, children and inter-cultural dialogue in the 21st century. At the Athens Concert Hall she also organised an Exhibition of Fayoum portraits from the Museum of Cairo, and an Exhibition of photographs of the oases of the New Valley, which were opened by the President of the Republic, Mr Constantine Stephanopoulos, and Mrs Mubarak.  She is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Mentor Foundation, an international institution which fights against the use of drugs by the young. The President of the Board of Trustees is H.M. Queen Sylvia of Sweden, while international personalities have been appointed members of the Board. Among the latter are Queen Noor of Jordan, the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg, Prince Felipe of Spain, Garry Kasparov, Nino Cerutti, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and others. The Mentor Foundation has established international awards to support organisations on drug prevention. The Mentor Achievement Award 2003 was won by "KETHEA Therapy Center for dependent individuals" of the Greek Prevention Department. The winner project focuses on children of primary school age and was started in a neighbourhood of poor social and economic standards, and with a high percentage of pupils of foreign origin (63 %). By making teachers and parents more sensitive to drug related issues and by educating them, the KETHEA program was able to very effectively improve the school environment and reduce the number of racist and hostile incidents. At the same time, it increased the self-awareness, confidence, communication skills and social acceptance of different ethnicities in the school environment. KETHEA received the Award and 100.000 E as a support from the Mentor Foundation. On this occasion Mrs. Vardinoyannis organised a Press Conference in Athens to announce the big success of this Greek center and to inform the public about the great efforts of the Mentor Foundation against drugs as well as about the Award Ceremony that took place in Zurich in October 2003 with the presence of H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden.
She is a Member of the International Committee of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace (Spain)  of which the President is a former Director General of UNESCO, Mr Federico Mayor. Among the events she has attended are the International Conference for a Culture of Peace, which was organised by the Foundation in December 2000, at the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid. The Conference was opened by T.M. King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sophia. Addresses were read at the opening ceremony by, among others, Maria Teresa, Duchess of Luxembourg, , the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Nobel Peace Prize winners Rigoberta Menchu-Tum, Oscar Arias, Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Shimon Peres, the Nobel Literature Prize winner Wole Soyinka, Marianna Vardinoyanni and others. Mrs Vardinoyannis took part in the First World Conference on the Sexual Exploitation of Children (August 1996) in Stockholm, as a guest of Queen Sylvia of Sweden. She took part in the International Conference entitled "Global Solidarity: the way to Peace and International Co-operation", which was organised by the Information Department of the United Nations, in New York (August 2000). "She also participated in the Experts' Meeting on Paedophilia on the Internet, which was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in January 1999, and delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.  She participated in the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference in Holland, in May 1999, where she spoke on the subject of "Building a Culture of Peace and Violence Resolution". In the framework of the same conference, she organised a specialist panel, in collaboration with the International Peace Bureau and the ELPIDA Association of Friends of Children with cancer. The panel was charged with examining "The Consequences of Radiation on the Health of Children", with a view to drafting an appeal for a cessation in nuclear testing and hostilities throughout the world.
  
Mrs Vardinoyannis is a supporter of the "Fondation pour l'Enfance" (France), which was founded by Mrs. Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing in 1977 in Paris. There is close and multi-faceted co-operation between the Foundation for the Child and the Family and its corresponding French foundation. In 2002 the "Fondation pour l'Enfance" celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Mrs Vardinoyannis participated in the press conference which the Fondation gave in Paris for around 200 French journalists and correspondents from all over Europe, together with a host of official guests from all over the world. Mrs. Giscard d'Estaing made particular, and extensive, reference to Mrs Vardinoyannis, whom she described as a close and valued colleague, and praised the activity of the Foundation for the Child and the Family. The celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the "Fondation pour l'Enfance" culminated in the International Night for Childhood, which was held for the tenth consecutive year at the Palais de Versailles. This is a charity evening which Mrs Vardinoyannis attends each year, in order to lend her support to the work of the French foundation  She is the Representative in Greece of the European Office for Missing and Exploited Children (France), which operates under the aegis of the Fondation pour l'Enfance. She was a speaker at the Meeting organised by the Fondation in Paris in November 1997, for the presentation of the work of the European Bureau. She also participated in the International Meeting concerning the disappearance of children, which was organised by Interpol and the "Fondation pour l'Enfance" at the offices of the former in Lyon (1999).
 She participated as speaker at the First European Conference of Legal Practitioners on juvenile matters, which was held at the Sorbonne in Paris in November 2000 by the "Fondation pour l'Enfance". The subjects examined in the course of the conference were : abductions of children by parents of different nationality, runaway children, and the status of refugee children travelling without identity papers. Mrs Vardinoyannis proposed that her Foundation should organise the Second Conference in Athens.
