Human Rights Daypresents an opportunity every year to celebrate human rights, highlight a specific issue, and advocate for the full enjoyment of all human rights by everyone everywhere. "It is absolutely clear that we need to regain the universality of human rights, the indivisibility of human rights, and we need to find a new energy that motivates young people around the world." - Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
2022 Theme:
Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All
In the decades since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, human rights have become more recognized and more guaranteed across the globe. It has since served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today also focuses on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and migrants.
However, the promise of the UDHR, of dignity and equality in rights, has been under a sustained assault in recent years. As the world faces new challenges and ongoing – pandemics, conflicts, exploding inequalities, morally bankrupt global financial system, racism, climate change – the values and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for our collective actions that do not leave anyone behind.
The year-long campaign seeks to shift the needle of understanding and action toward greater knowledge of the universality of the UDHR and the activism associated with it.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
The world’s young people – who make up the largest generation of youth in history – can lead a global drive to break the patterns of the past and set the world on course to a more sustainable future. Young people are directly affected by the tragic contradictions that prevail today: between abject poverty and ostentatious wealth, gnawing hunger and shameful food waste, rich natural resources, and polluting industries. Youth can deliver solutions to these issues, which lie at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. - Ban Ki-moon
The theme of International Youth Day 2024 is “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.” This theme highlights the key connection between digitalization and accelerating the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing the crucial contributions of young people in this transformative process.
Technologies like mobile devices, digital platforms, and emerging innovations like artificial intelligence are crucial in advancing the SDGs. Data generated from every digital interaction is fundamental to digital transformation, enabling evidence-based decision-making. It is estimated that digital technologies and data contribute to at least 70% of the 169 SDG targets, bringing about a profound impact across their economic, social, and environmental dimensions.
While challenges such as the digital divide persist, young people are often considered “digital natives” at the forefront of adopting and innovating with new technologies. They form the largest demographic of users and developers, shaping digital trends globally. As the 2030 deadline for the SDGs approaches, youth remain an essential demographic group in leveraging the transformative power of technologies to address global challenges.
World Environment Day (WED) stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and public action. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. Every year, a different city hosts World Environment Day with a different theme.
WED Mission: To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
"Remember that it is people who propel social progress, develop science and technology, and, through their hard work, continuously transform the human environment. We are both creatures and molders of our environment."
These words are spoken directly from the 1972 Declaration on the Human Environment, adopted by the #UnitedNations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 16 June 1972.
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity is
pleased to announce the Biodiversity Day 2024:
Be part of the Plan
Although every Biodiversity Day has its own special significance, this year’s global celebrations bring a renewed sense of hope.
Around the world, governments and people are showing what they are doing to Build Back Biodiversity.
Biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable
development challenges. From nature-based solutions to climate, health issues,
food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity is the
foundation upon which we can build back better.
“From individual species through entire ecosystems, biological diversity is vital for human health and well-being. The quality of the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe all depend on keeping the natural world in good health.”
- António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Part of the International Day for Biological Diversity focuses on biodiversity as the foundation for our food and health and as a key catalyst for transforming food systems and improving human well-being. Join the conversation, take action, and be a catalyst for change! Below is a list of things that you can do to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity for your well-being:
*Reduce your meat consumption
*Eat and purchase seasonal foods
*Buy local foods
*Reduce your food waste
*Compost your food scraps
*Reduce food packaging by using reusable bags or reusing
glass jars or containers
*Avoid single-use plastics like plastic straws, coffee cups,
plastic cutlery, take out containers or plastic water bottles
*Promote local and indigenous biodiversity for food and
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one-third of the world‘s land area, are extremely vulnerable to over-exploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing, and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the productivity of the land.
Over 250 million people are directly affected by desertification, and about one billion people in over one hundred countries are at risk. These people include many of the world‘s poorest, most marginalized, and politically weak citizens. The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is observed every year to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification. The day is a unique moment to remind everyone of land degradation neutrality is achievable through problem-solving, strong community involvement, and cooperation at all levels.
