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UN / CITIZEN AMBASSADORS
STORY: UN / CITIZEN AMBASSADORS
SOURCE: UNTV
TRT: 9.27
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 22 OCTOBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Zoom out, exterior new UN building
22 OCTOBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Med shot, Citizen Ambassadors walking past General Assembly Building
2. Various shots, Citizen Ambassadors receiving a guided tour of the United Nations
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Gerardo Mendoza Capetillo, Citizen Ambassador from Mexico:
“We as Citizen Ambassadors, I think it’s a privilege because me and you we are part of the same family that is called humanity, so that’s why we need to achieve these Millennium Development Goals and for future generations, for our generation, we need to achieve this.”
4. Med shot, Citizen Ambassadors inside General Assembly
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Burtle, Citizen Ambassador from the United States:
“When a child doesn’t get a vaccine that costs less than a dollar and then that child dies, that’s upsetting to me, because there is no reason that every child in the world doesn’t deserve a vaccine that costs less than a dollar.”
6. Wide shot, press conference dais
7. Med shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Gerardo Mendoza Capetillo, Citizen Ambassador from Mexico:
“We need to do more, to do more for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Not until 2015 but today, starting today, and so, we have a great responsibility in this regard.”
9. Med shot, journalist
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam Burtle, Citizen Ambassador from the United States:
“One of the main criticisms of the Millennium Development Goals is that there is no onus, there is no penalty for not reaching the goals, and so I think the penalty is the more people who are aware of the Millennium Development Goals the more the general public will care and then the onus is there for their leaders, the people who make policy to ensure that we reach those goals. So, I think the UN is very smart to use such an array of people so that anyone can be spoken to potentially, whether it is by Stevie Wonder, or Princess Haya, or the Secretary-General.”
11. Wide shot, press conference dais
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Adetoye Oremosu, Citizen Ambassador from Nigeria:
“Almost every other issue, especially as highlighted by the Millennium Development Goals is hinged on education. Because a lot of people are ignorant, health issues are tied to ignorance, especially in Africa. I mean malaria kills more than HIV in Africa, and just knowing what to do, keeping the environment clean and knowing how to deal with malaria, with mosquitoes, would solve a lot of problems for instance. So, ignorance is at the base of what is hurting our world, really.”
13. Wide shot, Citizen Ambassadors holding name plates
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Olga Shibaeva, Citizen Ambassador from the Russian Federation:
“Number one issue, I think, for me is environment, good environment, because all problems which people experience are based on this problem, especially nuclear energy problem, you know, I am very concerned about this.”
15. Various shots, Citizen Ambassadors receiving a briefing on the Millennium Development Goals
16. Med shot, Citizen Ambassadors walking on the promenade
17. Wide shot, Secretary-General meeting Citizen Ambassadors
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Connor Parker, Citizen Ambassador from Australia:
“I am really concerned with what developed countries can do to help, particularly ordinary people in developed countries putting pressure on governments to in turn commit to making MDG development goals a high priority as opposed to national interests and specific economic requests of the actual people themselves. We have to look outside our governments and our countries to the world around us and look at the group as a humanity rather than as a collection of individuals.”
19. Pan right Citizen Ambassadors and the Secretary-General sitting at conference table
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Mansour Albadran, Citizen Ambassador from Saudi Arabia:
“It was very great meeting Mr. Ban Ki-moon personally and talk with him. That gave us a space to tell him about our ideas and also to tell him about our films.”
FILE – VARIOUS DATES AND LOCATIONS
21. Various shots, Secretary-General PSA
22. Various shots, Citizen Ambassador winning submissions
Six young men and women from Nigeria, Russia, Mexico, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the US, winners of the Citizen Ambassadors campaign, visited the United Nations yesterday (22 October), where they met Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and had the opportunity to express their hopes and concerns about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Citizen Ambassadors received a VIP tour of the organization’s headquarters and will be participating in events commemorating the UN’s 65th birthday (24 October).
Gerardo Mendoza Capetillo, from Mexico, told UNifeed that it is “a privilege” to be elected Citizen Ambassador and said that we are all “part of the same family that is called humanity”, emphasising that for his and future generations, we need to “achieve these Millennium Development Goals.”
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the worlds poorest.
Adam Burtle from the United States said that he is upset when “a child doesn’t get a vaccine that costs less than a dollar and then that child dies” adding that “there is no reason that every child in the world doesn’t deserve a vaccine that costs less than a dollar.”
At a later press conference, Mendoza Capetillo told reporters that “we need to do more” in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, “not until 2015 but today, starting today”.
Burtle noted that one of the main criticisms of the MDGs is that “there is no onus, there is no penalty for not reaching the goals” and said that “the more people who are aware of the Millennium Development Goals, the more the general public will care and then the onus is there for their leaders, the people who make policy to ensure that we reach those goals.”
After the press conference Adetoye Oremosu, from Nigeria, said that almost every other issue, included in the Millennium Development Goals “is hinged on education” and pointed out that “health issues are tied to ignorance”. He said that for example “knowing how to deal with malaria, with mosquitoes, would solve a lot of problems.”
Olga Shibaeva, from the Russian Federation said that in her opinion, the environment “is the number one issue” and that “all problems which people experience are based on this problem”.
The Citizen Ambassadors received a briefing on the Millennium Development Goals from UN experts and then walked over to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office for a photo-op and a behind closed doors meeting.
Connor Parker, from Australia, expressed his concern over “what developed countries can do to help” and called on “ordinary people in developed countries” to put “pressure on governments to in turn commit to making MDG development goals a high priority as opposed to national interests and specific economic requests of the actual people themselves.”
Mansour Albadran, from Saudi Arabia said that “it was very great meeting Mr. Ban Ki-moon personally and talk with him”, noting that he had allowed them “a space to tell him about our ideas and also to tell him about our films.”
The Citizen Ambassadors’ day ended with concert performance by Korean Broadcast System Symphony Orchestra, Westminster Symphonic Choir and famed violinist Sarah Chang.
Oremosu, Albadran, Shibaeva, Mendoza Capetillo, Burtle and Parker were designated as UN Citizen Ambassadors in September this year after they won a video contest focusing on the MDGs.
The contest, which took place from 23 June to 23 August, attracted more than 400 videos entries from all over the world. The six selected videos touched on various goals ranging from education to poverty and were screened before world leaders in the General Assembly Hall during the recent MDG Summit.
The Citizen Ambassadors campaign, which started last year, was launched to harnesses the power of online video-sharing and offer a unique opportunity the public to have their voices heard during the UN General Assembly.
The contest was hosted on the UN Channel on YouTube and is part of a series of initiatives launched by Ban to increase awareness of the work of the UN and to engage a new generation of world citizens through the Internet and online social networking.
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