French international footballer Lilian Thuram has joined the Make Roads Safe campaign in calling on his government to back a UN Ministerial conference to tackle road deaths which kill more than 1.2 million people each year globally.
Thuram, a member of the 1998 World Cup winning team and the most capped French international in history, made his statement in support of the Make Roads Safe campaign which warns of the dangers of neglecting road safety:
“Road crashes are now the number one killer of young people under 25”, he said. “If governments and the public do not become aware of this problem, there will be very little chance of improvement. I hope the French government will support the proposal for a UN conference on road safety”.
Thuram was speaking after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a report calling on all governments to “support efforts to hold a ministerial conference on road safety, under the auspices of the United Nations”. The UN General Assembly will in March 2008 debate the proposal to hold a Ministerial conference.
Ban has acknowledged that the international community must now act on road safety. “Despite increased awareness of the issue, there is a pressing need for greater effort and resources to be directed towards the problem,” Ban said in the report.
Thuram has joined FC Barcelona team mate Samuel Eto’o in speaking out on behalf of the Make Roads Safe campaign as the drive to sign up supporters for a global petition to the UN hits the streets of Paris.
More than 100,000 members of the public are expected to visit the Fête des Transports 2007 exhibition on the Champs Elysées on 26-28 October, where the Make Roads Safe campaign will be promoted. The message, as Lilian Thuram says: “deaths on the roads are preventable!”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
The Make Roads Safe campaign, led by the FIA Foundation, is calling for UN and G8 action to reduce road deaths and injuries in developing countries. Road crashes already kill on the scale of malaria or tuberculosis and road deaths in some developing countries are forecast to double by 2020. See www.makeroadssafe.org/fr for more details.
- The Make Roads Safe campaign is organising a global petition to the UN urging support for a first ever global governmental conference on road safety, which has so far attracted support from more than 400,000 people.
- The Secretary General’s report provides an update and guidance on global road safety for the current session of the UN General Assembly. In March 2008 the General Assembly is expected to debate a resolution on the ‘global road safety crisis’ calling for a UN Ministerial, jointly proposed by the Russian Federation and the Sultanate of Oman.
- The UN Secretary General’s report is available here: http://www.makeroadssafe.org/documents/un_secretary_general_global_road_safety_2007.pdf
- Thuram has taken an active interest in public policy issues particularly in his role as an adviser to France’s Haut Conseil à l’Intégration, a race relations thinktank.
Contact: Amy Seward…….