AMMAN - Ahead of his cross-continental swim between Jordan and Egypt this week, Dominican activist Marcos Diaz called for greater attention to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In a press conference to announce his second cross-continental swim, set to take place on Thursday, the Dominican swimmer said people must play a greater role in helping governments achieve the MDGs.
Last month, Diaz launched the "Swim Across the Continents", campaign to bring global attention to the MDGs by swimming four crossings of five continents: Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe and America.
He encouraged people to do their part by helping and urging their leaders to deliver their promises of meeting the goals by 2015.
"I hope that through the media we can invite all people to swim across continents... if we collaborate, this [the MDGs] is going to be achieved," Diaz told the press yesterday.
The 35-year-old swimmer said he was inspired by the global reach of the MDGs to launch the initiative.
"As swimmers, we usually swim for charity, so I decided to do this swim to help more people, " Diaz noted, indicating that he aims to highlight the MDGs because they are "beneficial for everybody".
"We checked the maps, and we found that it is possible to cross five continents and presented it to the UN. This is happening at an important time for the MDGs as this summer marks the 10th anniversary of the MDGs," the veteran swimmer explained, noting that he aims to complete his swim ahead of an important UN summit on the MDGs in September in New York.
The Dominican swimmer completed the first stage of his campaign on May 13, swimming 19.5 kilometres in 4 hours, 18 minutes, from Papua New Guinea (Oceania) to Indonesia (Asia).
For the second crossing, set to take place on Thursday, he is expected to swim 18km between Jordan (Asia) and Egypt (Africa) in four hours.
His third journey will be from Morocco (Africa) to Spain (Europe), followed by a swim between Russia (Europe) to Alaska (America).
For his grand finale, Diaz will swim from the Statue of Liberty to the UN headquarters in New York.
Upon completing the initiative, the swimmer said he will release a video documentary and a book on the MDGs and the countries he travelled.
Speaking at yesterday's press conference, UN Resident Coordinator Luc Stevens told reporters that Diaz is an example of how ordinary people can promote the MDGs.
"His initiative shows the importance of the MDGs and the need to remind our governments of their obligations. Someone like Marcos reminds us that everyone is responsible for achieving the MDGs," Stevens noted.
In 2000, the UN adopted eight goals to be met by all the world's countries by 2015. They include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability and creating global partnerships for development.
The long-distance swimming champion of the Dominican Republic, Diaz previously registered a world record swim across the Strait of Gibraltar and back (Europe-Africa-Europe) in 2005, according to his website.
He has also won swimming titles in India, Greece, Santo Domingo and the US.
By Khetam Malkawi
© Jordan Times 2010
