International football legend David Beckham and music star Robbie Williams, both longstanding UNICEF Ambassadors, have been photographed demonstrating the need to protect children from danger in a set of images released by Unicef UK on Friday.
Credit/Copyright: UNICEF Greg Williams
The images have been released to highlight a new Unicef UK campaign to protect children from violence, disease, hunger and the chaos of war and disaster. This week the organisation released a ground-breaking report that shows how children are facing an epidemic of violence.
Credit/Copyright: UNICEF Greg Williams
The report “Children in Danger: Act to End Violence against Children” reveals that every five minutes a child around the world dies as the result of violence. It also outlines that some 345 children under the age of 20 could die from violence each day in the next year, unless governments act.
Unicef Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham said: “If you saw a child in danger, any child you would instantly step up and protect that child from whatever threat they were facing. Millions of children around the world are facing dangers every day – violence, disease and disasters. We need to grab this opportunity to step up and protect them now. Join me in supporting Unicef’s Children in Danger campaign and we can all help keep these children safe.”
Unicef UK Ambassador Robbie Williams said: “I’ve met children around the world who are facing all kinds of dangers – kids in Haiti who lost everything in the earthquake and little children in Mexico at risk of violence and abuse. Since becoming a dad I realise more than ever how much these children need someone to protect them. With your help Unicef can keep these children safe, please sign up to their Children in Danger campaign.”
To mark the launch of the campaign, Unicef UK has also released a powerful 90 second film that tells how children are facing an epidemic of violence. The film asks the viewer to imagine what it would be like if there was a ‘violence vaccine’ that could protect children and ensure they were safe.
To date the film has already been shared on social media by Unicef Ambassadors and supporters including Andy Murray, Cat Deeley, David Beckham, David Walliams, Eddie Izzard, Emma Bunton, Ewan McGregor, Jessie Ware, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Sheen, Nicole Scherzinger, Robbie Williams, Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Tom Daley and Tom Hiddleston.
Unicef UK is calling for a target to end violence, exploitation and abuse of children to be included in the world’s new development agenda in 2015. The UK and other governments must act now and commit to keeping every child safe. The public can join Unicef UK’s Children in Danger campaign and help end violence at unicef.org.uk/danger.
