First country in the world to be white-banded

Significant New Zealand buildings will be wrapped in white bands this Friday 1 July, as part of New Zealand's involvement in the global MakePovertyHistory campaign. The white band is the campaign's symbol, worn on the wrist, the arm, the head, or on July 1, international White Band Day, entire buildings and edifices.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum will be white-banded on Friday 1 July, and POVERTY will be consigned to history at that historic building, at 10.30am.

Prior to that, a special service has been organised by the Mothers' Union in St Matthews in the City at 10am. To show their solidarity with indebted nations to celebrate the first international White Band Day, white bands will be distributed to guests as a symbol of peace.

In Wellington, the Wellington Cathedral will be white-banded, following a MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY seminar at the Mercy Centre on Friday morning, held by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand and Christian World Service.

In Christchurch people will gather at the Christchurch Cathedral at noon on Friday 1 July to wrap a band around the Cathedral.

These New Zealand buildings will join other significant buildings around the world to be wrapped on July 1: the Sydney Harbour Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral in London, the largest mosque in Indonesia, the Brandenburg Gate in Germany, the Trevi Fountain in Rome. A number of other countries are hosting events such as the Live8 concerts in London, Japan, Philadelphia, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Johannesburg and Toronto with the biggest broadcast in history with an expected 5.5 billion viewers.

MakePovertyHistory is a global campaign supported in New Zealand by a wide range of aid, development, human rights, social justice and anti-poverty organisations. The MakePovertyHistory coalition is calling for immediate government action against poverty in the areas of: trade justice, cancellation of third world debt, more and better overseas aid, and an end to child poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand.

For more information on MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Aotearoa/New Zealand, visit the website: http://www.makepovertyhistory.org.nz

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