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B y J a m e s A . W i n s h i p , P h . D .

Maps. They are as old as the human imagination

and the desire to find the way from one place to another. They are the product of travel, exploration, and discovery. They combine art, imagination, science, craft and are often the substance of legend and fable. Maps help us chronicle the past, illustrate the present, and project the future. They are capable of inspiring the deep-set emotions of nationalism and memory. Their boundary lines have been the cause of international disputes and triggered many wars. Maps have divided peoples and united nations. They present the perennial problem of representing a three-dimen-


sional world in a two-dimensional space. The tentative

solution to that problem, of course, is the globe. But have

you ever tried to place one of those in your pocket? And, is

a spherical globe really representative of the shape of the

earth? Well . . . no, not really. Science learned in the mid-

18th century that the earth is oblate; it bulges at the equator.

Another representational difficulty guaranteed to drive the

makers of spherical globes to distraction.

Maps bring back memories of those impossible to refold

correctly, octopus-like road maps that were free and available

everywhere in the full-service gas stations of yesteryear. No

glove box was complete without a handful of maps and few

households were without at least one shoe box full of the

things. Today, those beloved maps have been replaced by

computer downloads and the disembodied human voice —

offering the language, accent, and gender of your choice —

of the portable Global Positioning System (GPS), whether

handheld or mounted in the dashboard of our cars.

The skills of mapmaking have evolved with the technol-

ogy of travel and navigation. The development of the sextant,

which allowed navigators to measure the angle of the sun

or a celestial body to the horizon at any given point on earth

at any given time, allowed for the determination of latitude.

The later introduction of the marine chronometer in the 19th

century allowed for the reasonably accurate determination

of longitude. Together, these measurements provided the

theoretical designation of any position on earth, within the

bounds of human and instrument error.

If navigational needs drove the development of in-

creasingly accurate measures of location, it was the military

necessity of the battlefield that drove the increasingly sophis-

ticated development of mapmaking techniques and applied

technology to the presentation of detailed local data on a map.

Intimate knowledge of the geographic detail of a prospective

battlefield and its environs could provide a commander with

an important, sometimes decisive, military advantage. While

technological developments drove the science of mapmaking,

their practical application often lagged behind the rough and

ready needs of military commanders faced with the practical

realities of locating the enemy and moving substantial numbers

of troops, unwieldy weaponry, and large amounts of supplies.

This potential advantage of detailed knowledge of the

battlefield was apparent to both the Union and the Confeder-

ate militaries during the American Civil War. Since the great

Maps If navigational needs drove the development of increasingly accurate measures of

location, it was the military necessity of the battlefield that drove the increasingly sophisticated development of map-making techniques and applied technology to the presentation of detailed local data on a map.


battles of the Civil War largely took place in the South,

with the notable exception of the battle of Gettysburg,

local knowledge tended to favor the Confederate forces.

Interestingly, top students at the United States Military

Academy at West Point tended to join either the Army Corps

of Engineers, the builders, or the Corps of Topographical

Engineers, the mappers. Assignment to the Corps of

Topographical Engineers, or “topogs” as they were known,

was especially valued because they got to employ some of

the very latest scientific equipment. But, topographical

engineers were soldiers as well. Captain George G. Meade,

for whom Fort Meade in Maryland is named, was a topo-

graphical engineer responsible for mapping the Great Lakes.

Subsequently, he was promoted to Major General and put

in charge of the Union Army just one week before facing

General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg. While

historians continue competing assessments of Gettysburg to

this day, it is eminently clear that Meade used the topography

of the battlefield to his defensive advantage and dealt Lee’s

forces a significant defeat.

What the Civil War demonstrated most effectively,

however, was that state-of-the-art technology was no

substitute for maps incorporating critical military intel-

ligence in a way that would allow commanders to visualize

the battlefield and exploit terrain effectively. The Civil War

saw the first battlefield use of the plane table — a flat level

surface used for map drawing that would allow for more ac-

curate measures of distance and elevation — under wartime

conditions. Unfortunately, use of the plane table exposed the

topographic engineers to enemy fire and proved too danger-

ous to be effective, even when adapted for use on horseback.

Instead, what the military commanders needed was “prac-

ticable” geographic intelligence. It was vitally important to

know where streams could be forded, for example, but it was

of even greater importance to know the capabilities of the

ford. Troops, for instance, could ford a stream through 4-5

feet of water. Wagons, which carried the critical supplies on

which an army lived and fought, could handle a depth of no

more than 2.5 feet. And, a ford that might accommodate a

small handful of wagons might simply disintegrate under the

impact of dozens of wagons and heavy artillery pieces.

Woods and forests also presented important tactical

advantages and sometimes insurmountable challenges.

Control of a Civil War army depended on line of sight,


and forests represented obstructions that no general could

overcome. “Topogs” could scout forest lands, map locations,

chart streams, and assess the density of trees and under-

brush, all crucial characteristics for battlefield commanders to

know. Typically, a Civil War topographical engineer’s toolkit

would include a pocket-sized sketchbook, a soft lead pencil

secured by string so as not to be dropped and lost while on

horseback, a ruler, a prismatic compass used for determining

bearings of specific roads or land features, and a pocket an-

eroid barometer used to determine elevations. Map drawing

implements included a protractor, compasses, a ruler, paper,

drawing pens, and India ink. Such tools were basic but effec-

tive in the hands of a trained topog.

In a technological advance that provided only marginal

results, the Civil War Corps of Topographical Engineers experi-

mented with hydrogen-filled balloons for aerial reconnaissance

and battlefield mapping. Foreshadowing the direction military

aviation would move in the 20th century, the balloons were

serviced and launched from converted coal barges equipped

with hydrogen generators, which were termed “aerostat carri-

ers” — precursors of the modern day aircraft carriers that are

at the core of the projection of naval airpower. Union officers

generally felt that although the balloons increased the distance

from which the battlefield could be overlooked, they were so

unsteady as to make accurate measurements difficult. After the

war, however, Confederate generals indicated that avoiding the

observation balloons above the battlefield forced a good deal of

roundabout troop movement.

The latter part of the 19th century saw the formation of

the U.S. Geological Survey established for “classification of

the public lands, and examination of the geological structure,

mineral resources, and products of the national domain.”

The goal was initially to map the public lands of the West and

their potential mineral wealth with an eye toward settlement

and the development of resources. To this day, the U.S. Geo-

logical Survey continues to provide among the most detailed

and accurate maps of the United States, primarily in digital

form rather than in print. This makes it easier to revise and

update the maps as more detailed data become available.

Keeping these critical maps up-to-date and accurate using

the most advanced mapping techniques, however, remains an

underfunded and underappreciated task.

World War I began the marriage of photography with

the military use of the airplane to develop aerial mapping

techniques, an emerging science that would become known

as “photogrammetry.” Aerial photography, in its early stages

was used primarily to provide basic battlefield intelligence

such as the location and size of troop and artillery formations

as well as the locations of key physical features such as roads,

rivers, and forests. World War II, however, benefitted from

increasingly sophisticated techniques developed between the

two World Wars and refined under the battlefield conditions

of World War II. Aircraft-mounted cameras with increasingly

high resolution now took strips of overlapping photos that

could be projected in such a way as to produce a three-

dimensional map of the area being photographed. Human

analysts could examine these composite photos for detailed

intelligence gathering, and mechanical analog plotters could

reconstruct the three-dimensional aerial geometry in the form

of contour maps.

The Cold War brought continuing increases in photo-

graphic resolution and high altitude aerial photography that

allowed reconnaissance and mapping of the Soviet Union and

Eastern Europe as well as other potential battlefields. Subse-

quently, the introduction of reconnaissance satellites allowed

for even more sophisticated photographic techniques, though

The Cold War brought continuing increases in

photographic resolution and high altitude

aerial photography that allowed

reconnaissance and mapping of

potential battlefields.


the continued use of film cartridges required the develop-

ment of mid-air retrieval techniques to snatch film ejected

from satellites in mid-air. Despite the Cold War mapping ad-

vances, when the United States entered the Vietnam War its

forces were overly dependent on outdated French maps from

the 1950s Indochina War and the earlier French colonial

period. The Army Map Service (AMS) developed pictomaps

using photographic images that were sufficient for infantry

use and identification of landmarks but were not sufficient to

permit accurate artillery control.

The post-Vietnam years brought significant advances

in aerial photography and photogrammetric techniques that

developed mathematical formulas to reconstruct aerial geom-

etry, and the advent of computers made it possible to move

beyond the Rube Goldberg contraptions that used photo-

graphs to draw analog maps to the use of smaller analytical

plotters. That same technology made it possible to develop

a more complex system of aerial photography called simulta-

neous block aerotriangulation that permitted multiple flight

lines of photographs to be tied together in ways that allowed

the construction of highly-detailed maps.

The greatest breakthroughs have come in the 1990s and

afterwards with the introduction of digital imaging technol-

ogy that allows for real-time transmission of image data from

airplanes as well as satellites passing over various points on

earth. New technologies such as LiDAR (Light Detection and

Ranging), which uses light impulses in the form of infra-red

laser beams, and IFSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture

Radar), which uses two phased sets of radio wave impulses to

measure elevation and map terrain, have made it possible to

overcome some of the traditional limitations of aerial pho-

tography. Both systems can operate in darkness. Airborne

LiDAR systems emit hundreds of thousands of laser pulses

per second, creating LiDAR “point clouds” of data that map

the tops of trees, buildings, as well as the bare-earth ter-

rain beneath the vegetation if laser pulses can pass through

or between the trees. LiDAR is now the leading technology

for mapping 3-D topographic surfaces. IFSAR has almost

non-existent weather restrictions and has strong cloud- and

weather-penetrating capabilities.