 
In March 2003 in Athens Mrs Vardinoyannis organised the Second European Conference of Legal Practitioners on juvenile matters under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, and with the support of the European Commission. The aim of the Conference was the protection of children in danger, through the comparison of different national legislations, organisational systems, practices and experiments, which are to be found in the member states of the European Union. The fifteen countries of the EU were represented by three-member delegations (from the judiciary, the police and from specialised central government departments). The subjects of the conference were :
1. Child pornography on the Internet, and
2. The sexual exploitation of minors for commercial purposes
Each delegation made a brief presentation regarding recent innovative practices, and empirical information gathered on these two subjects. Following the Conference, proposals were made to the European Commission and to relevant organisations. Among other participants in this Conference were the French Minister of Justice, M. D. Perben, the Greek Minister of Justice, Mr. F. Petsalnikos, the Minister of Public Order, Mr M. Chrisochoides, Mme Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing.
 Mrs Vardinoyannis organised the Conference for the Child and the Family in the 21st Century, in collaboration with the University of Europe and its President, Rector Helen Ahrweiler. The Conference was held in May 1999 at the Sorbonne under the auspices of Mr Jacques Chirac, the French President.
Marianna V. Vardinoyannis has made numerous donations to foundations, has participated as member of Honorary Committees for many events, and has frequently sponsored cultural and humanitarian events at the international level, such as :
She sponsored, together her husband Vardis I. Vardinoyannis, the creation of the Chair of Greek and the Ioannis I. Vardinoyannis Library at the University of New York. The Talk delivered by the President of the University of Europe, Rector Helen Ahrweiler at Westminster Palace in London, entitled The Birth of European Consciousness.
In June 2002 Mrs Vardinoyannis organised an event entitled Speak Truth to Power which included :
- A performance of Ariel Dorfman's play "Voices from beyond Darkness", directed by Michalis Kakogiannis, at the Athens Concert Hall. This play was performed in honour of the defenders of human rights, and the proceeds were donated to the Greek office of Amnesty International.
- An exhibition of photographs taken by Eddie Adams (Pulitzer Prize 1969), which presented the portraits of 50 champions of human rights. The exhibition was placed under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Constantine Stephanopoulos. Mrs Vardinoyannis also funded the Greek publication of Kerry Kennedy Cuomo's book "Speak Truth to Power".
"The Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement"
 Marianna V. Vardinoyannis is member of the Board of Trustees of "The Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement", which was founded in June 2003 and is based in Zurich.
The aim of this organisation is to reinforce the impact of the programmes, organisations and foundations working for a world of peace, in order to achieve goals such as :
Strengthening of the role of women in matters concerned with peace.
Increasing their participation in political, economic and social initiatives
Promoting a co-ordinated global strategy against violence and armed conflict, and in favour of tolerance and dialogue between nations.
Creating networks and alliances between Citizen's Society and governmental organisations, to promote the participation of women in official and unofficial peace-seeking processes.
Among the members of the Board of Trustees are a number of international personalities such as H.H. Sheikha Sabika Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain; H.H. Princess Basma of Jordan; the wife of the former President of the Lebanon, Mrs Mona Harawy; the former Secretary General of the UN, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali; the EuroMP Emma Bonino; the Director of the Library of Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin; the President of the Egyptian Federation of Women Lawyers and President of the UN Technical Cooperation Programmes for Human Rights, Dr. Leila Takla, and others.
The first meeting of the Board of Trustees, at which Mrs Marianna Vardinogianni was present, took place in Cairo on the 17th January 2004.
The second meeting of the Board of Trustees, at which Mrs Marianna Vardinogianni was present, took place in Paris on the 8th June 2004.
In June 2004 she organized the "Jordan River Foundation" exhibition entitled "Traditional and Contemporary Handicrafts from Jordan" , which was held at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens; a unique and representative sample of the art of weaving and handicrafts : carpets, tapestries, table cloths, drapes etc, which reflect the heritage of one of the oldest civilisations of the Middle East.
The exhibition was was held under the auspices of H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and of UNESCO. The aim of the exhibition was the promotion of the intercultural dialogue, mutual respect, understanding and tolerance between peoples, through the art and the social solidarity.
International seminar "Women in the Service of Peace"
In June 2004, on the initiative of Ms Suzanne Mubarak and Ms Vardinoyannis, was organized the international seminar "Women in the Service of Peace" at UNESCO Headquarters .The aim of this event was to "highlight the important role that women play in support of peace and the need for them to be recognized as full partners in the processes of decision-making and political negotiations"
In November 2004, Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyiannis participated in the International Conference on "Women Defending Peace", initiated by "The Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement" in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Geneva. The Conference, which was attended by prominent personalities, such as the Nobel Prize Winner, Ms. Jody Williams, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, the Former President of Ireland, Ms. Mary Robinson and others, concluded with the establishment of the "Global Coalition Women Defending Peace" and the creation of the "World Bank for Peace Initiative".
In May 2005, accepting the invitation of "The Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement", she participated in the formal fundraising dinner, aiming to support and protect the Palestinian orphans. Main speaker of the event was the famous actor Richard Gere, who during the last 15 years has been taking an active part in a series of international humanitarian programmes.
Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyiannis participated in the third meeting of the Board Members of "The Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement". During this meeting it was decided for the organization of a roundtable conference on "Human Trafficking" and a fundraising dinner, aiming to the collection of money for the support of children in the areas, where this situation is increasingly aggravated. Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyiannis took the initiative for the organization of these two events, which will take place in Athens in January 2006.
Scenes from international activities ..>>
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