“Land Degradation and Migration”
The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought examines the important link between land degradation and migration. Among others, environmental degradation, food insecurity, and poverty are causes of migration and development challenges.
In just 15 years, the number of international migrants worldwide has risen from 173 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2015.
Nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s ice-free land has been altered by humans to meet an ever-growing demand for food, raw materials, highways, and homes. Avoiding, slowing, and reversing the loss of productive land and natural ecosystems now is both urgent and important for guaranteeing the long-term survival of people and the planet.
What do we envisage in a world where land degradation neutrality provides a solid basis for poverty reduction, food, water security as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation?
Goals
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development declares that “we are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations”. Specifically, Goal 15 states our resolve to halt and reverse land degradation.
This year’s focus salutes the efforts of women humanitarian workers across the world who rally to people in need and are often the first to respond and the last to leave.
“From supporting civilians caught up in crisis to addressing disease outbreaks, women humanitarians are on the front lines”, said Secretary-General António Guterres.
These unsung heroes have long been working in their own communities in some of the most difficult terrains – from the war-wounded in Afghanistan to the food insecure in the Sahel, to those who have lost their homes and livelihoods in places such as Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
“Their presence makes aid operations more effective by increasing their reach”, said the UN chief. “It also improves the humanitarian response to gender-based violence, which increases during emergencies”.
Across the globe, 250,000 aid workers are women – a figure that amounts to more than 40 percent of the humanitarian workforce. But aid work is becoming increasingly dangerous.
Since August 2003, more than 4,500 aid workers of all genders have been killed, injured, detained, assaulted or kidnapped while carrying out their work. That averages out to five attacks per week.
Moreover, women humanitarians are at particularly high risk of robbery, sexual assault, and other violence.
World Humanitarian Day is a time to recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others. The day was designated by the General Assembly to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 UN staff. Natural disasters, conflicts, and other emergencies threaten the lives and health of millions of people every year. In the middle of such crises, thousands of dedicated humanitarian workers strive to care for those who have been affected and support local authorities to deliver assistance. On World Humanitarian Day, WHO and other international bodies are highlighting the roles performed by humanitarian workers and remembering aid workers who have been killed or injured while performing their vital roles. World Humanitarian Day offers the chance:
· for the public to learn more about the humanitarian community, what aid workers do and the challenges they face;
· for nongovernmental and international bodies and UN agencies, to demonstrate their humanitarian activities;
· to pay respect to those who have died or been injured in the course of their humanitarian work.
“Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all”
The theme for the Day this year addresses the challenge of achieving social and environmental justice for all. The growing recognition of the multi-dimensionality of poverty means that these two issues are inseparably intertwined and that social justice cannot be fully realized without aggressively rectifying environmental injustices at the same time. Whereas progress has been made in addressing income poverty, there has been less success in addressing the other important dimensions of poverty, including the rapidly growing impact of the environment, within a more holistic approach.
People living in extreme poverty, often through sheer necessity, are the first to act decisively within their communities in response to poverty, climate change, and environmental challenges. However, their efforts and experience often go unnoticed and unappreciated; their ability to contribute positively to solutions has been overlooked; they are not recognized as drivers of change, and their voices are not heard, especially in international bodies.
This must change. The participation, knowledge, contributions, and experience of people living in poverty and those left behind must be valued, respected, and reflected in our efforts to build an equitable and sustainable world in which there is social and environmental justice for all. Governments must act decisively—in partnership and in solidarity with people living in poverty —to effectively address the impending global economic downturn that now threatens to erase part of the gains in reducing poverty and stall efforts to fight climate change and environmental degradation. The United Nations’ measures to ensure Member States can achieve the SGDs by 2030, including its proposed socio-economic responses to the global pandemic, must be robustly pro-poor and fully focused on establishing green pathways to recovery.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was adopted on 20 November 1989. This landmark human rights treaty sets out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion, or abilities.