What was initially developed as the U.S. Army’s Terrain

Information Extraction System (TIES) has been commercially

developed by BAE Systems as “Socet Set®,” digital mapping

software that is used for precision photogrammetry and geo-


spatial analysis. The system is able to handle large amounts of

data from various image sources and provides a sophisticated

point-matching formula that can correlate literally millions of

points to tie thousands of images together with their real-world

locations. Socet Set® similarly performs lidargrammetry —

processing billions of 3-D elevation points from LiDAR data.

The resulting processes from photogrammetry and lidargram-

metry create high-resolution digital terrain and surface models,

image maps called orthophotos, 3-D visualizations, and Geo-

graphic Information System (GIS) databases.

The military applications of these evolving technologies

are many, varied, and often classified. Suffice it to say, howev-

er, that enhanced geospatial information and imaging technol-

ogies have improved mission planning and mission rehearsal

capabilities and have made possible remarkably detailed and

sophisticated computer simulations of potential battlefields.

Nowhere were these new technologies more visible than

in the First Iraq War (1990-91). The Army’s Engineer Topo-

graphic Laboratories (ETL) were responsible for developing

a “Country Profile Program” that provided commanders with

the most detailed and accurate maps of the potential battle-

field ever created, including critical infrastructure, rivers,

military sites, detailed street plans indicating key facilities,

and the locations of key resources. ETL was also responsible

for developing the guidance systems employed in Cruise

Missile technology, previously untried in combat. Terrain

Contour Matching (TERCOM) used elevation data to guide

the cruise missile’s flight path, and digital image correlation

provided terminal guidance that allowed the missile to match

prepared images of its intended target with what it was seeing

on the ground. ETL also developed a system of virtually real-

time mapping of the battlefield that would allow geospatial

intelligence to be downloaded and transformed into maps

that could be electronically delivered to commanders in

the field within a few hours. Remote imaging allowed the

detailed mapping of mine fields and the “fire trenches” which

Iraqi forces had engineered as defensive, delaying tactics

against any American-led coalition assault. Field operational

engineers provided on-site sand testing to determine where

heavy tanks and artillery could effectively operate, and GPS

equipment was used for the first time for initialization of

artillery positioning and azimuth determining systems.

While the GPS devices that have become so much a

part of our traveling lives represent one of the most obvious

spin-offs of the development of military mapping technology,

the civilian uses of the LiDAR and IFSAR elevation mapping

techniques are myriad. The new systems are critical to the

development of environmentally-conscious planning, not

only by mapping land contours but by measuring such

things as rainfall penetration and the thickness of under-

brush. A project currently underway in Nepal with the

cooperation of the Nepali and Finnish governments uses

LiDAR technology to produce three-dimensional maps of

the forest that can be used to calculate the amount of carbon

stored in large areas of forest. This will allow Nepal to par-

ticipate in international carbon-trading schemes designed to

allow high carbon producing countries to pay poor countries

with lots of forest area to refrain from cutting down trees

in exchange for carbon credits.

The new systems enhance land and resource management


Dr. David Maune studies the ups and downs of life. He

is not a psychiatrist, a moral philosopher, or a public

opinion pollster; he is a cartographer — a map maker —

or, more, specifically, a topographer — an engineer who

specializes in measuring elevation. Without Dr. Maune’s

assistance, this article would not have been possible. It grew

out of a professional presentation he made to an audience

of engineers exploring “Topographic Mapping: From the Civil

War to the Present.” Dr. Maune was kind enough to spend

hours with me sharing his experiences during his 30-year

military career and his now 20-year civilian engineering

career with Dewberry, a Virginia-based consulting firm.

Keep your eyes open as you drive Route 50 through the

Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, and you might spot Dr.

Maune. His Virginia license plate succinctly summarizes a

good bit of his professional life story. “MAP-ER” it reads in

bold blue letters against a white background. To the left the

plate is graced with an image of the Purple Heart Medal giv-

en to military personnel wounded in combat, and the words

“Combat Wounded” are emblazoned in red across the bottom

edge of the plate. Dr. Maune is a veteran of the Vietnam War,

of the extended Cold War, and of the First Iraq War . . . and he

is one of the world’s leading experts on Digital Elevation Mea-

surement. He really did edit the book on it, “Digital Elevation

Model Technologies and Applications: The DEM User’s Manual”

published by the American Society for Photogrammetry and

Remote Sensing, now in its second edition.

David Maune retired from the United States Army Corps of

Engineers as a full colonel in 1991 after a career as the Army’s

leading specialist in topographic engineering. He served with

the Army Corps of Engineers in Vietnam, Germany, England,

and the U.S. His career took him on to command of the 652nd

Engineer Battalion (Topographic), service as Inspector General

of the Defense Mapping Agency — now the National Geospatial

Intelligence Agency, service as Director of the Defense Mapping

School, and finally service as Commander and Director of the

U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories (ETL) and the

U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (TEC).

A mechanical engineering graduate of the Missouri

University of Science and Technology, David Maune joined

the Army Corps of Engineers immediately after graduation.

Ironically, it would be Vietnam that led directly to his graduate

Dewberry


techniques and make possible precision farm-

ing designed to get the most production from a

given combination of land, topography, seeds,

water, and fertilizer. Navigational safety can be

dramatically improved at sea and in the air. Snow

packs and snow melt can be mapped to more

accurately predict flooding and rises in sea level.

Urban and regional planning can make use of

these technologies to examine building footprints

and their interaction with the landscape, and vir-

tual cities can be created to assess their impact on

the patterns of life. Epidemiologists can examine

standing water patterns and terrain to predict the

spread of insect and water-borne disease. The

new imaging techniques can be used in a variety

of ways in the classroom not only to project maps

but to help students better understand the earth

and its ecosystems.

Maps.They are as old as time and

travel. And they are as new

as the most innovative technologies available.

No longer do we have to unfold or unroll them;

they’re as close as the nearest cell phone or

handheld computing device. One thing never

changes, however. Maps are the projections

of the human imagination showing us the

details of the landscape, the battlefield, a city,

a country . . . a picture of where we are not . . .

but where we might be. n

studies in mapping and topography. There, a Chinese-made hand

grenade, with a normal kill radius of 25-feet, landed just in front

of him. He managed to get just 8-feet away when the grenade

exploded. He survived. Several surgeries and much physical

therapy later, the Army suggested that they would send him to

graduate school with one assignment: learn everything he could

about how to map the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe without the

knowledge of their governments. He emerged from The Ohio State

University with a Ph.D. in Geodetic Science and Photogrammetry.

Dr. Maune is a transformer. Trained as a topographer, he

spent his military career demonstrating the importance of maps

and employing the latest technologies to transform field data into

geospatial intelligence. After retiring from the military, he took

his skills into the civilian sector where he has been a leader in the

field application of digital imaging technologies to provide geo-

spatial information critical for a wide variety of federal and state

government agencies. And more than that, he has encouraged the

training and development of a whole new generation of “topogs”

who meld the historic skills of the map maker with the extraordi-

nary information gathering capabilities of new digital technologies

. . . to reach new heights (and depths). n

Dave Maune has been mapping the earth’s topography, worldwide, since 1963.


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (3rd L) and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (2nd L) stand beside the statue of late US President Ronald Reagan at the Freedom Square of Budapest, close to the US Embassy building, on June 29, 2011, during the unveiling ceremony of the 180 kilograms and 2.18 meter tall bronze statue showing Reagan to mark the 100th anniversary of the late president. Ronald Reagan never visited Hungary, but his efforts to end communism have endeared him to many Hungarians.

Attil

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By Roland Flamini


Attil

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BUDAPEST: California Democrat Tom Lantos first entered the U.s. Congress in 1981, the same year Republican Ronald Reagan took over

the White House. Politically, that was about all the two politicians had in common. Yet in July both men were honored in Budapest on two successive days in events that brought together a former and current U.s. secretary of state and


a passel of members of Congress from both sides of the House.

In the first event, Condoleezza Rice joined Hungarian

Prime Minister Viktor Orban to unveil a 7 foot 3 inch bronze

statue of Reagan, one of a series of celebrations across Europe

to mark the centenary of his birth.

The president is captured striding purposefully across

Szabadsag (Freedom) Square in the direction of a nearby

memorial to Soviet soldiers killed during the ouster of the

Nazis from Hungary in the closing phases of World War II.

The obelisk topped by a gilt star

is an emotional eyesore to most

Hungarians, but can´t be moved to

a more remote location because of

an agreement with Moscow.

The Hungarians, like

other Eastern Europeans,

regard Reagan´s hard

line anti-communist

policy as pivotal in

the collapse of the

Soviet empire in

1989. At the

unveiling,

Prime Minister Orban praised Reagan for his role in enabling

Hungary to regain its sovereignty and the subsequent

withdrawal of Soviet troops. So the symbolism of the 40th

president of the United States starting down the obslisk from

a hundred paces was not lost.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) headed

the list of members of the U.S. Congress that included —

among others — Republican Representatives Lynn

Westmoreland (California), Vern Buchanan (Florida), and

Ed Whitfield (Kentucky); and Democratic Representatives

Karen Bass and Loretta Sanchez (California), and North

Carolina´s David Price.

Some of the distinguished American visitors also

attended Reagan commemorative events in Prague and

Krakow, Poland, home for forty years of Pope John Paul II, a

kindred spirit to Ronald Reagan in combating communism.

