GLOBAL CITIZEN | It's time for action, says Blood Diamond actor Djimon Hounsou

As the clock ticks towards this year’s Global Citizen Now event in New York, some of the world’s luminaries have urged global leaders to take concrete action to end poverty.

Hugh Jackman, better known as Wolverine in the popular X-Men film series, told TimesLIVE on Thursday the Global Citizen Now is an opportunity for both youths and the older generation to be heard.

“It is an important opportunity for the voices of young people and global citizens everywhere to be heard by those in power, and for all of us, together, to find solutions that will shape our world for future generations,” he said.

Jackman, a Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Tony award winner, also earned the Guinness World Record for “the longest career as a live-action Marvel character”.

Djimon Hounsou, a multi-award-winning actor best remembered for his epic performance in the 2002 movie Blood Diamonds, says developed nations need to be held accountable for unleashing climate injustice across the globe.

Climate change will “force people to move off their land, potentially provoke conflict, and cause economic and political instability,” the Benin-born actor said.

The Oscar-nominated Hounsou, a leading voice against poverty and injustice, featured in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad as Joseph Cinque, a leader of a slave rebellion aboard a ship from Cuba to the US in the 1800s. Jackman and Hounsou will join Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose country recently commemorated 30 years since the genocidal killing of a million Tutsis at a time when the world’s attention was focused on South Africa’s march towards its first inclusive, democratic elections.

Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of Botswana, Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua, and Barbuda, Philip Davis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, and Janja Lula da Silva, First Lady of Brazil, will also be in attendance at the annual summit set for May 1 and 2.

Millions of people around the world are expected to tune in and watch discussions and take action in real time with attendees in the room as the summit will be live-streamed on globalcitizen.org on Tuesday.

Global Citizen has sought to place the world’s poor at the forefront of its campaigns through debates on pressing global challenges including poverty and the affect of global warming on poor countries and through awards to activists who champion issues affecting vulnerable communities.

Hugh Evans, co-founder and CEO of Global Citizen, the world’s leading international advocacy organisation, said on Thursday the 2024 Global Citizen Summit will strive to create a world in which the basic needs of people around the globe, including access to food, will be met.

“The world is standing at a crossroads and we have a choice: we can watch the impoverished go hungry, suffer through natural disasters and die from preventable diseases, or we can take bold action to defeat poverty, defend the planet and course correct towards a more equitable future,” said Evans.