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George Clooney Public Service Announcement Video
Thursday, May 29, 2008
AP: UNITED NATIONS — George Clooney is marking Thursday’s 60th anniversary of U.N. peacekeeping with a public service announcement praising the soldiers who wear the distinctive blue helmets.
Clooney was named a U.N. Messenger of Peace in January by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with a special focus on U.N. peacekeeping. He has been actively campaigning to end the five-year conflict in Darfur and traveled to visit peacekeepers in Sudan soon after his appointment.
In the spot entitled “Peace is Hard,” Clooney reminds viewers that some 100,000 U.N. peacekeepers protect civilians, oversee elections and disarm ex-combatants to ensure peace in many dangerous and politically volatile regions from Congo and Liberia to Haiti and Lebanon.
“We owe all of the United Nations peacekeepers a debt of gratitude for the dangerous work they do to ensure that peace is preserved, civilians are protected and elections are respected,” Clooney says in the announcement.
In 2002, the U.N. General Assembly designated May 29 as the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, to pay tribute and to honor the memory of the 2,400 men and women who have died on U.N. missions.
Click here to watch the PSA “Peace is Hard” on YouTube. (or click on the video in the sidebar of this page)
Click here for the official website of United Nations Peacekeeping.
American Morning Transcript
Feb. 1, 2008
…Now, here’s Kiran in New York.
CHETRY: John, thanks. Oscar-winning actor, George Clooney, has a new role as United Nation’s messenger of peace. We just saw those images from Zain Verjee, and there are problems in other parts of the world as well. And Clooney has been recognized for his work in trying to raise money and raise awareness for what’s been going on in the Sudan, the refugees in Darfur. And I spoke with the actor yesterday.
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