And by July 3, everyone had converged on London where

another statue to Reagan was unveiled in Grosvenor Square,

site of the U.S. Embassy.

Hungary´s domed Parliament building on the banks of

the Danube River in Budapest was the venue of the second

event, the inauguration of the Lantos Institute, named after

the California Democrat.

Reagan was honored without ever having set foot in

Budapest. But Lantos was a son of Hungary. He was born to

a Hungarian-Jewish family in Budapest in 1928 and survived

Karoly Grosz (L), the then-Hungarian General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (HSWP), listens to the then-US President Ronald Reagan’s (C) speech during a White House departure ceremony in

Washington on July 27, 1988. Reagan told the reporters and guests that the United States was impressed with Grosz’s openness to new ideas and were encouraged by his recognition that economic reforms cannot succeed

unless they are accompanied by political reforms in Hungary.

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the Nazi occupation of Hungary before migrating to the United

States. He became the only Holocaust survivor to enter the

U.S. Congress, where he served until his death in 2008, at the

age of 80. Throughout his life, he maintained close relations

with his homeland and became known in the House for

his work on human rights. He founded the Human Rights

Commission in the U.S. Congress that still bears his name.

Appropriately, the Lantos Institute — in the words of

Katrina Lantos Swett, the late congressman´s daughter who

heads the California-based Lantos Foundation,

its joint sponsor with Hungary — ¨represents an

important commitment on the part of the Hungar-

ian government to advance human rights, protect

minority rights, promote tolerance and strengthen

trans-Atlantic relations.”

A portrait of Lantos holding his pet dog is

hung in the gilt-encrusted, Gothic Revival parliament cham-

ber. For the Hungarian government, the celebrations had a

wide significance. Together, the two events were projected

as an expression of Hungary´s involvement in the Atlantic

Alliance. “The reason we are gathered together is to further

strengthen the alliance between the United States of America

and Hungary [...] and to celebrate a new rampart of this

alliance,” declared Prime Minister Orban.

Making a rare appearance together were Secretary of

State Hillary Clinton and her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

They sat on the velvet-covered seats normally occupied by

the government, with Prime Minister Orban between

them. Both women paid tribute to the late congressman’s

commitment to human rights. Hillary Clinton called him “the

physical and moral embodiment of the values that we share

and the commitment to freedom that means so much to the

American and Hungarian people.”

But the secretary used the occasion to make a wide-

ranging speech about human rights, voicing her concern

about those countries “trumpeting national economic growth

over freedom and human rights” — a thinly veiled reference

to China — and specifically referring to the poor human

rights record of Belarus and the regime of Moammar Gaddafi

in Libya. Clinton also encouraged countries that had expe-

rience in making the transition from repressive regimes to

more liberal governments in helping Arab countries in taking

their first step towards democracy.

At a reception for the American guests in the parlia-

ment’s long gallery, an orchestra of strings and that uniquely

Hungarian instrument, the zither, played musical selections.

Including — inevitably — the Harry Lime theme from the

1950s movie “The Third Man” which introduced the zither

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Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) and former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice (L) attend a ceremony to unveil a statue of former US president Ronald Reagan at the Freedom Square in downtown Budapest on June 29, 2011. The 40th president of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989, Reagan is celebrated in Hungary for helping to hasten the collapse of the Soviet Union and of communism in Eastern Europe. The 2.2-metre (7.2-foot) high bronze statue by Hungarian sculptor Istvan Mate, erected by the Hungarian Ronald Reagan Memorial Committee, marked the 100th anniversary this year of the US president’s birth and has been set close to the US embassy.

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Michael Douglas,“Messenger of Peace” for the United NationsBattles theCancer of Nuclear Weapons

Actor Michael Douglas stunned the movie-going public late last year when he announced that

he would undergo radiation treatments and chemotherapy for throat cancer, a battle that he has now apparently won. His willingness to battle cancer to a standstill, however, should have come as no surprise. Douglas has been battling another global scourge — the continuing presence and proliferation of nuclear weapons — for the last 13 years, ever since he was named a United Nations “Messenger for Peace” by then secretary General Kofi Annan. Douglas is deeply committed to the cause of global disarmament and has spoken out repeatedly on the importance of nuclear nonprolif-eration, limiting the global trade in small arms and light weapons, and the plight of child soldiers forced into various conflicts around the world. Michael Douglas is a two-time Academy


Actor Michael Douglas attends the inauguration of a new art installation of civil society petitions calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons at the United Nations headquarters in New York, March 24, 2011. The art installation, in support of Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims, will be part of the UN General Assembly permanent exhibition, displaying two plexiglass columns encasing over one million petitions calling for a total abolition of nuclear weapons.

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Douglas is deeply committed to the cause of global disarmament and has spoken out repeatedly on the importance of nuclear nonproliferation, limiting the global trade in small arms and light weapons, and the plight of child soldiers forced into various conflicts around the world.....................

Michael Douglas (second from right), UN Messenger of Peace, speaks during the inauguration ceremony of a new installation of civil society petitions calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Also present is Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

A one-million signature petition from cities around the world demanding the abolition of nuclear weapons went on exhibition at United Nations Headquarters in New York in a ceremony attended by Japanese survivors of the first and only use of the devastating bombs. Organized by Mayors for Peace, which was founded in 1982 by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two cities laid waste by atomic bombs in 1945, and now includes 4,540 cities in 150 countries, the exhibition underscores the goal of transcending national borders to fight for nuclear disarmament in what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a “landmark occasion” that helps to build international momentum.

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Douglas is deeply committed to the cause of global disarmament and has spoken out repeatedly on the importance of nuclear nonproliferation, limiting the global trade in small arms and light weapons, and the plight of child soldiers forced into various conflicts around the world.....................

Award-winner receiving a “Best Picture” Oscar for his produc-

tion of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and later the

Oscar for “Best Actor” for his role as the ruthless banker Gordon

Gekko, known for his now famous aphorism “Greed is good,” in

“Wall Street” (1987). But it was his involvement in the produc-

tion of the 1979 film “The China Syndrome” that drew Douglas

into the nuclear debate. As he told a British audience in 2000,

“I was first confronted with

nuclear issues when I was

involved in the making

of the film “The China

Syndrome.” Three weeks

after the movie opened, the

Three Mile Island nuclear

disaster occurred. I was

deeply concerned when

nuclear physicists told me

that 135 out of 160 fail-safe

steps had failed, almost

exactly as had happened in

the film. That started me

on this cause.”

Douglas went on to

explain to that same Brit-

ish audience that, “It is

increasingly likely that you and I will wake up one morning

to find that a sub-state group with a grievance is threaten-

ing a major Western city with a ‘suitcase’ nuclear bomb. It is

considered by specialists to be only a matter of time before

this happens. We have no defense whatsoever against it.

The only significant way we can reduce this risk is to put

materials to make nuclear weapons under lock and key.

That is possible, but the nuclear weapons nations have to do

it.” That statement was made 11 years ago, and in that time

Michael Douglas has repeatedly spoken out at the United

Nations and around the world for turning the “dream” of

nuclear disarmament into a practical, functioning reality.

The United Nations Messengers for Peace program

brings together distinguished individuals from the fields of

art, literature, music, and sports who accept the mission of

focusing worldwide attention on the work of the United Na-

tions. Secretary General Kofi Annan (1997-2006) spelled out

his vision for the program in remarks before two conferences

on “Celebrity Advocacy for the United Nations.” Celebrities,

he believed could advance the work of the United Nations in

two ways: first, by encouraging reluctant governments to take

more seriously the rhetori-

cal pledges they so readily

made in UN-sponsored

international conferences;

and second, by using their

global star status to per-

suade public opinion that

the UN’s goals of idealism

and optimism could make

a real difference in inter-

national diplomacy, where

the cynicism of political

realism and worst case

scenarios often reigned.

While attending a United

Nations Disarmament

Conference in New York in

2010, Michael Douglas was

asked point blank about what impact even an award-winning

actor and producer could have on an issue so big and seem-

ingly intractable as global disarmament. He offered a modest

but pointed rationale. “As somebody who’s in the movies,

people know you around the world. And, there’s a number

of world leaders who spend their time watching movies, so

you sometimes have easier access to them than being a gov-

ernment official. So I try to take advantage of that to speak

about my enthusiasm on the issue of disarmament.”

And speak out he does. In 2009, at a United Nations

Conference dealing with the proposed Comprehensive Test

Ban Treaty, which has been signed by 182 states and ratified by

154 but still lacks the critical nuclear state (Annex 2) ratifica-

tions necessary to bring the treaty into force, Douglas made a

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The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Section of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) delivers 40,000 liters of water to Tora village, approximately 50 km north of El Fasher, North Darfur. The water is used to make bricks for the construction of a village school which will house 30 former child soldiers.

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pointed and impassioned case for support of the treaty. “The

vast majority of people the world over intuitively abhor the

exploding of nuclear weapons in our precious earth and fear

the consequences of the use of these weapons by accident or

by mad design upon our cities. Now that leaders have made

clear their understanding of the risks and stated forcefully the

value of eliminating them we must rally together to make their

aspirations a reality. Please put the test ban high on our agen-

das. It is a necessary step to the future we all know is best.”

More recently, Michael Douglas spoke at the opening of

a special exhibition “Cities Are Not Targets” (CANT) which

will become part of the permanent disarmament display

in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Included as

part of the exhibition is a petition, assembled by Mayors for

Peace, with over one million signatures from people all over

the world. “Mayors for Peace” was founded in 1982 by the

mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, the only two cities

to have known the direct impact of atomic bombs dropped

in warfare at the end of World War II. The organization

now counts more than 4,540 cities in 150 countries as active

members dedicated to the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon observed

that this was the first exhibit in the permanent disarmament

display “which emphasizes the importance of our partnership

with a global non-governmental organization.”

