NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) — Colombian pop star Shakira met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday to discuss the importance of providing funding for early childhood development.
The 38-year-old ambassador for Unicef gave a passionate speech during the press conference about the importance of education.
“More than 100 million children are out of school, and 159 million boys and girls under 5 are physically and cognitively stunted due to a lack of care and proper nutrition,” she began.
“Every year that passes without us making significant investment in early childhood development and initiatives that address these issues, millions of kids will be born into the same cycle of poverty and lack of opportunity,” Shakira said. “UNICEF and I have joined forces and are here today because investing early in children is an urgent matter and there isn’t another moment to lose.”
The songstress — full name Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripol also touched upon the recent plight of refugees in Syria.
“It is without a doubt one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time and the image of that little boy washed up on the shore is a tragic one and one that we shouldn’t ignore and shouldn’t forget and it should humanize the plight of the refugees because children should not pay the price of war and because all of us have a responsibility today and we cannot escape it,” she said.
