Maurizio Giuliano facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maurizio Giuliano
Giuliano at a United Nations event
Born	1975 (age 49–50) Milan, Italy
Nationality	Italian,British
Alma mater	University College, Oxford (BA) Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA)
Occupation	United Nations official, traveller, author, journalist
Known for	Youngest person to visit every sovereign nation
Awards	Guinness World Records (2004)

Maurizio Giuliano (born in 1975) is an Italian-British official who works for the United Nations. He is also a traveller, author, and journalist. In 2004, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized him as the youngest person to have visited every independent country in the world. He was 28 years and 361 days old at the time. He has worked for many international groups, helping them share their news and stories.

About Maurizio Giuliano

Early life and education

Maurizio Giuliano's father was a lawyer, and his mother was a homemaker. He has lived in different countries like Cuba, Chile, and Indonesia.

He finished high school in Milan, Italy, and Manchester, England. Later, he went to the University of Oxford and earned a degree in 1996. He then got a master's degree from the University of Cambridge in 1997. At Oxford, he studied subjects like philosophy, politics, and economics. He focused on Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Writing and journalism

Giuliano has written books and articles about politics, especially about Cuba. He also worked as a journalist, reporting from various countries. For example, he visited East Timor and Myanmar (also known as Burma). In 1993, he interviewed Mikhail Gorbachev, a former leader of Russia.

In 2000, he visited North Korea. He wrote an essay about his trip, saying that his tour was carefully planned by the North Korean authorities. He also faced problems with authorities in some countries while working as a journalist. For instance, he was not allowed into Myanmar in 1998 after meeting with a political leader there. He was also briefly held by Israeli authorities in 2002.

Besides serious topics, Giuliano has also written lighter pieces. When he was in Kabul, Afghanistan, he wrote reviews for local restaurants.

Working for human rights

In the early 2000s, Giuliano advised the Italian Senate's Committee on Human Rights. He wrote reports to help the Italian Government make decisions on human rights issues, like those in North Korea.

Helping people around the world

Working with the United Nations

Maurizio Giuliano has worked for the United Nations and other groups to help people in need. In 2004, he worked for the International Organization for Migration. He helped Afghan refugees in Pakistan vote in elections, even when it was dangerous. In 2005, he worked in Afghanistan to help improve the country's legal system. In both jobs, he helped communicate with the media.

In 2006, he worked in the Central African Republic. He spoke out about the lack of money to help people there and asked richer countries to give more aid. In 2007, he moved to Sudan. He reported on problems caused by armed groups and asked for more help after floods.

In 2008, he was in Chad, where many people had to leave their homes because of fighting. He asked for more international help for the refugees. He warned that the situation could become much worse without strong support.

Responding to disasters

In 2010, Giuliano was a spokesperson for the UN during the 2010 Pakistan floods. He warned that a "second wave of death" could happen from diseases and lack of food. He said that 3.5 million children were at risk. He described the disaster as "colossal" and the relief efforts as "a marathon at sprint pace." He also said that the floods were the worst natural disaster in UN history. He faced some criticism for how he described the emergency, but he also helped bring a lot of attention to it.

He also spoke about serious problems and human rights abuses in the Ituri Province. He asked for strong protection for people and more money to help them.

Travelling the world

His world record

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Maurizio Giuliano visited every independent country in the world by February 20, 2004. Guinness counted 193 countries at that time. He said he visited a total of 238 places, including those 193 countries.

He found North Korea the hardest country to enter. It took many tries and a long wait to get a visa. Once there, his "tour guides" never left him alone. Getting a visa for Sudan was also very difficult, taking almost a year. In 1992, his passport was stolen in Albania. He had trouble getting a new one because an embassy worker thought he was Albanian.

His travel adventures

Giuliano started travelling when he was 14 years old. By 2004, he believed he had travelled at least two million miles. This included trips on the Trans-Siberian Railway and 11 trips around the world by plane. Some of his first big trips were to Albania and Sierra Leone in 1991, when he was 16. He also went to Mongolia in 1992 for their national festival, Naadam. When he was younger, he often stayed with penpals. Most of his later travels were for his work as a journalist.

He said that he lived or spent months in some countries, while in others, he only spent a few hours. His shortest visit was one hour in Tuvalu.

On February 20, 2004, he arrived in Suriname, completing his goal of visiting all independent nations. He held a press conference there, explaining that he chose Suriname to finish his record because he was fascinated by its many cultures.

After that, he travelled to London with 42 passports (30 Italian and 12 British). These passports were full of immigration stamps, which he used to prove his record to Guinness World Records. He said that most of his travels were not planned for the record. Only since 2001, after friends suggested it, did he start thinking about the Guinness Record. He even joked that he might have an "addiction to crossing borders."

Collecting passport stamps was very important to Giuliano. He was so focused on his stamps that he carried ink pads in five different colors. This way, he could help immigration officers if their stamps were running out of ink!

Images for kids

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  Maurizio Giuliano at a United Nations event

See also

In Spanish: Maurizio Giuliano para niños