Drawing a parallel between the current post-earthquake

nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power generating

station and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedy 66 years

ago, Douglas noted that despite “a lifetime of scars for those

who survived the blasts, the Japanese people have a history

“The vast majority of people the world over intuitively abhor the exploding of nuclear weapons in our precious earth and fear the consequences of the use of these we apons by accident or by mad design upon our cities...Please put the test ban high on our agendas. It is a necessary step to the future we all know is best.”

of rebuilding their country from both natural and man-made

disasters.” “The people who signed these petitions,” he con-

tinued, “are sending a clear and unambiguous message that

cities do not accept being held hostage by nuclear weapons.”

Though the United Nations has represented a major

commitment for Michael Douglas, his interests and involve-

ments do not end there. He is a member of the Board of

Directors of “Ploughshares Fund,” which “works to build a

safe, secure, nuclear weapons-free world by developing and

investing in initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate the

world’s nuclear stockpiles and to promote stability in regions

of conflict.” In addition, Douglas is an active supporter of

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and a board mem-

ber of Humanistic Robotics, which grew out of the Geneva

International Center for Humanitarian Demining and devel-

ops technologies for landmine clearance and the defeat of

pressure-sensitive improvised explosive devices (IEDs). He

is the recipient of numerous humanitarian awards, including

the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award for outstanding

excellence in the field of culture for using his art to reach out

to other cultures.

Michael Douglas is married to the actress Catherine

Zeta-Jones, who is not only at his side for his UN Ambas-

sadorial duties but extends his work with a focus of her own

on international children’s issues, supporting the work of the

International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the

Worldwide Orphans Fund, and Cinema for Peace. Douglas is

following in the footsteps of his father, award-winning actor

Kirk Douglas, who himself has twice served as a United Na-

tions Goodwill Ambassador. n

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“The vast majority of people the world over intuitively abhor the exploding of nuclear weapons in our precious earth and fear the consequences of the use of these we apons by accident or by mad design upon our cities...Please put the test ban high on our agendas. It is a necessary step to the future we all know is best.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with Michael Douglas, UN Messenger of Peace, at UN Headquarters in New York.

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Opposite Page: Michael Douglas (left), UN Messenger of Peace, and Joseph Deiss, President of the 65th session of

the General Assembly, are pictured during the inauguration ceremony of a new installation of civil society petitions calling

for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Left: United Nations Headquarters, Mr. Kirk Douglas, the well-known motion picture actor, talks with Miss Otillie Hayes,

then-UN Secretariat member, at the Information Desk in the Main Lobby of the Secretariat Building on January 11, 1952.

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Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (R) arrives with her husband,

actor Michael Douglas and their children Dylan and Carys

Douglas, to attend a Royal Investiture at Buckingham

Palace on February 24, 2011, in London, England. The

41-year-old Swansea-born actress Catherine Zeta-Jones,

who became an Oscar-winning Hollywood star, was presented with a CBE by Prince Charles,

Prince of Wales, in honor of services to the film industry

and to charity.


Actress and activist Eva Longoria speaks on Capitol Hill during the Farm Worker Help Bill press conference at the House Triangle on June 16, 2011, in Washington, DC.

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The fictional Wisteria Lane of “Desperate Housewives” may have brought Eva Longoria fame

and recognition, but it is in Washington, DC, where she has found her voice. Best known for her character Gabrielle Solis, the beautiful scheming housewife whose life adventures add spice to the comedy/soap opera’s convoluted story lines, Longoria has become a frequent visitor on Capitol Hill

and an outspoken advocate for the rights of Latina woman and

children. Longoria is Tejano, an American of Spanish and Mexican descent whose family has resided in Texas

since before the formation of the United States. Her ancestors migrated to what

Helping Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard to Spotlight Plight of Latino Children Picking the Nation’s Produce

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Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, (D-CA), right, and actress Eva Longoria hold a news conference at the House Triangle to introduce the Farm Worker Help Bill on Thursday, June 16, 2011.

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was then New Spain in 1603 and moved North toward what

would become the modern U.S.-Mexico border. Though her

ancestors had received a sizeable land grant from the King of

Spain in the eighteenth century, Longoria grew up with her

parents on a hard-scrabble “ranch” in the land between the

Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers. She frequently describes

herself as “Texican” or “Tex-Mex,” and she has never strayed

far from her Hispanic roots despite her theatrical success.

Building on her personal success, Longoria has poured

time and energy into a variety of humanitarian causes, many of

them dedicated to protecting the rights and health of children.

“My philanthropic drive definitely comes from my mother. My

Latino pride — my Mexican-American pride — comes from

my father,” she adds, “who always taught me to never forget

where you came from, and I never do. There are a lot of privi-

leges that I have and so many people fought before me so that

I could have them. So I want to continue their fight to make a

better life for those who want it and earn it and need it.”

In 2006, she founded “Eva’s Heroes,” which helps

developmentally-disabled children and is dedicated to her

sister Lisa, who is herself developmentally disabled.

Longoria also serves as the national spokesperson for PADRES

Contra El Cancér — Parents Against Cancer — a non-profit

organization committed to helping Latino children and their

families as they cope with the expensive and sometimes

debilitating range of cancer treatments their children must

undergo. As the only such Latino program in the country,

PADRES focuses on the needs of the entire family by

providing educational, financial, and language services.

Early this summer, Eva Longoria joined Representative

Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) on Capitol Hill to announce

the reintroduction of “The Children’s Act for Responsible

Employment” (CARE, HR 2234), which would require limited

working hours and increased protections for children work-

ing in agricultural fields in the United States. “Agriculture,”

Congresswoman Roybal-Allard noted, “is the only industry

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“There are a lot of privileges that I have and so many people fought before me so that I could have them. So I want to continue their fight

to make a better life for those who want it and earn it and need it.”

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governed by labor laws that allow children as young as 12 to

work with virtually no restrictions on the number of hours

they spend in the fields outside of the school day.” There

are an estimated 400,000 children who work as migrant

farm laborers, traveling across thousands of miles with their

families to pick crops in southern Texas, northern Michigan,

and northern Florida all the while dealing with scorching

heat, pesticide residues, the emotional burden of helping

their families through tough economic times, separation from

friends and familiar places, and the constant disruption of

their school lives as they follow the crops from place to place.

Actress Eva Longoria became Executive Producer Eva

Longoria, working with director U. Roberto Romano and

“Shine Global” to create a documentary film “The Harvest/

La Cosecha” that examines the hardship-filled lives of child

migrant laborers. Shine Global is a non-profit film produc-

tion company dedicated to “ending the abuse of children

worldwide [by making] theatrically cinematic films that raise

awareness, promote action and inspire political change. Be-

yond providing an emotional film experience, however, [our

goal is] to empower children to tell their stories in a manner

that reveals hope within horror.”

The film, which was screened on Capitol Hill, the same

day the announcement of the proposed CARE Act legislation

was made, profiles three child workers — Zulema Lopez

(12), Perla Sanchez (14), and Victor Huapilla (16) — as they

work through the 2009 harvest. Zulema’s earliest memo-

ries are of her mother teaching her how to pick and clean

strawberries. After attending eight schools in eight years, she’s

worried she may not even make it into, much less through,

high school. Asked about her dreams, Zulema simply says

she doesn’t have time for them. Perla sees one advantage

to traveling with her family to pick crops across the United

States. Migrating on the harvest provides some insulation

from the temptations of drugs and gangs that are inherent

in being a teenage Latina with limited resources. She has

a dream of becoming a lawyer so that she can help other

migrant families struggling to make ends meet. Victor lives

in Florida and is on the path to full citizenship. He struggles

to balance his time between harvesting and going to school,

but he is glad that his younger sisters have been spared the

ordeal of picking up to 1,5oo pounds of tomatoes a day. Still,

the expenses of bringing his two older sisters to the United

States legally have virtually bankrupted the family, making it

impossible for them to migrate for work.

What emerges is a vicious cycle of back-breaking work

“Agriculture,” Congresswoman Roybal-Allard noted, “is the only industry governed by labor laws that allow children as young as 12 to work with virtually no restrictions on the number of

hours they spend in the fields outside of the school day.”

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these people.” Perhaps that is Longoria’s greatest gift . . .

feeling invested in people. Her investment is document-

ed by her current enrollment in a master’s program in

Chicano Studies and Political Science at Cal State Univer-

sity – Northridge. She explains this academic side of her

life by noting, “I really wanted a better, more authentic

understanding of what my community has gone through

so that I can help create change.”

Among her many endeavors is a cookbook, “Eva’s

Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends,”

which she describes as “a memoir of my life told through

food.” It is based on her family experience of weddings

over the years where each bride received a cookbook

filled with favorite recipes from various family members.

And, it’s dedicated to her Aunt Elsa who taught everyone

in the family how to cook and all the while stretching the

boundaries of recipes. “I’m a cook not a chef,” Longoria

observes and quickly adds that she cooks to taste and to

please family and friends . . . that makes writing formal

recipes hard. “I treasure cooking and I value it. I love

that it is always centered around family.”

What’s true for cooking is equally true of Longoria’s

political and social involvement. It seems always to be

centered around family. Aunt Elsa would be proud. n

in the fields and migrations with school sandwiched in the

moments of available time and dwindling energy. Congress-

woman Roybal-Allard summarized the dilemma of these

child field workers. “Tragically, unable to keep up with the

competing demands of long work hours in the fields and

school, a recent report found that child farmworkers drop

out of school at four times the national dropout rate — slam-

ming the door shut on the very pathway that could one day

help them escape a lifetime of unrelenting work harvesting

our crops. I simply do not believe that our child labor laws

reflect how we as Americans value our children.”

