Beckham appeals for worldwide help

zocoss SG

UNICEF ambassador David Beckham highlights plight of Sierra Leone's dying children

David Beckham urged the rest of the world not to ignore the deaths of tens of thousands of children yesterday during a visit to Sierra Leone in his capacity as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef. Beckham, who spent four days in the West African country, said: We cant turn a blind eye to the tens of thousands of young children who die every day in the developing world, mostly from causes that are preventable. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world and 27 per cent of children die before their 5th birthday, according to Unicef. Beckham travelled with health workers into villages to vaccinate children and visited a health clinic.

Its shocking and tragic, especially when the solutions are simple; things like vaccinations against measles or using a mosquito net to reduce the chance of getting malaria, Beckham said.

Saving these childrens lives is a top priority for Unicef and as an ambassador, I hope I can help to draw attention to this issue across the world.

Beckhams visit was promoting Unicefs State of the Worlds Children report, according to which 26,000 children under 5 die every day around the world, mainly as a result of preventable disease. The Los Angeles Galaxy player arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Friday and travelled to Makeni, in the Bombali disctict, which has the countrys highest child mortality rates.

The big kick-off: Beckham keeps the crowds entertained

Listen and learn: Crowds gather to hear Beckham

At risk: One in four children die before their fifth birthday in Sierra Leone

the Bear SG

the world stood by while innocent villagers, including women, children and babies had their arms and legs hacked off by the rampaging militia there...

all for diamonds... blood diamonds...

they didn't care.. they just went on buying the diamonds...

diamonds which could be in that earstud of that very same celebrity who is now appealing for help...

i wonder if the world will now, because of that celebrity, take note?

leaves a strangely sour aftertaste, doesn't it? Neutral

MidnightK SG

i support becks and unicef..
singapore's elderly is already so pitiful, let alone say that country..

zocoss SG

You watch too many Leonardo Di Caprio movies liao Mr. Green ... There are other countries that have them too like Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, and Australia. And there are "Conflict-free " Diamonds as well... whose profits aren't used to fund wars. Smile

Not all African countries diamonds are used to fund wars, some or many are used to help their economy too...

the Bear SG

fyi, i did not watch that movie..

fyi, conflict-free diamonds are a joke.. if the whole world had an embargo on them, how the hell did the sierra leone asswipes get their money for guns and drugs?

fyi, he's talking about sierra leone... which was decimated along with congo and a few other countries...

fyi, the diamonds that come out from there are the best on the planet... and if you do a little bit of research on debeers, you'll know how terrible things are and why they fought tooth and nail to keep all this out of the public eye...

movies do both.. they inform the people and also trivialise things... just like what happened to you...

this is the reality:

beckham may be doing what he thinks he can.. but he's got no credibility as far as most people go... and he may be hurting the whole programme more than he knows..

Qing^.^ SG

At least hes doing smth Smile

zocoss SG

First of all, you are aware that Sierra Leone is a peaceful country today right? Wars, fightings, over many yrs ago already... I understand your pictures are of a period but fortunately gone by...

Yes, he is indeed talking about Sierra Leone, he is a goodwill ambassador for Unicef. And he is highlighting the lack of a proper health care programme that causes thousands of young children to die that are mostly preventable... He is saying Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world and they need the help of the world communities... Not diamonds, not wars...

He is just trying to draw attention to this issue across the world... Simple things like vaccinations against measles or reducing the chance of getting malaria kind of stuff... Again not diamonds, not wars... Just preventable disease that is taking the live of these children.

I think he is trying to get this message across. If the leading countries in this world are able to assist and provide more help to the Sierra Leone children in terms of providing medication and proper health care... A lot of these children can actually be saved...

Sadly there will always be some rich people who couldn't care less for the less fortunate. But before we forget, we are still talking about Sierra Leone right...

Sierra Leone today is no longer at war... Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and has a legislature... The country is stable and at peace for more than 5 years already...

Sierra Leone has relied on the mining sector in general, and diamonds in particular, for its economic base. Mineral exports remain Sierra Leone's principal foreign exchange earner. Sierra Leone is a major producer of gem-quality diamonds. If this being the case, I think they would be really worried if the world stop buying their diamonds... Wouldn't you agree?

Indeed movies does both.. They inform the people and i wouldn't just say trivialise things, in some cases... exaggerate them too (not in reference to this)... But we have to keep ourselves update to the happenings presently and not alway hold on to the past as their actual state.

In this article, Beck is just there to bring some spotlight onto a serious problem that country is facing... And i think he has done a great job from the fact that we are actually discussing it and the major press are carrying the story so that more people will be aware of their plight regardless they want to or not sadly...

this is the reality:

There was instability due to rebel activities between 1991 and 2002, which were resolved by UN and British forces disarming 17,000 militia and rebels, and the country has been peaceful since then. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the country.

Conflict-free diamonds address more than the U.N. definition and are free of all violence and human rights abuses, whether state-sanctioned or directed against a government. In addition, conflict-free diamonds are mined in an environmentally responsible fashion. Conflict-free diamonds must be independently tracked from their country and individual mine of origin. Almost all conflict-free diamonds today originate in Canada, and are verifiable through an independent auditing system, such as the Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct, Canadamark, or the Government of the Northwest Territories.

The Canadian Government has setup a body known as Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct to help authenticate Canadian diamonds. This is a very stringent tracking system of diamonds and helps protect the 'conflict free' label of Canadian diamonds.

In response to public concerns that their diamond purchases were contributing to war and human rights abuses in central Africa and West Africa, the United Nations, the diamond industry and diamond-trading nations introduced the Kimberley Process in 2002, which is aimed at ensuring that conflict diamonds do not become intermixed with the diamonds not controlled by such rebel groups, by providing documentation and certification of diamond exports from producing countries to ensure that the proceeds of sale are not being used to fund criminal or revolutionary activities. Although the Kimberley Process has been moderately successful in limiting the number of conflict diamonds entering the market, conflict diamonds smuggled to market continue to persist to some degree (approx. 23% of diamonds traded today are possible conflict diamonds).

brokenluv SG

i will be better if more and more of those rich players donate some of their weekly wages. beckham can easily finance a whole village already