Awards and honors from the United Nations

duriandave asked in a comment made to the post "Zhou Xun is a Champion of the Earth" below what Zhou Xun had done to deserve her award, a very reasonable question. While I am still not entirely sure, here is a vidio from the United Nations Environment Programme which illustrates, at least according to UNEP's criteria, her "well publicized statements, advice and lifestyle choices which are influencing millions of her fans to become more environmentally conscious citizens and consumers".



The UNEP award is different from being appointed as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for one of its agencies. UNICEF was the first to use civilians in that role and, along with UNESCO, has the majority of Goodwill Ambassadors and Messengers from Peace since only the hardest of hearts could be opposed to children, education and culture. UNICEF is very upfront about their needs: they want famous people who will publicize the agency and help them raise money. Maggie Cheung is the latest Ambassador and Dennis Lee has the story here. This is one of the pictures from the event announcing the honor and since it is Maggie, jeans, low ankle boots and a blazer are now OK to wear for an awards luncheon in which you are getting the award. The UNICEF site which hasn't been updated yet to show her Magginess as being on board and which is very open about why they want singers, actors and atheletes is here

Maggie spent some time in a village in Yunan Province that has a significant number of HIV infected women and their children as part of her UNICEF duties. This article from "China Daily" has some coverage of the visit and a few pictures from it.