IRAQ JOINS GLOBAL EVENT TURN THE WORLD UN BLUE TO MARK 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNITED NATIONS

World famous landmarks, from the Kahramana statue of Baghdad in Iraq, to Australia’s Sydney Opera House, to the Great Pyramids of Guiza in Egypt; from the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro to the Empire State Building in New York, will be lit blue. Other participants include Russia’s Hermitage Museum, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, Edinburgh Castle and Westminster Hall in the United Kingdom, Table Mountain in South Africa, Japan’s SkyTree Tower and the Alhambra in Spain, among many others.

“I am grateful our Member States are showing such strong enthusiasm in marking 70 years of UN support for peace, development and human rights,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “By turning the world UN Blue for a day, we can light the way to a better tomorrow.”

The global celebration will kick off in New Zealand and then Australia with the lighting of the Sydney Opera House at dusk, and from there a wave of UN Blue will move across countries and continents as monuments around the world take part in the international event.

“Participating in this campaign offers the government and communities in Iraq the unique opportunity to showcase their commitment to the UN principles of dignity and prosperity for all”, said Baghdad Mayor, Dr. Thikra Alwash. “We are pleased to join the UN by lighting up the Kahramana statue in the center of Baghdad and to share this event with many other landmarks and capitals of the world”, Dr. Alwash added.

Other Iraqi landmarks, including the Southern Gate of Erbil Citadel, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, will also take part in the global event.

United Nations Headquarters in New York will light up for two nights, beginning 23 October when the annual UN Day concert will be held, and concluding on 24 October.

This global event will be covered extensively on social media using the hashtag #UNBlue in addition to year-long hashtag #UN70 and shared with the UN’s millions of followers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, Flickr and more. Photos and videos of UN Blue landmarks around the world will be available to media outlets via Flickr (http://j.mp/UNBluePhotos) and UNIFEED (http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/).

More information on “Turn the World UN Blue” and other UN70 global activities and celebrations can be found at www.un.org/UN70.