“The difference Eva Longoria has made to this bill is

huge,” Roybal-Allard said. “Before Eva, we would hold press

conferences for this bill, but they were nothing like this.”

She goes on to credit Longoria with helping to increase the

number of co-sponsors who have signed on to the legislation

since it was first introduced in 2007. “There are so many

issues vying for our time in D.C. that migrant child labor can

often get lost,” the Congresswoman noted, “so you need to

have someone like Eva – someone of her stature – to really

elevate the energy and excitement.”

In Eva Longoria’s words, “With this documentary, we

took the issue of farm workers in America and humanized it

by giving it a face, and a need, and you really feel invested in

“...we took the issue of farm workers in America and humanized it by giving it a face, and a need,

and you really feel invested in these people.”


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Prince William and his wife, Catherine, the

Duchess of Cambridge, arrive on Parliament Hill in Ottawa during Canada Day celebrations on the second

day of their nine-day tour of Canada on July 1, 2011.

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n the streets of London this summer, the romance

had all but vanished. Gone were the carriages, cam-

eras, and cast of celebrities that characterized the

spring wedding between Catherine Middleton and Prince

William. In their wake returned honking cabs, swarming

tourists, and disgruntled media barons.

An ocean away, however, a second act to the love story

was taking shape. This time, it was not simply between a

prince and his bride, but between two newlyweds and a

nation.

On June 30th, William and his new wife Catherine,

as she prefers to be called, arrived in Canada for their

first official overseas tour together, prompting Canadian

Governor General David Johnston to dub the country the

“honeymoon capital of the Commonwealth.”

Instead of the predictable tour of etiquette and pomp,

however, William and Catherine’s visit was more akin to a

crash course in Canadian culture.

“We’ve been looking forward to this moment for a very

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long time, and before we were

married, we had a longing to

come here together,” William

told a crowd during the cou-

ple’s first stop in Ottawa, the

capital city.

The 12-day North American

juggernaut saw the novice Duke and

Duchess of Cambridge race each other in

dragon boats off Prince Edward Island, try their

hand at cooking soufflé in Montreal, raise hockey sticks in

the Northwest Territories, and even don ten-gallon cowboy

hats at the world’s largest rodeo festival in Calgary.

After nine days and 2,300 miles of travel across Canada

— not only by plane but also by naval ship and canoe —

William and Catherine journeyed south to Los Angeles,

where they attended a fundraiser for the British Academy of

Film and Television Arts, of which William is president.

Throughout the tour, humanitarianism set the agenda.

On the tarmac at Calgary Airport, the couple took time to

meet Diamond Marshall, a six-

year-old cancer patient. The

newlyweds’ stint in LA included

a tour of the Inner-City Arts

campus in skid row, where

young students grapple with pov-

erty and homelessness. But perhaps

most heartwarming was William and

Catherine’s decision to cut their private

time short in order to make an unscheduled visit

to the small community of Slave Lake, Alberta, where relief

workers and displaced families were still dealing with the

aftermath of a devastating fire.

Far from typical, the young couple’s “honeymoon” permit-

ted few private moments together, save for an evening at his-

toric Skoki Lodge in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. But both

royals proved tireless in taking on their marathon-like itiner-

ary, not to mention in engaging with eager crowds who often

greeted them with chants of “Will and Kate, Will and Kate.”

In fact, Canada is no stranger to royal visits. Since the

Duchess Catherine looks on as Prince William plays street hockey during an event at the Somba K’e Civic Plaza in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, on their nine-day tour in Canada.

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Left: Prince William and Duchess Catherine board a Seaplane bound for Blachford Lake at the Old Town Float Base on July 5, 2011, in Yellowknife, Canada.

Below: Prince William and Duchess Catherine row dragon boats across Dalvay Lake on July 4, 2011, in Charlottetown, Canada. The 12 day visit to North America took in some more remote areas such as Prince Edward Island, Yellow-knife, and Calgary. The Royal couple started off their tour by joining millions of Canadians in taking part in Canada Day celebrations which mark Canada’s 144th birthday.

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Duchess Catherine and Prince William arrive at Calgary Airport on July

7, 2011, in Calgary, Canada. The newly-

married Royal Couple were on the eighth

day of their first joint overseas tour.

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18th century, members of the royal family have journeyed

across the Atlantic, not only for more traditional tours, but

also for private getaways, military service, and even to attend

school. The earliest royal visit took place in 1786, when

Prince Albert Edward, the future King William IV, began

making frequent trips to Canada’s east coast while serving

in the Royal Navy. In 1939, the Queen Mother declared,

“Canada made us,” at the end of her first tour of the country

with her husband, King George VI.

Queen Elizabeth, however, tops even her most peripa-

tetic forbearers, having traveled to the northern seat of the

Commonwealth a total of 23 times — making Canada the

most-visited country on the Queen’s list.

Choosing Canada as the first official destination for

the newly minted royal couple was no doubt a calculated

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Duchess Catherine and Prince William speak with six-year-old terminal cancer sufferer Diamond as she arrives at Calgary Airport on July 7, 2011, in Calgary, Canada.

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decision on the part of Buckingham

Palace. Although republican rum-

blings remain — most notably in the

French-speaking province of Quebec

— the monarchist voice in Canada

appears to still be strong, even

amongst youth.

And who better to promote

this Commonwealth support than

the charismatic Duke and Duchess?

Youthful, glamorous, and approach-

able — relatively speaking — Wil-

liam and Catherine are proving to be

the royal family’s most powerful PR

weapon.

Tom Richards, head of the youth

wing of the Monarchist League of

Canada, pointed to the popular new-

lyweds as a key factor in the increase

of the organization’s membership.

Youth are now the league’s fastest-

growing demographic, with mem-

bership sky-rocketing from a few

hundred to approximately 2,250 in

the past two years.

“This is monarchy 2.0. This

is the new generation. The institu-

tion is being reinvented for a new

generation,” echoed Matthew Rowe,

a league spokesman, in Ottawa.

As late as 2009, however, the

monarchy’s popularity in the Great

White North was on thin ice. That

year, William’s father, Prince Charles,

received a more subdued welcome

from sparse Canadian crowds, while

protesters clashed with riot police

during the Prince’s stop in Montreal.

A national poll conducted at the

time revealed that two-thirds of Ca-

nadians would prefer an elected head

of state that was native to their side of the pond. A year later,

another poll conducted during a visit by Queen Elizabeth

showed more favorable results, with less than half of Canadi-

ans deeming the monarchy to be an outdated institution.

If the crowds that thronged Parliament Hill for William

and Catherine’s visit on July 1 are any indication, support for

the Palace is gaining ground. Around 300,000 turned up for

the Canada Day celebrations, which typically draw 50,000.

South of the border, California also found itself in the

grips of “Wills and Kate mania.” In a town accustomed to the

cult of celebrity, the Duke and Duchess were in a league all

their own as they touched down in Los Angeles on July 8th.

Prince William and Duchess Catherine are greeted by British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, (C) and his wife Lady Julia Sheinwald, California Governor Jerry Brown, and his wife Anne Gust as they arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on July 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. The newly married Royal Couple were on a three-day visit to Southern California.

Lady Julia Sheinwald (curtseying), wife of British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, greets Prince William and Duchess Catherine as they arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on July 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. Also pictured are (L-R) Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Governor Jerry Brown, and his wife Anne Gust, who is holding a red, white and blue bouquet of flowers for the Duchess of Cambridge.

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Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, are greeted by Consul-General Dame Barbara Hay at a private reception held at the British Consul-General’s residence on July 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. The 12 day visit to North America was coming to a conclusion with a three-day visit to Southern California.

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Above: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, attend a private reception at the British Consul-General’s residence on July 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.

Opposite Page: Duchess Catherine and Prince William look on during remarks by British ambassador to the United States Sir Nigel Sheinwald. This photo was taken during a private reception at the British Consul-General’s residence on July 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.

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Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine,

Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at the 2011 BAFTA ‘Brits To

Watch’ Event at the Belasco Theatre on July 9, 2011, in

Los Angeles, California.

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Above: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, in conversation with Rita Wilson and Jennifer Garner while attend-ing the BAFTA ‘Brits to Watch’ event held at the Belasco Theatre on July 9, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.

Left: Prince William and Duchess Catherine speak with Jennifer Lopez at the 2011 BAFTA ‘Brits To Watch’ Event at the Belasco Theatre on July 9, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.

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After a walk down the red carpet, the couple joined

Hollywood’s own royalty — including Nicole Kidman, Tom

Hanks and Jennifer Lopez — for a black tie-affair benefiting

BAFTA, an independent charity that supports British talent in

the film, television, and video gaming industries. Earlier that

day, William put his long hours on the polo field to good use

in Santa Barbara, where he played — and fittingly won — a

match as part of another fundraising event. This time, the

couple used the star-studded event to support the Ameri-

can Friends of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince

Harry, which focuses its efforts on the environment, armed

forces, and disadvantaged youth.

In the United States as in Canada, the Duke and Duchess

greeted crowds with poise and a well-practiced intimacy. Add

in the pair’s sartorial sensibility, not to mention Catherine’s

megawatt smile, and these young royals have a gloss few can

ever hope to attain.

