United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got full rock star treatment when he visited the United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York to lead the students in a Stand Up Action.
With just six years left until the deadline by which heads of state have pledged to eradicate extreme poverty and its root causes, Stand Up and Take Action is a stark reminder that citizens will not accept excuses for governments’ breaking promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens. “This year’s mobilization will place particular emphasis on telling world leaders that their track record on women’s rights, maternal mortality and hunger is unacceptable. Citizens refuse to accept the fact that 70 percent of the people living in poverty are women and children and 500,000 women continue to die annually in the process of giving life, and they are demanding urgent action from their leaders,” Salil Shetty, UN Millennium Campaign Director, said.
Last year, over 116 million people – nearly two percent of the world population – took action in the Stand-UP, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization around a single-cause event in recorded history.
UN agencies around the world are participating, as are millions of people from faith-based groups, student organizations, bloggers and everyone in between. The UN Foundation has a couple of initiatives underway through their Nothing But Nets, Better World Campaign and It’s Getting Personal, climate change campaign. Some of the UN Foundation staff in DC stood up this morning.
There’s already more than 4, 289 events posted on the website, some of those events will have thousands of (if not a million!) people. We’ll keep you posted as the numbers keep coming in this weekend.