UN Days June
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 June 2008. Information provided includes some background, links to the UN site on the Day (where such a site exists), together with key thoughts for reflection.
4 June
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF INNOCENT CHILDREN VICTIMS OF AGGRESSION
This international day acknowledges the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse - and affirms a commitment to protect the rights of children.
The statistics of child abuse in its many, many forms are horrendous. They include over 2 million children killed in conflict in the last two decades; around 10 million child refugees cared for by UNHCR; in the Latin America & Caribbean region 80 thousand children die every year from violence that breaks out within the family …
Humanity is organising as never before to put children first in the process of building a better world, and this Day also celebrates the millions of individuals and organizations working to protect and preserve the rights of children. The Global Movement for Children, with leadership from Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel, is an inspiring force for change that involves ‘ordinary people’ and families in all parts of the world. The ‘Say Yes for Children’ campaign, which has been endorsed by over 94 million people, calls for 10 positive actions to be taken to improve the lives of children.
Child abuse is now in the spotlight of global attention, and much is being done to protect children around the world. One key factor in this is the process of international negotiation and action centred around the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
To explore this theme further visit the Unicef Global Movement for Children web site and the UN Human Rights site. See also the UK Count Me In Calendar.
Key thoughts for reflection:
... recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable right of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world ...
... childhood is entitled to special care and assistance ...
... the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding ...
... the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity ...
... the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth ...
Convention on the Rights of the Child - Preamble
5 June
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY
Year 2008 Theme: Kick the Habit - Towards a Low Carbon Economy
Observed since 1972, World Environment Day is "considered by many to be the most important event on the environmental calendar". UNEP reports that the Day "inspires action by governments, individuals, non-governmental organisations, community and youth groups, business, industry and the media to improve their environment, including clean-up campaigns, tree planting, street rallies, exhibitions, green concerts, essays, painting and photographic competitions, recycling efforts and much more".
For further information visit the World Environment Day web site.
Key thoughts for reflection:
A cold, rational, observer's attitude toward nature fails to reveal the spiritual potential in nature. But a warm, imaginative, participant's perspective invites a more mystical and therefore a more spiritual engagement with the world. The former leads to millions of words and statistics analysing the natural world, while the latter leads to stories, poetry, prayers, rites and meditation on that same world. ...
We can be educated by nature, becoming persons of broad vision and subtle values. In nature we can find our place, our identity and our affections. Nature offers a way to discover the riches of our own souls rather than the powers of the ego. In this way, nature deepens our very sense of self.
What reason could be more compelling for honouring and protecting this natural world in all its particularity and ubiquitousness than to know that it is the prime source of our spirituality, the root of our personal meaning, and the starting point for any soul journey?
Thomas Moore
We had hundreds of birds in our small garden. Watching them was a joy; they brought seeds of trees as gifts, which I put into pots and distributed to the neighbourhood. My garden is so full of trees that we are many degrees cooler than any other house I know. I just get my reward in the singing of the birds. I get it in seeing my son mature. Animal abuse and environmental degradation are not necessary evils. No evil is necessary. Evil is present only as long as we support it. The moment we make the connection between what we know and how we behave, evil collapses.
Mahatma Gandhi wrote: "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world, as in being able to remake ourselves." We need to remake ourselves as compassionate human beings. We need to learn and to teach the value of all life, because all life, not just human life, is sacred.
Maneka Gandhi
17 June
WORLD DAY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT
Year 2008 theme: Combatting Land Degradation for Sustainable Agriculture
Up to one quarter of the world's surface is covered by dryland areas. The fragile environment of these areas is under serious threat - deserts are spreading at an alarming rate, and drought increasingly prevalent.
More than 135 million people – the equivalent to the population of Germany and France combined - are at risk of being displaced as a consequence of desertification.
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is held every year on 17 June to mark the anniversary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
There is an increasing focus on the need to reverse the spread of deserts if the Millennium Development Goals are to be met.
Further information on the Convention and the global action being taken to address the problem of desertification is available on the Convention website. See also information on the Day.
Key thought for reflection:
Look out of a window and you view a world in the thrall of climatic upheaval. Although nothing can be seen, the world is undergoing an environmental shift of a type and scale to rival a geological cataclysm - and one of the most rapid ever to overtake the Earth. To confront it we need a parallel change in our inner world, our world of perception and understanding.
Norman Myers
20 June
WORLD REFUGEE DAY
Year 2008 theme: Protection
World Refugee Day was first observed on June 20th, 2001. It commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Convention, and the founding of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, was in response to the crisis of an estimated one million, mainly European, displaced people in the aftermath of World War Two.
