Glastonbury Festival asks everyone to Change the Record

Glastonbury Festival organisers Michael and Emily Eavis have today launched WaterAid's Change the Record campaign, to help transform the lives of women and girls around the world by calling for access to safe, clean water and toilets for everyone everywhere by 2030.

International development charityWaterAid, supported by eFestivals.co.uk and one of Glastonbury Festival's official charities, will have an army of 200 volunteers at the Festival to urge attendees to lend their voice to the Change the Record petition, which will be handed to world leaders in September at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Those not attending the festival can sign the petition online at www.wateraid.org/changetherecord

For millions of girls around the world living without access to toilets and taps, their lives become like a broken record - waking up very early every day to collect water and not having anywhere safe to go to the toilet, meaning they often miss out on vital education.

Emily Eavis said "I'm supporting WaterAid's Change the Record campaign at Glastonbury this year, calling on festival-goers to sign the petition and take their vision of clean water for everyone, everywhere by 2030 straight to world leaders."

Her father Michael Eavis added "Glastonbury Festival is a time when people find themselves a step closer to the issues facing all the millions of people without access to safe water and toilets. This year is WaterAid's 20th anniversary at the Festival and we're supporting their Change the Record campaign. Music can have such a positive impact around the world, so sign up to WaterAid's petition and Change the record this summer."

Life without access to clean water and toilets is tough for everybody, but the consequences of not having these basic services affect women and girls the most. On average, women and girls in the developing world walk 10 kilometres each day to get clean water; and they often carry water containers weighing more than 20kg. That's the same as walking twice around the perimeter of the Glastonbury Festival site lugging the same weight as the UK airport luggage allowance.

Women and girls are also left vulnerable to violence and sexual assault when going to the toilet in the open; an issue which has tragically been highlighted by the murder of two young teenage sisters in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Whole generations of girls are living without dignity, missing out on an education, a job, a career and a livelihood simply because of a lack of these basic human rights.

September's UN General Assembly meeting will continue the process they began last year of deciding what will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). WaterAid wants to make sure that water, sanitation and hygiene are prioritised as essential to human development.

For the first time in history, a world where everyone, everywhere has drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is within reach.

The international organisation works in 26 countries across Africa, Asia, Central America and the Pacific Region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world's poorest communities. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 19.2 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 15.1 million people with sanitation.

For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @wateraidUK on Twitter or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.

Tickets have sold out for this year's Festival which happens over five full days from  Wednesday 25th until Sunday 29th June 2014 across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Somerset .

This year's festival is headlined by Arcade Fire, Metallica, and Kasabian, plus over the long weekend acts appearing include Dolly Parton, Jack White, Elbow, The Black Keys, Robert Plant, Lily Allen, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Rudimental, De La Soul, Kelis, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The 1975, Angel Haze, Toumani & Sidiki Diabate, The War on Drugs, Nitin Sawhney, Nick Mulvey, Caro Emerald, Turtle Island, English National Ballet, Skrillex, Jake Bugg, and Massive Attack, Paolo Nutini, Pixies, Manic Street Preachers, Interpol, Ellie Goulding, HAIM, Bombay Bicycle Club, Foster the People, Imagine Dragons, Blondie, White Lies, Kodaline, Warpaint, The Horrors, John Newman, Midlake, Sam Smith, M.I.A., Bryan Ferry, Disclosure, Jurassic 5, Goldfrapp, Bonobo, Pretty Lights, Alabama 3, Stanton Warriors, Dub Pistols, Dreadzone, Jon Hopkins, Royal Blood, and many, many more.

To see who is playing where and when see our Glastonbury Festival 2014 line-up page (updated today).

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