SECRETARY-GENERAL PRAISES RAPPER JAY-Z AS ‘CHAMPION OF THOSE IN NEED’
AFTER AWARD GIVEN FOR WORK ON ‘WATER FOR LIFE’ CAMPAIGN,

the Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message on MTV Networks Award to Jay-Z for the United Nations/MTV campaign on water and sanitation, in New York, 14 November:

I’m proud that this award has been given to Jay-Z for his work with the United Nations and MTV on “Water for Life”.
My man Jay-Z has been a wonderful partner to the United Nations, and a champion of those in need around the world.
More than one billion people have no access to safe drinking water. Two billion lack adequate sanitation. As a result, thousands of children die every day from diseases that could be prevented.
When world leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals, they pledged to change all that. They promised, by the year 2015, to cut by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.
Let us hold them to that promise.
Let us free all those without water and sanitation from this hard knock life.
Let us give them water for life.

The United Nations campaign to bring the worsening water and sanitation crisis to the attention of the world’s young people has been recognized with an award to one of the programme’s partners, the best-selling recording artist Jay-Z.

Jay-Z’s multimedia “Water for Life” campaign, developed jointly with the UN’s Department of Public Information and MTV Networks, included a television documentary, an interactive website profiling the water problem in 26 countries and the distribution of free education resources.

In an online voting contest organized by the Vibe Awards, which celebrate excellence and innovation in urban music, lifestyle and culture, Jay-Z won a new prize known as Vibe Props (VPROPS), which recognizes individuals who show unyielding commitment to serving their community.
“My man Jay-Z has been a wonderful partner to the UN, and a champion of those in need around the world,” he said, adding how proud he was that the award had been given for the rapper’s work on the ‘Water for Life’ campaign.

“More than one billion people have no access to safe drinking water. Two billion lack adequate sanitation. As a result, thousands of children die every day from diseases that could be prevented.

“When world leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they pledged to change all that. They promised, by the year 2015, to cut by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. Let us hold them to that promise.”