But it was not simply William and Catherine’s star power

that drew crowds on every leg of a tour that spanned three

time zones. Instead, Canadians and Americans alike seemed

bewitched by the royal couple’s relaxed manner, their big-

hearted agenda, and their genuine affection for one another.

While attending the Calgary Stampede on their final night

in Canada, William told a crowd that both he and Catherine

understood what his great-grandmother had meant when she

declared, “Canada made us,” in 1939.

“Canada has far surpassed all that we were promised.

Our promise to Canada is that we shall return,” William said

to raucous cheers.

As this love story expands to include not only a Duke

and Duchess, but now an entire nation, William and Cath-

erine will no doubt be welcomed back with open arms. n

Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Nicole Kidman, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, attend the BAFTA ‘Brits to Watch’ event held at the Belasco Theatre on July 9, 2011, in Los Angeles, California.

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Above: Britain’s Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, shown seated (upper right) watch a performance during a tour of the Inner City Arts campus in Los Angeles on July 10, 2011.

Prince William and his wife Catherine were on a royal visit to California from July 8 to July 10.

Below: Steven M. Missimer (L), USO Vice President of Programs, with Britain’s Prince William (C) and his wife Catherine (R), the Duchess of Cambridge. They put together USO boxes during the Mission Serve ‘Hiring Our Heroes’ job fair at Sony Studios in Culver City, California, USA, on July 10, 2011.

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Events that dazzle. But no one shines brighter than you.

58

Events that dazzle. But no one shines brighter than you.

59


Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Jessica

Alba join the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families

Coalition to discuss the Safe Chemicals Act at

the United States Capitol.

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To say Jessica Alba’s life is hectic would

be an understatement. The Hollywood

actress famous for her roles in such block-

buster films as “Fantastic Four” and “sin

City” is also a busy mother expecting her

second child in september.

This year, Alba added another feather

to her cap by speaking out as an activist for

environmental issues in Washington, D.C.

In May, Alba joined senators Lautenberg

and Udall on Capitol Hill in support of the

safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition,

an organization that is pressing Congress

for stronger federal toxins legislation.

“As you may have heard, I’ll be having my

second child soon. It would be wonderful if

Congress could pass this legislation in time

for his or her arrival,” a visibly pregnant Alba

told members of Congress on May 24th.

“Don’t send flowers. No fruit baskets.

Instead, let’s all give the gift of health to

each other with the safe Chemicals Act,”

she said at the event sponsored by senator

Frank Lautenberg. In April, the New

Jersey senator proposed Bill s.487, the

“safe Chemicals Act,” to reform the 1976

Toxic substances Control Act, the only law

regulating chemicals in the United states.

From baby bottles to wallpaper, Lauten-

berg and the safer Chemicals, Healthy Fami-

lies coalition point to links between various

diseases — such as asthma and diabetes in

children — and some of the thousands of

chemicals present in day-to-day products.

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Actress Jessica Alba (L) joins Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition to speak with Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) in his office about pushing passage of

the Safe Chemicals Act in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.

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Above: Actress Jessica Alba attends a kickoff event with her daughter Honor (L), alongside Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver (R), for the National Education Association (NEA) Read Across America Day, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Alba joined First Lady Michelle Obama and film, television, and sports personalities in the event marking Dr. Seuss’ 107th birthday and the start of the 14th annual reading campaign.

Right: Green Bay Packers football player widereceiver Donald Driver attends NEA’s Read Across America Kickoff with actress and activist Jessica Alba at The Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

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Now more than 11 million members strong, the coalition

advocates for greater oversight from the Environmental

Protection Agency, as well as more clout for the TSCA, which

remains the country’s only federal environmental legislation

yet to receive a congressional update.

As a soon-to-be mother of two, Alba’s efforts in this

environmental campaign hit close to home. By taking her

star power from the screen to the Hill, the actress’ appearance

in Washington renewed momentum in the bill, particularly

as political debate heats up over reforming the TSCA.

Opponents to the bill argue that research on the dangers

of chemicals such as phthalates — substances commonly

found in everything from vinyl flooring to cosmetics — is

tenuous.

“We need a steady drumbeat of American moms telling

Congress to fight for the safety of your family,” the film star

countered in a letter released concurrently with her two-day

lobbying effort in the capital.

Hazardous chemicals, however, were not the only

cause on Alba’s plate this year. In March, the actress and her

young daughter, Honor, joined First Lady Michelle Obama

in kicking off the 14th annual Read Across America Day at

the Library of Congress. The event also marked the 107th

birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss, with Alba and others

reading from the celebrated writer’s oeuvre in front of nearly

300 elementary students.

Although this sort of political engagement might seem

unusual for a famed starlet, Alba is no stranger to activism.

The actress has travelled to countries including Ghana

and Senegal as the United States co-chair of the 1GOAL

campaign, which advocates for universal basic education

for children. Habitat for Humanity, RADD and SOS Children

Inspired.Successful.Empowered.

Inspired. Successful. [email protected] • www.britishschoolofwashington.org

British School of Washington

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Jessica Alba poses with children at

a news conference last year to discuss the

1GOAL campaign at the Rayburn House

Office Building in Washington, DC.

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Villages also number amongst

Alba’s many charitable works,

while in 2008 she raised

eyebrows with a controversial

advertising campaign aimed

at encouraging youth voter

turnout.

On the surface, Alba

might appear to be following

the strict formula of Holly-

wood’s glamorous set. After

all, she is a frequent cover

girl for beauty magazines, a

veteran of Hollywood action

films, and a spokesperson for

cosmetic lines. Outside her

day job, however, the 30-year-

old actress paints a second

portrait of an engaged citizen

harnessing her lofty position

as a platform for the under-

represented.

With a second child on

the way, Alba’s future humani-

tarian engagement remains to

be seen. For now, she stands

as a refreshing exception to

the glitterati of tinseltown. n

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It’s a long way from south Central Los Angeles, where award-winning actor, producer, and director Forest Whitaker grew up, and the violence-torn African country of Uganda, but that is the

road he has traveled. It’s a long way from being a kid in south Central Los Angeles to having his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, to being named as a UNEsCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Recon-ciliation, but that too is a path Forest Whitaker has walked. UNEsCO — the United Nations Educational, scientific, and Cultural Organization — named Whitaker a Goodwill Ambassador early this

James A. Winship, Ph.D.

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James A. Winship, Ph.D.

Actor Forest Whitaker delivers a speech on June 21, 2011, at

the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, after being named Goodwill Ambassador for Peace

and Reconciliation for the United Nations’ educational, scientific,

and cultural body.

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summer at a ceremony held at its headquarters building in

Paris. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General and the first

woman to hold that position, indicated that the ambassadori-

al designation comes in recognition of Whitaker’s humanitar-

ian and artistic commitments. “You have a true gift,” she told

Whitaker, “this is the gift of empathy, the gift of understand-

ing, and the gift of reaching out to others. This compassion

has guided your actions as a citizen of the world — beyond

the silver screen.” These traits, she continued, are most vis-

ible in his film projects such as “Better Angels,” a film about

Ugandan child soldiers, and “Common Destiny,” a documen-

tary about the common goals of achieving peace and mutual

understanding, and the power of education in promoting

peace and reconciliation between and within communities.

At the Paris induction ceremony Ambassador David Kil-

lion, Permanent Delegate of the United States of America to

UNESCO, described Whitaker’s most unique gift. “He sees

the humanity in everyone, without exception. He reminds

us of the true meaning of compassion. True compassion

knows no prejudices, geographical boundaries, color, age, or

Actor Forest Whitaker (L) and UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova present the document officializing Whitaker’s nomination as

Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation for the United Nations’ educational, scientific, and cultural body on June 21, 2011,

at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

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gender. It is about connecting with people as they are, where

they are. And it is through true compassion and human

connections that we can build peace.” Ambassador Killion

noted that, “This is why Forest is such a perfect choice as a

Goodwill Ambassador. He has exemplified compassion in

every area of his life, with humility and grace. He does this

because it’s the right thing to do, not because it makes head-

lines or promotes his next film.”

Whitaker, who has a long filmography and an extended

list of television credits in his 30-year acting career, is best

known for his Academy Award winning performance as Best

Actor in the 2006 film “The Last King of Scotland.” In that

film he played the role of Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin

(1971-1979). Immersing himself in preparations for the role,

Whitaker reviewed news and documentary footage of Amin

in office, learned the Swahili language, mastered Amin’s East

African accent, and spent time meeting with Ugandans who

had known Amin closely as well as with victims of Amin’s

repression.

The actor’s involvement with Uganda did not end with

the completion of “The Last King of Scotland,” however. He

actively took up the cause of “child soldiers,” openly speaking

against the outrage of children being forced to take up arms

with rebel groups and being trained to fight adult conflicts

in Uganda, elsewhere in Africa, and across the world. One

of the actors Whitaker worked with in Uganda, Okello Sam,

had started an orphanage as a refuge for child soldiers who

broke away from their captors. Whitaker quickly became

involved in the work of Hope North Uganda, a boarding

school and vocational training center for escaped child

soldiers, orphans, and other young victims of Uganda’s

extended civil conflict.

As part of his UNESCO induction ceremony, Whitaker

screened his new documentary, “A Place of Peace,” which tells

the story of Hope North Uganda. The center, the film makes

clear, is more than simply a refuge; it is a place of self-discov-

ery. Many of the young people there have been traumatized

by the conflict that has surrounded them all of their lives and

the violence that has broken their ties to family and com-

munity. In many ways, the center is becoming a new village,

offering a place of connectedness and preparing displaced

young people to re-enter society and to rebuild their lives.

