The UN has been flirting with Hollywood since the world body was established back in 1945, but it appears that Ban Ki-Moon, the UN’s current head, has a special fondness for star power.
As a high-level session of the Commission on the Status of Women gets under way at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a stream of celebrities are lending their time to UN causes.
Geena Davis, an Academy Award winner actress and Sarah Ferguson, the duchess of York, took part on February 22 in a UNIFEM event promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The Academy Award winning musician Annie Lennox passionately argued for the plight of people with HIV during a UNAIDS panel on March 2.
Then Michelle Yeoh of James Bond and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame offered enthusiastic support for the global UN-initiative on March 2 aimed to promote road safety.
And the Academy Award winner actress Meryl Streep will highlight on March 5 a UN-event demanding government accountability for laws that discriminate against women.
Ban has just returned from L.A. and it has been reported that the secretary-general is trying to engage the film and TV industry with story lines on issues that the UN holds to its heart. Watch this space.
-- Nikola Krastev
As a high-level session of the Commission on the Status of Women gets under way at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a stream of celebrities are lending their time to UN causes.
Geena Davis, an Academy Award winner actress and Sarah Ferguson, the duchess of York, took part on February 22 in a UNIFEM event promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The Academy Award winning musician Annie Lennox passionately argued for the plight of people with HIV during a UNAIDS panel on March 2.
Then Michelle Yeoh of James Bond and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame offered enthusiastic support for the global UN-initiative on March 2 aimed to promote road safety.
And the Academy Award winner actress Meryl Streep will highlight on March 5 a UN-event demanding government accountability for laws that discriminate against women.
Ban has just returned from L.A. and it has been reported that the secretary-general is trying to engage the film and TV industry with story lines on issues that the UN holds to its heart. Watch this space.
-- Nikola Krastev