Farhan Akhtar named UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia

Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar has been appointed as UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. He has become the first male to be appointed as Goodwill Ambassador in UN’s history. As UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia, he will dedicate his efforts towards the empowerment of women and girls and will serve as an advocate for UN Women’s newly launched ‘HeForShe’ campaign in advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Key Notes: 

• Farhan Akhtar, as an accomplished and well-respected actor-filmmaker-singer has raised the voice on the important issue of gender equality and violence against women and girls in India through his Men Against Rape and Discrimination (MARD) campaign.
• His own MARD campaign is for sensitizing men and creating awareness about the safety of women.
• The MARD campaign successfully had encouraged many actors to join this campaign and spread awareness.
• In this campaign, he has asked all men and boys to participate in eradicating gender inequality.

UN Women’s other Goodwill Ambassadors include British actor Emma Watson, Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman and Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand.

About UN Women

UN Women was established in 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly. It is the UN’s entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. It was established for accelerating the Organization’s goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Its main functions include:

• To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, for formulation of policies, global standards and norms.
• To help Member States to implement these standards and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
• To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2014