Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen girls and boys. I am Robert Gray, Chief of the United Nations Postal Administration and I am pleased to be a part of this special event commemorating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The mandate of the United Nations Postal Administration is to promote the works of the United Nations through the issuance of postage stamps. All of the wonderful designs submitted by children from around the world truly demonstrate the artistic talent of our youth and the motivation by them to portray, through their artwork, the ways in which we can all help to eliminate poverty,
It was certainly a challenge to select the winning designs from the thousands of entries submitted. I was extremely impressed with the high standard of art submitted from such a diverse group of young artists and they are all to be commended for there effort; however there can only be a small selection of six winners and all judges were unanimous in the final selected artwork to be reproduced as United Nations postage stamps.
During the judging, it became evident that children have a wonderful unique way of expressing themselves in a simplistic, honest and meaningful way in conveying their message to end worldwide poverty.
If people dare to believe they can change something, they will achieve it,
If not today, then tomorrow that is the spirit we should take.
Promises won’t fill poor people’s stomachs as long as no action follows. The more people stand up, the higher the public attention gets with that, the political pressure to do something about poverty.
I am just an ordinary person, but I want a safer world, free of poverty and stress for every person in this world, especially for children.
If we act together, each one of us can complement each others strengths. If we all stand together in this, it will create a ripple which cannot go unnoticed.
We need to act now. Let each one of us contribute to the best of our abilities. It is our world, our only world and all of us should stand up and act together in the eradication of poverty.
Personally I support families in poverty within Senegal and this gives me great pleasure to help people less fortunate than myself and it has enriched my life in so many ways.
I would like to thank all of the participants and committee members for their time and effort in making this truly meaningful stamp issuance a success in promoting the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Thank you.
