Mallika Sherawat, a 39-year-old actress from India has been featured in the United Nations’ short video “Impossible Choices,” released on April 28. Sherawat joins a group of celebrities like Daniel Craig, Forest Whitaker, Alfre Woodard, Yara Shahidi and Rosario Dawson, promoting the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, to be held from May 23-24. The Summit is a call to action by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to reduce human loss and suffering from crises by setting an agenda to make humanitarian action fit for the challenges the world currently faces and will face in the future.
Impossible choices are being made every single day by the more than 125 million people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance around the globe. To spark action ahead of the first-ever World Humanitarian summit, the United Nations (UN) has launched a global, interactive digital experience that aims to inspire commitment to meaningful change in the name of humanity. The digital challenge at ImpossibleChoices.org features a three-minute, online journey based on real experiences people in crises often face. At the end of the online experience, users can share results across their respective social platforms and call upon global leadership to attend the Summit, and take bold action.
Touching on the UN’s Global Goals for Sustainable Development, the celebrities say in the video: “Our global leaders will be asked to make commitments to end the crisis, to put humanity first. Let us commit to end hunger for those in need, to empower youth impacted by conflict, to ensure displaced children still receive an education, to resolve conflict through dialogue and reconciliation rather than violence and revenge, to eliminate the threat of mines and explosive hazards, and to make sure no parent or child has to make an impossible choice.”
Sherawat, along with actress Catarina Furtado, hip hop artist Big Sean, Princess Haya bint al Hussein, Dawson and Craig, go on to jointly say in the video, “If we actually want to make things better, then the choice is clear: We urge our global leaders to show up and take bold action.”
“Arguably one of the most powerful tools at our disposal today is social media — it can give a voice to the voiceless, create instant awareness and drive change in ways never before seen around the world,” said Stephen O’Brien, UN Humanitarian Chief. “With Impossible Choices, we are calling upon the digitally-connected to help create a movement towards showing world leaders that the world is looking to them to make bold decisions and act for the good of humanity.”
In an effort to ensure the campaign maintains the most authentic possible voice, the UN has also appointed 20 Champions for Humanity, a group of influential individuals — from CEOs to photographers, philanthropists to entertainers — to kick-off the Impossible Choices campaign and gather support from within their networks.
The video ends with a plea to petition world leaders to attend the Summit. “Millions are counting on us. Go to ImpossibleChoices.org to tell your leaders to be there and put humanity first,” the celebs urge. For more information about the World Humanitarian Summit, please visit: www.worldhumanitariansummit.org.