JAPANESE POP STAR, TETSUYA KOMURO, TO BE NAMED MESSENGER FOR 'MUSIC AGAINST DRUGS'

Press Release
SOC/NAR/814

JAPANESE POP STAR, TETSUYA KOMURO, TO BE NAMED MESSENGER FOR 'MUSIC AGAINST DRUGS'

VIENNA, 24 March (UN Information Service) -- Japanese pop music star Tetsuya Komuro, who plans to donate the profits from a four-language CD to the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) for drug abuse prevention projects, will visit the Programme's Vienna headquarters on Monday, 27 March, to be named Messenger for "Music against Drugs".

At the ceremony, he will present his initial donation to the Programme, which carries out policies set by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs aimed at combating drug abuse and trafficking worldwide. The CD, "Happiness x 3, Loneliness x 3", contains recordings of the song in Chinese, English, Japanese and Spanish.

Mr. Komuro, a composer, producer and performer who has sold more than 160 million CDs since 1994 (up to 16 per cent of the total Japanese market), has organized a number of charity concerts and, since 1997, has expanded his overseas activities.

Also at Monday's ceremony, a delegation of Japanese "Young Civic Ambassadors" from the Drug Abuse Prevention Center of Japan will present $370,000 to UNDCP to support the drug abuse prevention work of grass-roots organizations in developing countries and countries in transition. The group has donated a total of $3 million to the Programme since 1994, enabling UNDCP to back grass-roots projects in 80 countries .

The initiative to support drug abuse prevention programmes through the CD sales and the Drug Abuse Prevention Center of Japan fundraising efforts was launched during the January visit to Tokyo by UNDCP Executive Director Pino Arlacchi.

The ceremony and the subsequent ringing of the Japanese peace bell on the grounds of the Vienna International Centre are open to journalists.

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