Since then the refugee crisis has spread to many parts of the world. Today an estimated 19 million people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of persecution, wars or natural or man-made disasters.
The refugee crisis represents an enormous human tragedy. Each refugee family, each individual, carries a burden of pain and trauma. Yet the crisis also offers a great opportunity for we human beings to act on our sense of interdependence.
Visit the United Nations Refugee Agency ninemillion.org web site and World Refugee Day website for an inspiring message on the tenacious spirit of hope that characterises refugees.
Throughout their long and daunting journey from oppression and persecution to asylum and protection, and eventually to a place they can call home, refugees show incredible strength, courage and determination. Their journey is a dangerous and arduous one and every day spent in exile is a day too long.
But in every step of their journey refugees carry with them an unshakable, unrelenting hope. By hanging on to their hopes for basic survival, sustenance and protection, and for the chance to one day rebuild their lives, refugees defy all odds. As the UN Refugee Agency we continue to be impressed by the tenacious hopefulness of refugees which, in turn, motivates us to leave no stone unturned in the fulfillment of our mandate, to protect them and to find durable solutions to their plight.
Key thoughts for reflection:
If there is to be adequate response to the refugee crisis there is no alternative other than to continue to strengthen attitudes and values which foster a generous, intelligent, open-hearted response to all 'strangers', whether in our own community or in some distant part of the world. We need to recognise the importance of the countless individual acts of kindness and understanding which take place every day, and are repeated endlessly in a healthy society. These 'small' acts replenish the reservoir of goodwill from which we draw in collective acts of wise compassion
World Goodwill Newsletter
Today's world requires us to accept the oneness of humanity. In the past, isolated communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally separate. Some could even exist in total isolation. But nowadays, whatever happens in one region of the world will eventually affect, through a chain reaction, peoples and places far away. Therefore, it is essential to treat each major problem, right from its inception, as a global concern. It is no longer possible to emphasize, without destructive repercussions, the national, racial, or ideological barriers which differentiate us. Within the context of our new interdependence, self-interest clearly lies in considering the interest of others.
H.H. The Dalai Lama
23 June
UNITED NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE DAY
A Day to highlight the role that public servants make, and can potentially make, to the development of all societies – and particularly to the development of cultures of peace.
One of the keynotes of our age is the concentration of thought and action around the development of new processes of governance at a local, national, regional and international level.
Every year, United Nations Public Service Awards are presented on this Day to honour excellence in public service.
26 June
INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING
Year 2008 theme: Drug Cultivation & Production: Do Drugs Control Your Life? Your Life. Your Community. No Place for Drugs.
Since 1987, 26 June has been observed as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, comments:
"Illicit drugs destroy innumerable individual lives and undermine our societies. Confronting the illicit trade in drugs and its effects remains a major challenge for the international community."
Visit the United Nations Drug Control Programme UNDCP website for further information on the Day.
Key thought for reflection:
Whatever words we use, we must come to the realisation of the parallels within our internal environment to those priceless and limited resources within our external environment. Humanity now concerns itself with dangers from the abuse of our forests, our atmosphere, our soil, our rivers and seas. ...
During the next decade as a matter of urgency, and thereafter for ever, we must begin to talk about the atmosphere within the individual body, its soil (our flesh and bones), its rivers and seas (our arteries and veins). I suppose it is because we are so familiar with our own bodies that the sense of wonder and presciousness has not dawned upon us. We need scholars who will specialise in the ecology of self-esteem for our bodies and gradually develop programmes which will help every child and adult to explore the once-for-all gift of an individual life.
Ted Noffs
26 June
INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF TORTURE
The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was first observed on 26 June 1998. This date, 26 June, was chosen because on 26 June 1987, the UN Convention Against Torture came into force - and on 26 June 1948 the United Nations Charter was signed.
Since its founding, the United Nations has worked towards the eradication of torture. The Convention Against Torture obliges the 105 states which have ratified it to act to prevent torture and to ensure that torture is an offence punishable under criminal law. A UN Special Rapporteur on Torture responds to complaints from individuals and groups, and reports to the UN High Commission on Human Rights. Yet still torture persists.
Today there are over 200 treatment centres or services for torture survivors, and there is now profound knowledge of torture methods, the effects of torture, and how to diagnose and rehabilitate torture victims.
A United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture was established in 1981. From 1983 - 1998 300 projects were financed by the project.
See the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims site on the Day. The council co-ordinates a global campaign against torture. Also see the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture site and the Count Me In page..
Key thought for reflection:
This is a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable. It is long overdue that a day be dedicated to remembering and supporting the many victims and survivors of torture around the world.
Kofi Annan
