YEREVAN — Olympic gold medalist wrestler Artur Aleksanyan was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador during a ceremony at the United Nations office in Yerevan on Monday, November 18.
Aleksanyan made headlines for capturing the gold during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the Greco-Roman wrestling match.
The appointment came on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which is marked on November 20 every year as the International Children’s Day. To mark the date, UNICEF organizes a national children’s summit to be attended by around 170 children throughout Armenian regions.
“According to the statistics, the percentage of overweight children under the age of five in Armenia is estimated 14, while nine percent are undernourished. It is sad to realize that children at that early to not get enough food. Every child needs to get proper food and be healthy to pursue their dreams and goals,” Aleksanyan has said at the designated ceremony, adding, it was a great honor for him to become a UNICEF National Ambassador in Armenia and he would use the opportunity to support UNICEF Armenia in protecting the vulnerable children in Armenia to ensure their right of living a healthy life.
United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors and Messengers of Peace are distinguished individuals, carefully selected from the fields of art, literature, science, entertainment, sports or other fields of public life, who have agreed to help focus worldwide attention on the work of the United Nations.
Aleksanyan won a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics and is a two-time World Champion (2014, 2015) and a three-time European Champion (2012, 2013, 2014).
