UN Days July
Individuals and groups can help to make UN Days much more effective through meditation and prayer. On this site there is a meditation in support of the UN Days and information on ways to participate in the UN Days & Years Meditation Initiative
Here you will find information on the UN designated Days during July 2010. Information provided includes some background, links to the UN site on the Day (where such a site exists), together with key thoughts for reflection.
3 July
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF COOPERATIVES
Year 2010 theme: Cooperative Enterprise Empowers Women
Cooperatives play an important role in economic and social development. Based as they are on the principle of cooperation, they are helping to pioneer new ethics and values in business and economics.
The International Day of Cooperatives is observed by the United Nations on the first Saturday of July. On this day, in 1895, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) was formed, and since 1927 the ICA has observed the first Saturday of July as International Cooperative Day. The ICA is an umbrella group of organisations encompassing 760 million members of cooperatives in 100 countries.
Information on the Day is available from:
Key thoughts for reflection:
The basis of co-operation lies primarily in mutual responsibility.
Heart, 559
Verily, cooperation opens all possibilities, but one needs the understanding of what this cooperation comprises. Often people relegate it to the province of certain state matters whereas cooperation is the condition of the entire life. Precisely, even in each small mutual assistance is comprised cooperation which has a cosmic significance. Each glance, each handshake, each thought is a sign of cooperation, if consciously utilized. How valuable it is for people to feel that they are constantly generating consequences! Like titans, they shake the world.
Heart, 204
11 July
WORLD POPULATION DAY
Year 2010 theme: Everyone Counts
Achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals will require significant progress in lowering the birth rate in many of the economically poorest countries and improving reproductive health services and family planning. Check out the excellent UN Population Fund site exploring the links between the Goals and Population issues: http://www.unfpa.org/pds/
To explore the issues raised we recommend you visit the World Population Day site and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) site.
Check out the State of the World Population Report 2009. The theme is: Facing a Changing World: Women, Population & Climate.
The whole world has been talking about carbon credits, carbon trading and emissions targets. But not enough has been said about the people whose activities contribute to those emissions or about those who will be most affected by climate change, especially women.
The climate-change debate needs to be reframed, putting people at the centre. Unless climate policies take people into account, they will fail to mitigate climate change or to shield vulnerable populations from the potentially disastrous impacts.
Look here for the latest estimate of the global population.
Key thought for reflection:
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world ... Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.
Eleanor Roosevelt
18 July
NELSON MANDELA INTERNATIONAL DAY
In November 2009 the United Nations General Assembly declared that 18 July, Nelson Mandela's birthday, would be observed every year by the United Nations as Nelson Mandela International Day. The day honors the former South African President's contribution to the culture of peace and freedom and his long-standing commitment to promoting conflict resolution, race relations, human rights, reconciliation and gender equality. This is the first time that the United Nations has honored any world leader with an annual celebration. The decision was made by the General Assembly as part of a two day debate on the organizations work for a culture of peace.
The Nelson mandela Foundation reports: Mandela Day is a call to action for people everywhere to take responsibility for making the world a better place, one small step at a time, just as Nelson Mandela did.
Nelson Mandela spent more than 67 years serving his community, his country, and the world at large. On Mandela Day people are called to devote just 67 minutes of their time to changing the world for the better, in a small gesture of solidarity with humanity, and in a small step towards a continuous, global movement for good.
Information on the Day is available from The Nelson Mandela Foundation. See also the UN News report.
