UN Free and Equal campaign celebrates one billion people reached
The United Nations Human Rights Office global public education campaign for LGBT equality has released a video highlighting the Free and Equal Campaign’s impact to date, and celebrating one billion people reached.
The video, ‘UN Free & Equal: One Billion Rising’, notes the efforts of the campaign’s efforts to tackle prejudice and violence across the globe.
“In the past year, more than a billion people around the world have been exposed to Free & Equal’s message of equality and acceptance. Millions of them have watched and shared campaign videos and read and posted materials online,” said Charles Radcliffe, Chief of Global Issues at the UN Human Rights Office.
“At a time when the rights of LGBT people being challenged in some countries, the campaign has helped to raise awareness of the stigma, discrimination and violence that continues to affect LGBT communities in all parts of the world.”
The ongoing campaign was launched in July 2013 at a press conference held in Cape Town, South Africa, and featuring then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Justice Edwin Cameron of the South African Constitutional Court.
The campaign has since released more than 50 pieces of original content, including dozens of electronic postcards and fact sheets in all UN languages, and two dozen original videos — two of which are the most viewed UN human rights videos to date, and among the top most viewed videos ever produced by the United Nations.
The campaign’s message has reached more than one billion people around the world, and country-level campaigns have been launched in Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru, with more national launches scheduled for the coming year.
