|
United Nations, International Days
2008
January 27: International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of Holocaust
February 21: the ninth International Mother Language Day coincides with the International Year of Languages. Close to half of the 6,000 languages spoken in the world are doomed or likely to disappear in the foreseeable future. See the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing.
March 6: International Women's Day: Investing in Women and Girls. Media Contact: Ms Oisika Chakrabarti, UN Department of Public Information, Tel: +1-917-367-9498, E-mail: mediainfo@un.org
also United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace
also World Book Day in Ireland and the UK
(World Book and Copyright Day is on April 23 in other countries)
March 20: World Water Day 2008: Sanitation
The UN General Assembly declared the year 2008 the International Year of Sanitation. Consequently, World Water Day 2008, which will be celebrated this year on Thursday 20 March, will highlight issues on sanitation in accordance with the Year. People around the world are encouraged to celebrate the day to draw attention to the world’s sanitation challenge.
March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Also: European Wide Action Week (17-25 March) & Intercultural and Anti-Racism Week (19-25 March) and Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination (21-28 March)
March 23: World Meteorological Day (Hook: Climate Change)
March 24: World TB Day
World Tuberculosis Day is designed to build public awareness about the disease. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis. His discovery opened the way toward diagnosing and curing tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) kills about two million people each year, making it one of the world’s leading infectious causes of death among young people and adults. One-third of the world’s population is infected with TB.
April 7: World Health Day 2008: protecting health from climate change
April 22: Earth Day
April 23: World Book and Copyright Day
(World Book Day was celebrated on 6 March in Ireland and the UK)
April 25: World Malaria Day
April 26: World Intellectual Property Day. Contact.
May 3: World Press Freedom Day
May 15: International Day of Families. 2008 theme - Fathers and Families: Responsibilities and Challenges.
May 17: World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. 2008 theme - Connecting Persons with Disabilities: ICT Opportunities for All.
May 22: International Day for Biological Diversity. 2008 theme - Biodiversity and Agriculture
May 25 - June 1: Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories
May 29: International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers
May 31: World No-Tobacco Day (2008 theme: Tobacco-Free Youth)
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It is the only legal consumer product that kills one third to one half of those who use it as intended by its manufacturers, with its victims dying on average 15 years prematurely. 500 million of today's smokers will be killed by tobacco.
Approximately 1.8 billion young people (aged 10-24) live in our world today with more than 85% found in developing countries. Having survived the vulnerable childhood period, these young people are generally healthy. However, as the tobacco industry intensifies its efforts to hook new, young and potentially life-long tobacco users, the health of a significant percentage of the world’s youth is seriously threatened by their deadly products. More about tobacco and development.
June 4: International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
June 5: World Environment Day (slogan: Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy)
June 12: World Day against Child Labour
June 17: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (UN Convention to Combat Desertification)
June 20: U.N. World Refugee Day. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres commemorates World Refugee Day on the Somali border.
June 23: United Nations Public Service Day
June 26: International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking The UN Office on Drugs and Crime launched a 3-year campaign on June 26 2007 with the slogan, "Do drugs control your life? Your life. Your community. No place for drugs." The campaign will focus on different aspects of drug control: drug abuse in 2007, drug cultivation and production in 2008, and illicit drug trafficking in 2009.
also International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
July 5: International Day of Cooperatives
July 11: World Population Day
July 15: World Youth Day 2008, gathering in Sydney of young Catholics from around the world (to July 20)
July 17: World Day for International Justice, which commemorates the adoption of the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court, the Rome Statute, on July 17, 1998 (10th anniversary in 2008)
August 1-7: World breastfeeding week (story)
August 9: International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. Coincides with the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People; 2005-2014.
August 12: International Youth Day. 2008 Theme - Youth and Climate Change: Time for Action.
August 17-23: World Water Week
Second global meeting, Stockholm. 2008 Theme - Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World with Special Focus on Sanitation.
August 19: 5th anniversary of the attack on the UN in Baghdad
August 23: International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
September 8: International Literacy Day (UNESCO literacy portal)
2007
September 16, Thursday: International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer (UNEP) (website)
October 1, Monday: U.N. World Habitat Day. Contact: Francisco Vasquez; E: francisco.vasquez@unhabitat.org;
T: (254 20) 762 - 3124 (GMT +3)
also U.N.’s International Day of Older People. World Age-Friendly City Report covers countries in the developing and developed world. Press conference in London with WHO, Public Health Agency of Canada and Help the Aged (UK)
October 10, Wednesday: World Mental Health Day (WFMH; also WHO). Contact: Cecilia Mazuy; E: mazuyc@who.int; T: +4122 791 2108
October 16, Tuesday: World Food Day (FAO) . Theme: "The Right to Food". Contact: Nick Parsons; E: Nick.Parsons@fao.org.
also marked by UNICEF. Contact: Jessie Malter; E: jmalter@unicef.org; T: 212 - 326 - 7412
October 17, Wednesday: World Poverty Day (UNICEF). Contact: Malene Jensen; E: mjensen@unicef.org; T: 212 - 303 - 7970
also International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (UN ESA website)
October 19, Friday: Launch of the International Year of the Potato (FAO). Contact: M.J. Omar; E: Gueye@un.org; T: 212 - 963 - 6036; F: 212 - 963 - 5425
October 24, Wednesday: United Nations Day
also World Development Information Day
also Disarmament Week (to 30 October)
November 6, International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
November 14, World Diabetes Day 2007
Diabetes causes about 5% of all deaths globally each year. 80% of people with diabetes live in low and middle income countries. Most people with diabetes in low and middle income countries are middle-aged (45-64), not elderly (65+). Diabetes deaths are likely to increase by more than 50% in the next 10 years without urgent action (WHO).
November 16, International Day For Tolerance
November 18, World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Road traffic accidents are expected to be the fourth leading cause of death and disability in low income countries by 2030 (Table 6 [PDF])
November 20, Universal Children's Day and 18th Anniversary of The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNICEF). Contact: Geoff Keele; gkeele@unicef.org; +1 212 - 326 - 7583
also Africa Industrialization Day (UNIDO)
November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
December 1, U.N. World Aids Day.
The World AIDS Campaign has announced the theme of ‘Leadership’ under the banner of “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” for World AIDS Day 2007-2008.
December 2, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
December 3, International Day of Disabled Persons (UN Enable) "Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities". Around 10 per cent of the world’s population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world’s largest minority. The World Bank estimates that 20 per cent of the world’s poorest people have some kind of disability, and tend to be regarded in their own communities as the most disadvantaged. Contact Thomas Shindlmay; +1 212 - 963 - 3203. Connect-World also recommends any of the speakers at this recent event in Dublin on disability and development.
December 9, International Anti-Corruption Day
December 10, Human Rights Day
December 18, International Migrants Day (UN-DESA) Contact: Hania Zlotnik; zlotnik@un.org; +1 212 - 963 - 3179
December 19, United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation (UNDP) Contact: Rogel Nuguid; rogel.nuguid@undp.org
December 20, International Human Solidarity Day
Note: An effort has been made to research and provide the most up-to-date and relevant links above. Although there are several good calendars (also here) of international days and events on the web, the links some provide can be sparse, several years out-of-date or second-best. (Sometimes this is inevitable, i.e., when up-to-date information is not available online.)
|
