Actress Priyanka Chopra, who became the Global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2016 and has been associated with the organisation for almost 15 years, spoke about children's rights at a recently held conference at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. She took to her Instagram to share some pictures and videos from the event where she can be seen advocating for the cause and posing with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and US poet Amanda Gorman.
She captioned the set of pictures and videos with a note that read, “Walking through the gates of the United Nations this morning to speak at UNGA for the second time, as a proud representative of @unicef, gave me real pause. At the top of this year's agenda are the Sustainable Development Goals. Today was all about action, ambition, and hope. It was about what we must do together to make the SDG's a reality, and we don't have a moment to lose. A special thank you to Secretary-General @antonioguterres for having me today (sic).”
She also spoke about the importance of education for children in the note, saying, “The second moment I had the privilege of participating was the Transforming Education Summit. It's hard to believe that nearly 2/3 of children across low- middle- and high-income countries cannot read and comprehend a simple story. The system has failed them. As the US Secretary of Education @seccardona put it so candidly, education is the great equalizer, but if we continue to do what we have done, we are going to get what we have gotten. We owe every child this basic birthright, an equal chance to learn and reach their full potential (sic).”
She concluded her note with the words of Amanda, with whom she posed along with Malala, “And as the incredible Amanda Gorman said, ‘I dare you to shape our fate. Above all, I dare you to do good, so that the world might be great (sic).’”