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Press Release
Harry Belafonte, Just Back from South Africa,
To Join UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Available for Interviews
New York, 22 June 2001 - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Harry Belafonte,
fresh from a 10-day visit to South Africa to see first-hand the impact
of AIDS and the efforts to fight it, will take part in the UN Special
Session on HIV/AIDS next week.
On an itinerary that took him to Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and
Cape Town, Mr. Belafonte and his wife Julie visited the homes of people
living with HIV and AIDS, experienced education and prevention programs
led by young people, met with leading South African artists, spoke to
Parliament and held meetings with a wide range of civic leaders, including
President Thabo Mbeki and former President Nelson Mandela and his wife
Graca Machel.
"As artists, our role is not only to show what the world is,
but to show what the world should be," Belafonte said, explaining
his commitment to the campaign against AIDS and his desire to visit
the front lines. Belfonte said he was impressed with the efforts of
young people, artists, and the South African government to confront
the pandemic.
On Tuesday, 26 June, Mr. Belafonte takes part in a Special Session
panel on Children Orphaned by AIDS (1:30pm, Hammarskjold Library Auditorium)
and later holds a briefing for the UN press corps (3:30pm, 2nd floor
briefing room).
On Wednesday 27 June, Harry and Julie Belafonte will co-host a reception
with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF (5:00pm, UNICEF House, 44th Street) to
which the press is invited.
A great human rights advocate, renowned concert singer, and film, theatre
and television star, Mr. Belafonte has served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
since 1987. He has contributed immensely to the cause of children through
music, arts, and advocacy visits to a number of African countries.
The couple recently established the Harry and Julie Belafonte Fund
for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, to be administered by the US Fund
for UNICEF.
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For further information or to arrange an interview,
please contact:
Shima Islam, UNICEF Media,
New York (212) 824-6949
Mohammad Jalloh, UNICEF
Media, New York (212) 326-7516
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