Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
INDIA / UN FREE AND EQUAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
STORY: INDIA / UN FREE AND EQUAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
TRT: 1.55
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 APRIL 2014, MUMBAI, INDIA
1. Zoom out, exterior, hotel
2. Med shot, banner ‘Free and Equal’
3. Med shot, Laxmi Narayan Tripothi, actress, transactivist
4. Med shot, photo spray
5. Various shots, audience,
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Radcliffe, Chief, Global Issues, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Today the United Nations and our partners issue a call to action for an end to criminalization or effective legal protection from discrimination. All members of our human family to be treated with the compassion, the respect, and the dignity they surely deserve.”
7. Various shots, clip of video “The Welcome”
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Celina Jaitley, Actress and United Nations Equality Champion:
“You can’t just change people attitudes with just laws and policies. You have to change people’s attitudes from the heart and the mind also. What we are talking about is equal rights for all. That’s all that we are talking about.”
9. Cutaway, audience
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Imran Khan, Actor and Activist:
“I think it’s actually a key step in breaking down these prejudices that people have. A part of these prejudices I think stems from, and I claim some responsibility here on behalf of my industry, in the portrayal of LGBT relationships and characters in our films and any media.”
11. Cutaway, audience
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Laxmi Narayan Tripothi, Actress, Transactivist:
“The most grieving thing for a human is to deny its own human existence.”
13. Med shot, photo spray
The United Nations human rights office launched the latest phase of its global fight against homophobia: a Bollywood-style video called ‘The Welcome’, accompanied by an appeal from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to end the prejudice that forces millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to live in fear or hide in shame.
Unveiled at a press conference today in Mumbai, India, the two-and-a-half-minute clip stars Bollywood actress and former Miss India Celina Jaitly, who makes her musical debut in the clip and was last year nominated by the High Commissioner for Human Rights as a UN Equality Champion in recognition of her support for LGBT rights.
The video release and press conference mark the Free and Equal campaign’s launch in India, following its inaugural kick off last year in South Africa.
Speaking at the event, Charles Radcliffe, the Chief of Global Issues at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), read a message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
He said “today the United Nations and our partners issue a call to action for an end to criminalization or effective legal protection from discrimination. All members of our human family to be treated with the compassion, the respect, and the dignity they surely deserve.”
‘The Welcome’ tells the story of a young man who brings his boyfriend home to meet his family for the first time. Jaitly sings a new version of the 1979 Bollywood classic, Uthe Sab Ke Kadam, remixed by Neeraj Shreedhar of the Bombay Vikings. The video’s dance sequences were choreographed by Longi (Slumdog Millionaire), who worked on the project pro bono, as did the entire cast.
Jaitley said “you can’t just change people attitudes with just laws and policies. You have to change people’s attitudes from the heart and the mind also. What we are talking about is equal rights for all.”
Renowned Indian actor Imran Khan said that a key step in breaking down prejudices is in the way LGBT relationships and characters are portrayed “in our films and any media.”
Actress and transactivist Laxmi Narayan Tripothi said “the most grieving thing for a human is to deny its own human existence.”
They were joined at today’s press conference by director, screenwriter, and activist Shyam Benegal, Humsafar Trust founder Ashok Row Kavi, commentator and comedian Cyrus Broacha, and UN representatives. Speakers discussed the human rights challenges facing LGBT people in India and around the world and the steps needed to combat homophobia and transphobia.
Download
There is no media available to download.
