Tibetans protest the arrival of the Chinese Communist Party second in command, Wen Jiabao (Tim McDevitt/Epoch Times) (Tim McDevitt/ Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—The streets of New York may be clogged. The hotels may be full and favorite restaurants may be booked but the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly are creating an interesting sideshow for the locals.

At the high end of the spectacle there are the celebrities who descend on New York to lend their names to a range of causes.

This week, actor Michael Douglas, an outspoken advocate for nuclear disarmament turned up at the UN to put a profile on the push to have a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty brought into force.
The treaty is designed to stop technological development of nuclear weapons but the failure of nine nations to ratify the pact means it has not been brought to force.

The US, China, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Egypt are the nine nations holding up the process.

At the Metropolitan Ballroom at the mid-town Sheraton Bill Clinton drew Muhammad Ali, U2 singer Bono, and cycling champion Lance Armstrong to raise the profile of his Clinton Global Initiative, a foundation that aims to draw on big donors to address major international problems. Former Vice President Al Gore and Jordan’s Queen Rania also attended the event.

Elle Macpherson (r) is joined by Queen Rania of Jordan (center) and former UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Mary Robinson, at the launch of the �in my name� global campaign against poverty at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on Thursday. (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in town Australian model and lingerie queen Elle McPherson raised the bar for the global poverty movement, a part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The MDG were meant to be the major agenda item at the UN meeting but have been overshadowed b the US financial crisis. The goals are aimed at halving global poverty by 2015.

Ms. McPherson is just one of a host of celebrities at the launch of "in my name" a new song by Black Eyed Peas front man, Will.i.am, written for the Global Call to Action against Poverty, a combined Oxfam, Comic Relief and Save the Children Fund action.

Missy Higgins and John Butler are just some of the artists supporting the initiative that will be launched on Youtube and involves a request for citizens to upload a video stating their name, their country and a specific request of their government to end poverty.

The best submissions from around the world will be combined and presented to world leaders at a UN General Assembly Meeting.

Street Level

Not all the causes are so lucky to have celebrities to tout their issues but that does not stop the equally dedicated groups airing their grievances.

 Down at street level Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, opposite the UN headquarters, is littered with groups displaying banners, posters and signs.

In one corner there are the supporters of the 3500 members of the Iranian opposition, presently exiled to Ashraf in Iraq. The group displaying gruesome photos of public hangings and violent torture in Iran want the Ashraf residents protected by Multi-National Forces under the 4th Geneva Convention.

On the other corner Amnesty International’s Darfur campaign is large and visible. Refugee camp simulations are one part of the activities organized by the group who are there to remind the UN Security Council of its promise to send in 26,000 peacekeepers, equipment and funding for aid.
“There are only 10,000 peacekeepers there now,” Amnesty campaigner Sheetal Daswani told the Epoch Times, “and the promises were made in January 2007”

“It’s been a while,” she added drily.

Further down the Plaza, a group of Vietnamese Americans hold placards calling for democratic freedoms in Vietnam, and not far from them are Tibetans calling for human rights in ‘China controlled’ Tibet.
Campaigners against China’s human rights record make up the largest contingent of street protesters.
On the corner of 47th and 1st Ave., and in the surrounding streets, Falun Gong practitioners patiently distribute flyers and hold banners to draw the world’s attention to one of the greatest crimes against humanity occurring today.

The incarceration and brutal torture of thousands of adherents of the peaceful exercise and meditation practice is well documented but what the world seems unable to believe are reports of state sanctioned organ harvesting for profit of the persecuted group in China.

The UN General Assembly meeting is an opportunity to remind world leaders, the media, and the public, that this is happening in China today, and it has to stop, say the practitioners.

Further up the Plaza is another group representing a collection of persecuted groups in China including Catholics, Tibetans, environmental activists, lawyers and journalists.

“The country that has gotten away with the Olympics, that has been deemed as the one of the best Olympics in the world, meanwhile behind the stands we are seeing journalists detained, beaten, harassed, people are put in prison,” Reporters without Borders spokesperson on China, Tala Dowlatshani told reporters.

“China right now is the worst, the world’s largest prison for journalists,” said Dowlatshani.
Ann Noonan, a Christian, pleaded for religious freedom in China, noting, “People of good faith make good citizens”.

She pointed to a range of posters detailing environmental activists, lawyer’s rights and aid activists – all detained for seeking justice in a world of corruption.

“These people were representing the common people,” she said “we are here today as common people, to promote basic freedoms for Chinese people.”