Still, as Whitaker is quick to point out, for many of these

young people who have been forced to commit acts of vio-

lence and killing, “the most important thing is forgiveness . . .

forgiveness of self as well as forgiveness from the outside.”

At a recent UNESCO meeting of the High Panel of

Peace and Dialogue Among Cultures held at United Nations

headquarters in New York, Whitaker explained that his com-

mitment to the issues of ending community violence and the

abuse of childhood caused by dragging children into com-

mitting acts of violence was born of his own childhood in

South Central Los Angeles where he watched the rise of gang

violence all around him. He observed that there were com-

monalities between instances of youth violence wherever they

occurred. “Their stories are related,” he said talking about

his film “Better Angels.” “This story happened in Uganda,

but you’d hear the same stories all over the world in different

incarnations.”

Whitaker hopes that his initial missions as a UNESCO

Goodwill Ambassador will continue to involve him with

young people and working to help them learn basic peace

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon poses for a photo with a group of children at the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Kamapala, Uganda.

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and reconciliation techniques that will be of immediate use

in their lives and communities. In the words of Director

General Bokova, “This organization was created in 1945 to

build the defenses of peace in the minds of men and women.

Let us work to show that peace can be built through com-

passion and understanding, through dialogue, respect, and

reconciliation.”

Even as he was accepting his ambassadorial appointment

from UNESCO, Whitaker was taking yet another compas-

sionate step by premiering a new documentary on OWN

— the Oprah Winfrey Network. Entitled “Serving Life,” the

documentary — narrated and executive produced by Whita-

ker and directed by Lisa R. Cohen — focuses on the hospice

program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, a

maximum security prison where 85 percent of the inmates

will never know liberty again. It seems an unlikely place to

discover compassion, but in this hospice program, inmates

care for those among them who are terminally ill. Ironically,

here inmates rediscover life in caring for others and are led

to acknowledge a personal responsibility for their criminal

actions and their disconnected lives. Here is another episode

in Whitaker’s acting career of revealing surprising truths: care

and compassion can flourish and humanity can be discovered

in the most unexpected places.

As she concluded her presentation UNESCO Director-

General Bokova recalled to Whitaker words that he had

spoken when he won the Academy Award. He began acting,

Whitaker recalled, because of a desire to “connect with every-

one — to that thing inside each of us, that light that I believe

exists in all of us. Acting,” Whitaker said on that occasion, “is

about believing in that connection, and it’s a connection so

strong, it’s a connection so deep, that we feel it. And through

our continued belief, we can create a new reality.” Bokova

concluded her remarks by turning Whitaker’s own words to

new purpose. The mission with which she charged him was

“by dreaming and connecting [to] ‘create a new reality.’”

It’s a daunting mission, but one that Forest Whitaker is

clearly well prepared to undertake. n

Left to right: Actor Michael Douglas, Oprah Winfrey, actor Forest Whitaker, and actress Emma Thompson speak in the audience during the 38th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Mike Nichols held at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Forest Whitaker is premiering his newest documentary on the Oprah Winfrey Network entitled, “Serving Life.” It is narrated and executive produced by Whitaker.

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In July, the Niall

Mellon Townships

Initiative held its first

Washington, DC, fund-

raiser at The Dubliner

on Capitol Hill with the

theme “Building Homes,

Building Hope.” Since the

non-profit was established

by the Irish philanthropist

Niall Mellon in 2002, over

10,000 volunteers have

been recruited from Ireland,

the United Kingdom, the

United States, and other nations to build homes for families in

South Africa previously living in dilapidated shacks without

water or electricity. The organization is currently working

in 23 townships. It is estimated that over two million homes

must be constructed to meet the decent housing needs of the

people of South Africa.

The event was attended

by the Ambassador of

Ireland, Michael Collins,

who spoke of his pride in

the spirit of volunteerism

which has prompted so

many people from his

country to join in the effort

to bring hope and dignity

to families living in the

townships of South Africa,

even during a time of

financial hardship in Ireland.

He also expressed his

appreciation to the American volunteers who have joined in

partnership with the Irish in recent years.

Representative Donald Payne, a member of the House

Foreign Affairs Committee who has personally visited the

townships and participated in a handover ceremony to present

a family with the key to their new home, spoke about the

Congressm an Payne and Congresswom an McCollumjoin Ir i sh A mba ssador Coll ins in fundr a i ser

Building Homes, Building Hope

in South Africa


Congressman Donald Payne, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, praised the work of the Niall Mellon Townships Initiative. Looking on (from left to right) are Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Dotti Mavromatis of the Niall Mellon Townships Initiative, and Keith Carney, National Director of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.


many additional benefits of decent housing,

“Giving families a home with clean running water

and electricity dramatically changes their lives for

the better. Children are healthier, safer, and able

to perform better in school. The program also

provides job training opportunities and stresses

environmental sustainability.”

Representative Betty McCollum, a member of

the powerful House Budget and Appropriations

Committees and a strong supporter of the Niall

Mellon Townships Initiative, also attended, along

with Mr. Norman Houston, Director of the

Northern Ireland Bureau in Washington, DC. n

Ambassador of Ireland Michael Collins (far right) was joined by (from left to right) Alexandria Attorney Bob Nealon; Legislative Assistant to Representative Jim Moran - Tom Garofalo and National Director of the Ancient Order of Hibernians - Keith Carney.

UN P

hoto

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Over 15,000 homes have been built in 23 townships in South Africa through the work of the Niall Mellon Townships Initiative.

The non-profit is the largest charity provider of quality social housing in South Africa. Headquartered in Ireland, the

organization has offices in South Africa and Washington, DC.


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Following his re-election

to a second five-year

term as Secretary-

General of the United

Nations, Ban Ki-moon

chose to make an

extended nine-day

visit to Japan and the

Republic of Korea. His

visit coincided with the

sixty-sixth anniversary

of the atomic bombing

of the Japanese cities

of Hiroshima and

Nagasaki and with the

twentieth anniversary

of the admission of the

Republic of Korea and

the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea to

the United Nations. He

also used his visit as an

opportunity to introduce

some of the themes that

he hopes to emphasize

during his second term

as Secretary-General.

One goal of his visit

was to renew working

acquaintances with

political and diplomatic

leaders in Japan and

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) meets with Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, on August 12, 2011, in Seoul.

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Korea, but Ban also met with business and community leaders

as well as villagers and students. He concluded his journey

with a visit to his ancestral home. One look at the schedule

makes it clear that the Secretary-General is more than the CEO

of the extensive United Nations bureaucracy. The role calls for

its holder to be a mediator of consummate skill, an unusually

articulate communicator, and an ambassador for the broader

global concerns of justice, human rights, economic develop-

ment, and international security, especially as these are more

definitively expressed in the UN’s Millennium Development

Goals targeted for 2015. Each of these themes was visible in

the Secretary-General’s demanding schedule.

Though last year he attended the Hiroshima Peace

Memorial Ceremony, this year Secretary-General Ban chose to

visit with displaced persons in eastern Japan who suffered the

effects of the “triple disasters” — earthquake, tsunami, and

nuclear accident — that struck the region this spring. After

meeting with evacuees in Fukushima, Japan, Ban told report-

ers that he “was able to read in their faces that they were really

asking the [Japanese] government and the United Nations

that this kind of accident which happened in the Fukushima

Daiichi nuclear power plant should never happen again in

other parts of the world.” He also welcomed assurances

from Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan that, “The Japanese

government will share its invaluable experience and lessons

learned from this tragedy with the international community,

particularly in the area of disaster risk reduction and prepared-

ness and also strengthening nuclear safety standards.”

Before departing Japan, Secretary-General Ban met with

Japan’s Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and expressed his

thanks to the Japanese government for its support of United

Nations field missions and for enhancing the capacity of UN

peacekeepers, particularly the assistance provided by Japan to

the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). At the

same time, Mr. Ban also reiterated his request that Japan

consider contributing engineers to the UN’s newest peace-

keeping mission in South Sudan (UNMIS).

Arriving in South Korea, where he would meet with

President Lee Myung-bak and other government leaders, Mr.

Ban addressed the United Nations Academic Impact Forum

meeting in Seoul and was hosted by the Korean Council for

University Education and Handong Global University. The

Forum is an outgrowth of the Secretary-General’s Academic

Impact Initiative designed to build stronger ties between the

United Nations and institutions of higher learning around

the globe and to leverage the resources of the higher educa-

tion community to assist UN programming around the world.

A statue representing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands in the small farming village where he was born in Eumseong County, North Chun-gcheong Province, Republic of Korea.

Mr. Ban visited the area, making stops at his old high school and the home he grew up in.

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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon waves to students of Chungju High School, his old school, after speaking with students, in North Chungcheong Province, Republic of Korea on August 14, 2011.

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“The initiative,” noted Mr. Ban “has grown very encouragingly.

What started with a few schools and the simple wish to har-

ness academia’s great power for the common good, has become

a global enterprise. More than 670 schools in 104 countries

are now taking part — 47 from the Republic of Korea alone.”

Ban reminded his academic audience that the United

Nations was founded as an organization where states and their

diplomatic representatives would meet to resolve disputes be-

fore they became major conflicts, to protect human rights, and

to promote improved standards of living for the world’s people.

“Today,” however, “a new view has taken hold: Governments

cannot do it alone, nor should they want to. As the chal-

lenges we face grow more complex and interconnected, the

United Nations has opened its doors to a wide range of new,

exciting, and sometimes unexpected partners: businesses and

non-governmental organizations; philanthropies and parlia-

mentarians; young people empowered by technology and the

latest social mobilization tools. The academic community is

among those key new partners injecting dynamism into our

work and making such partnerships the wave of the future.”

