Link TV in Collaboration with UNDPI, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women Presents Television Premiere of the UN Concert Event

television network and global content provider, in

cooperation with the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI), UN Population

Fund (UNFPA), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Women, presents

the television premiere of the United Nations concert event, RAISE YOUR VOICE

TO END FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION, with Grammy Award® winning artist and UNICEF

Goodwill Ambassador, Angélique Kidjo. The inspiring musical event premieres on

Link TV (DirecTV 375 and DISH Network 9410) on Friday, April 25 at 8

p.m. ET/PT. The 25^th of every month has

been proclaimed Orange Day by the UN Secretary-General's UNiTE to End Violence

against Women campaign, a monthly moment to highlight and take action against

violence against women and girls. 

Female genital

mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of

the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for

non-medical reasons. It is recognized internationally as a violation of the

rights of girls and women. Every year, more than

three million girls and women - some 8,000 girls worldwide each day - are at

risk of being subjected to FGM.  An

estimated 125-140 million girls and women alive today have undergone such

mutilation so far. Through the power of music, Grammy Award® winning, West African

singer and songwriter Kidjo, special guest stars and UN delegates, gathered

from around the world to raise awareness of the global efforts to end FGM.  The concert was sponsored by the Permanent

Mission of Italy to the United Nations and took place at the United Nations

General Assembly Hall in February 2012.

Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa" by Forbes Magazine, Ms. Kidjo is a

definitive 21st century world artist. 

Her art roves across boundaries, genres and ethnicities, finding the

connections that link musical forms from every part of the world, while still

bonding closely with her own traditions from her homeland of

Benin. In the years after

Ms. Kidjo's initial exposure to the American pop music that influenced her as a

child, her career escalated in a steadily rising arc. Initially active in the

jazz community, she gradually expanded her interests and by the '90s had become

a major international artist.

For more than a

decade, she has used her visibility to support a far-reaching collection of

advocacy groups, including UNICEF, for whom she is a Goodwill Ambassador, to

her own Batonga Foundation, which provides educational aid to young African

girls.

Thanks to the efforts of governments and the United

Nations, communities across the globe are increasingly abandoning the practice

of female genital mutilation, as well as taking concrete legal and policy

action in favor of total eradication of the practice.  Education, advocacy and financial support

help provide necessary resources to end female genital mutilation worldwide. To

learn more visit: http://www.unfpa.org/topics/genderissues/fgm.

Viewers may also access the concert online at www.linktv.org.

Additional airdates are as follows:

April 25th - 11PM ET / 8PM PT

April 27th - 1AM ET / 10PM PT

April 28th - 9AM ET / 6AM PT

April 30th - 7PM ET / 4PM PT

About LINK TV

Link TV is a viewer-supported 501(c)(3) organization,

distributed nationally via satellite on DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network

channel 9410 - reaching more than 34 million US households. Link TV is a

service of KCETLink, the national independent public transmedia organization

formed by the merger between KCET and Link Media. For complete background

information, program schedule and Internet streaming, go to LinkTV.org.

Follow on Twitter @LinkTV and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/linktv. Link TV is a

service of KCETLink.

The UNFPA-UNICEF

Joint Programme on FGM/C: Accelerating Change, the world's largest

programme to put an end to the practice, was launched in 2007 and is now being

implemented in 16 countries in Africa, as well as in Yemen. The Programme aims to see communities that continue the practice abandon it

in a generation. Key to their success is using a human rights-based and culturally-sensitive

approaches to encourage communities to act collectively, so that girls or their

families who opt out do not jeopardize marriage prospects or become social

outcasts. This approach has led more than 

11,000 communities across Africa to publically declared the abandonment

of the practice, usually through some form of public declaration. Media

campaigns, alliances with religious or traditional leaders, and legal actions

are other of the strategic approaches the programme supports. 

About UN Women

UN Women is the global champion for women and girls,

dedicated to upholding the rights of half the world's people. UN Women stands

behind women's equal participation in all aspects of life, but pursues a

handful of elements proven to unlock rapid transformation, including ending

violence against women; increasing women's leadership and participation; and

promoting women's economic empowerment. UN Women manages the UN

Secretary-General's campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women.