David Beckham unveiled a unique installation at the United Nations on Thursday. The father-of-four launched the digital installation, created for Unicef by Google, in a bid to bring the voices of children and young people to the heart of the UN General Assembly.The installation uses mobile technology and social media to deliver personal messages from children and young people around the globe directly to world leaders. As it was unveiled, David urged world leaders to listen to the messages and take action, asking them to consider disadvantaged children and young people in the new 15-year development agenda.
David Beckham unveiled a unique installation at the United Nations General Assembly
"It breaks my heart to see the struggles that children and young people across the world face every day," David said. "I've met children and mothers in South Africa living with HIV, I've met children living in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and I've met children who have experienced violence in Cambodia.
"Whatever challenges they face, they all share the same hope for a better future – and we have an opportunity this year – with the world focused on the new global goals – to make that hope real for millions of children. "He added: "I want a world where children can grow up safe from war, violence, poverty and preventable disease – a world where every child has a fair chance. I hope everyone will join me in asking world leaders to put children, especially the most disadvantaged, at the heart of the new global goals."
David has been a Unicef Goodwill ambassador for ten years
David launched his children's charity, 7: The David Beckham Unicef Fund, earlier this year, before travelling to Cambodia with Unicef in June. It was this visit that David said inspired him to address the United Nations, explaining: "When I visited Cambodia with Unicef earlier this year, I spent time with children and young people who have experienced terrible violence and abuse often at the hands of the people who were supposed to protect them. "Their stories were deeply distressing and as a father it is devastating to think that any child should have to suffer like this."