Addressing the Third Global Model United Nations

Conference meeting in Inchon the next day, Secretary-General

Ban told the assembled student ambassadors from around the

world, “Your experience in this conference will give you a full

taste of the complexity of international relations, the intricacies

of negotiations among diverse peoples and perspectives, the

challenges of achieving consensus and the patience required

to win progress. Yes, technology offers solutions,” he told

the students, “but I prefer to put my faith in people, young

people in particular. That is why the United Nations needs

your engagement on the challenges that will shape the world

you will leave to your children. After all, you will soon be

the government officials who will negotiate peace, the com-

munity leaders who will help feed and shelter the vulnerable,

the entrepreneurs and innovators who will get carbon

emissions under control, the lawyers and human rights

defenders who will fight injustice, impunity, and intolerance.”

He concluded, “That is why I am telling you the future of

our world depends on your active engagement today.”

Ban also told the students that if there was one theme

that summed up his first term as Secretary-General and would

shape his second term, it is “new multilateralism.” “No single

country or group of countries, no matter how powerful they

may be, can take on the major issues of the day alone. In an

era when challenges spill over borders and have global reach,

our future depends on how well we work together.”

Speaking to the assembled diplomatic community in

Seoul the following day, Secretary Ban began to outline the

agenda that would accompany this theme. The most imme-

diate crisis on his mind is in the Horn of Africa, but that is a

microcosm of the larger problems of sustainable development

that is at the top of his list of priorities. Global and regional

security and democratization challenges, including the

transitions underway in Egypt and Tunisia and diplomatic

efforts to find a solution to the conflict in Libya are also

critical priorities. Budgetary and institutional reforms of

the United Nations’ operations are also central concerns.

Mr. Ban also took this opportunity to address the unique

situation on the Korean peninsula. Food shortages caused

by a harsh winter and severe flooding in North Korea have

caused the World Food Programme to launch emergency

assistance operations. While the major challenge of improv-

Left: Children await the arrival of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the

small village where he was born, in Eumseong County, North Chungcheong Province, Republic of Korea, as part of

a welcome ceremony held by county officials on August 14, 2011.

Opposite page, top: Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon is embraced by his mother at the welcome ceremony.

Opposite page, bottom: Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon (seated left),

accompanied by his wife, Yoo Soon-taek, lays out offerings at his father’s tomb in

Eumseong County, where Mr. Ban was born, in North Chungcheong Province, Republic of Korea on August 14, 2011. UN

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ing inter-Korean relations “is the responsibility of the parties

themselves,” the United Nations will do its part to help in

meeting the challenge of creating a nuclear-weapon-free,

democratic, and prosperous Korean Peninsula. Ban strongly

supported South Korea’s growing international presence

and praised Lee Myung-bak’s Global Korea initiatives. “This

country made an inspiring transformation from poverty

to prosperity, and from repressive governance to robust

democracy,” the Secretary-General recalled. “My strong feel-

ing is that this gives Korea a special obligation to help poorer

nations have the same opportunities and a better future.”

Before leaving South Korea to return to New York,

Secretary-General Ban, his wife, Madam Yoo Soon-taek, and

other members of his family visited his childhood home in

rural Eumseong county, where he was greeted by local lead-

ers and his 92-year-old mother, Shin Hyun Soon. While

there, Mr. Ban visited a reconstructed version of his child-

hood home, a two-bedroom thatched roof structure heated

by a wood-burning central oven that would warm the entire

house, where he grew up in a family of eight. He began his

day by visiting his father’s burial site to pay respect to the

deceased and visiting a family shrine to honor his ancestors.

Later in the day, he also visited Chungju High School,

where he graduated and met his wife. There he recalled how

the principal had encouraged him to enter a Red Cross-

sponsored essay contest, which he won and which provided

him with the opportunity to visit the United States. In

Washington, DC, as an 18-year-old he had the opportunity

to meet President John F. Kennedy in 1962. It was “the most

inspiring moment of his life.” Mr. Ban has often recalled how

he grew up a child of war in Korea. That experience coupled

with the Kennedy meeting as a young man prompted Ban to

ponder his own future, “I thought about how Korea was such

a poor and underdeveloped country, [and] I considered what

I could do to make Korea a better place. And I decided to

become a diplomat.”

That decision would take him on a path that would lead

to becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs and International

Trade in South Korea and would lead from there to his current

position as Secretary-General. Standing in his hometown,

speaking to villagers, political leaders, and students, Mr. Ban

urged them to think of themselves not just as residents of

Eumseong county, but as citizens of the world. “Global is local

and local is global,” he reminded them. “You may live here in

Eumseong county, but you have access to the world.” Those

who listened to his words were hometown folks, but the

audience for his message was the global community. n

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Monique Coleman, designated United Nations

Youth Champion for the International Year of Youth.

Opposite Page: Coleman visiting the ‘Un Techo

Para Mi Pais’ project in Chile — A youth run

organization that addresses the issue of poverty by building solutions, one

house at a time.


The United Nations has long recognized the importance of

harnessing the passion and creativity of young people to

drive change in the world. And the organization put a special

focus on this issue during their just-concluded International

Year of Youth, which ran from August 12, 2010, through

August 11, 2011.

As part of this year-long focus, the UN created a new

designation — that of Youth Champion. In November 2010,

they appointed American actress Monique Coleman, best

known for playing Taylor McKessie in the “High School

Musical” movies, as the first ever to fill this role.

In accepting the title, Coleman pledged to raise aware-

ness about the challenges young people face and to highlight

the positive contribution they make to their communities. The

actress also promised to use her position to promote global

efforts to achieve the anti-poverty Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs), which have a 2015 deadline, with a special

emphasis on the empowerment of youth.

Coleman said she recognized the importance of the UN

in advancing human rights, global security, and sustainable

development, and she was excited to have the opportunity to

see the UN’s impact with her own eyes. “My motivation for

becoming involved with the UN and the International Year of

Youth is simply because I want to make a difference,” Coleman

said at the time. “The UN stands for everything I believe in,

and I’m deeply honored and grateful to work on their behalf.”

After her appointment in November, Coleman held listen-

ing sessions with youth around the world to hear firsthand

how global, regional, and national issues affect them today. Her

six-month world tour kicked off in February in Sydney, Austra-

lia, and then took her around the globe with stops in Thailand,

The Philippines, China, Japan, Bangladesh, India, South Africa,

Chile, and more. Using social media channels and her online

talk show “Gimme Mo’” as a platform, Coleman connected

youth worldwide and urged bridge building across cultures,

religions, and generations.

Recently, at a special luncheon hosted by the United

Nations Foundation and the United States Agency for Interna-

tional Development (USAID), Coleman shared insights from

her travels. “Un Techo Para Mi Pais in South America was one

of the most impressive projects I visited on my tour,” she said.

“It’s a youth-run organization that addresses the issue of pover-

ty in Latin America by building solutions one house at a time.”

The goal of this UN-supported initiative is to lift young people

U n i t e d n a t i o n s F o U n d a t i o n

By Karin Lornsen


out of extreme poverty through the construction of transitional

houses and the implementation of social inclusion programs.

“The site I visited almost brought me to tears,” Coleman said.

“Here, I got to see that what these young people are doing is

working. The project builds so much more than houses. They

build people.”

Un Techo Para Mi Pais is a terrific example of

youth helping youth, and is one of many projects

promoted by the UN to help young people ages 15

to 24 to make a difference in the world. Similarly,

the United Nations Foundation recognizes the val-

ue of youth volunteerism in international causes

and has provided various platforms for this demo-

graphic to get involved. For instance, the Global

Classrooms educational program and Model UN

events allow high school students to step into the

shoes of UN Ambassadors and debate a range of

issues on the UN agenda. (These programs are

both run by the Foundation’s United Nations As-

sociation of the United States of America.) Also,

the UN Foundation’s Girl Up campaign allows

Coleman with children living in the SOS Children’s Village in South Africa.

American girls to help raise funds and awareness

to provide girls in developing countries with basic

needs such as school supplies, clean water, and

health services.

As for Coleman, she says the UN Youth

Questions for Monique Coleman from Football United players in Sydney, Australia.


U n i t e d n a t i o n s F o U n d a t i o n

Above: Coleman visits the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, which serves over 70,000 refugees who fled wars in

neighboring countries.

Left: Monique Coleman, United Nations Youth Champion for the International

Year of Youth, during a press conference at UN Headquarters.


Monique Coleman visits the Gandhi Memorial International School in Jakarta, Indonesia, as a guest of the United Nations Information Centre.

July, 2011, back in the United States, Coleman talks about her travels to 25 countries for the United Nations at an event in Washington, DC, hosted by the UN Foundation. She is surrounded by fellow panelists, Youth Action Net Director Ashok Regmi, USAID Senior Advisor Nicole Goldin, and UN Foundation’s Aaron Sherinian.

Champion position taught her some important

lessons. “I don’t take my career less seriously, but

I take myself less seriously,” she said. “I realized

that if I don’t get a role, or if it doesn’t move me

or interest me, that there are plenty of planes I

can jump on, plenty of young people that could

use some inspiration or empowerment.”

And what does Coleman think teens and

tweens in the U.S. and around the world can do

to make a difference? “Young people can first

make themselves aware of the problems in their

area and then come up with sustainable solutions

to solve them,” she said. “Volunteerism is a great

start. It connects you with people who are already

making a difference and gives you skills that can

later be applied to your own projects.” n

To learn more about the UN’s work with the world’s youth,

visit: www.diplomaticconnections.comand click on: http://social.un.org/index/Youth.aspx

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