United Nations Day
|United Nations Day|
|Official name||United Nations Day|
|Also called||U.N. Day|
|Celebrations||Meetings, discussions, exhibits, cultural performances|
|Next time||24 October 2015|
|Related to||World Development Information Day|
United Nations Day is devoted to making known to peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization. United Nations Day is part of United Nations Week, which runs from 20 to 26 October.
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, as which "shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for" its work.
In 1971 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a further resolution (United Nations Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by all United Nations member states.
U.N. Day has traditionally been marked throughout the world with meetings, discussions and exhibits about the achievements and goals of the organization. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that member states observe it as a public holiday.
Several international schools throughout the world also celebrate the diversity of their student body on United Nations Day (although the event is not necessarily celebrated on 24 October). Celebrations often include a show of cultural performances in the evening and a food fair, where food is available from all over the world.
In the Philippines, local schoolchildren customarily dress in the national costumes of member states and hold a programme on U.N. Day, which is the last school day before semestral break. Individual students, classes, or grade levels are assigned a country to represent and study; students handcraft their assigned country's flag, and prepare cultural presentations and food as part of the day's educational activities.
World Development Information Day
The UN's World Development Information Day has also been held on 24 October since 1972.
- United Nations General Assembly Session 2 Resolution 168. United Nations Day A/RES/168(II) 31 October1947. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
- United Nations General Assembly Session -1 Resolution 2782. Proclamation of United Nations Day as an international holiday A/RES/2782(XXVI) 6 December 1971. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
- Presidential Proclamation -- United Nations Day, 2013
- (English) UN Day