In particular, the Convention recognizes the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development. Poverty hurts children’s development and, in turn, leads to lower-income and health in adulthood. When child poverty is recognized as a denial of children’s human rights then people in positions of responsibility and power are legally bound to promote, protect, and fulfill children’s rights.
Join the #EndPoverty global campaign
Everyone can join the campaign on social media by using hashtag #EndPoverty and promoting the call to action to connect with people from around the world who have joined the fight to overcome poverty.
In addition to the commemorative event to be held in New York on 17 October, commemorations of the international day are being organized worldwide. The online community is asked to use #EndPoverty to share messages about the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty via social media.
National Volunteer Week is organized by Points of Light and is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to come together to tackle tough challenges and build stronger, more resilient communities. Each year, they shine a light on the people and causes that inspire us to serve, recognizing and thanking volunteers who lend their time, talent and voice to make a difference in their communities.
Celebrate Service
National Volunteer Week was established in 1974 and has grown each year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled throughout the week. Plan or attend an event to celebrate the impact of volunteers in your community, and inspire others to serve.
Five Presidents on the Power of Service
President George H. W. Bush speaks on the power of volunteerism and highlights the importance of helping others through service. "There can be no definition of a successful life that does not include service to others" -President George H. W. Bush
Causes and Solutions
The passion of volunteers is ignited when people can help the causes they care about. Points of Light inspire, equips and mobilizes volunteers in support of these main causes:
Veterans and Military Families
Joining together with and for our veterans addresses critical needs and helps build stronger communities. Points of Light’s military programs connect service members, veterans and their families with their communities through service and support.
Take action:
Volunteer to support your local military community.
Learn how your community can support military members and veterans.
Donate to support the mobilization of thousands of volunteers.
Disaster Preparedness
A strong community is a resilient community, one that’s ready and able to work together if things go wrong. For a community to thrive and survive, residents, nonprofits, governments, and businesses must plan for how they will respond to and recover from disaster together.
Take action:
Get ready with these disaster preparedness resources.
Volunteer in a relief and recovery effort.
Learn how volunteers can help in a local response effort.
Economic Opportunity
Everyone and every family should have a chance at a better life. In an economically sustainable community, people help each other learn how to catch up and then get ahead. In these vibrant communities, people are able to achieve financial stability by becoming better managers of their money and of their futures.
Take action:
Learn how AmeriCorps VISTA members train volunteers as financial coaches.
Mentor youth to help them prepare for college and careers.
Contact us to volunteer as a financial coach in your community.
Youth and Education
When all members of the community become involved in the lives of youth, student attendance and the quality of education greatly improve. Youth have the power to make their mark on the world when they are empowered through service, and can access the education and resources that can help them give back to their communities.
Take action:
Learn how service prepares youth for college and careers.
Inspire youth to get excited about community service.
Find out how young adults boost the academic achievement of low-income students.
Civil and Human Rights
Social change doesn’t just happen – people and communities must work together to advocate for freedom and equality without bounds or limits. It is a transformation that takes understanding, acceptance, cooperation and volunteer service.
Take action:
Volunteer during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.
Host an America's Sunday Supper.
Donate to support the MLK Day of Service
Nonprofit Capacity
To do their world-changing work, nonprofits must deliver effective programs and also improve their ability to achieve their mission. Volunteers – and the skills, energy and time they give – offer one of the best ways for nonprofits to become greater at doing good.
Take action:
Get certified in using volunteers to increase capacity.
Access training, consulting and other tools.
Volunteer and help a nonprofit in your area do more.
Social Entrepreneurship
Innovative social change comes in many forms – and can come from the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Successful social entrepreneurs often include people as part of the solution to critical social problems. These entrepreneurs work to create greater, more accessible pathways to economic opportunity.
Take action:
Apply for support for your for-profit or nonprofit startup.
Volunteer Appreciation
Recognizing the exceptional work of volunteers keeps their good work going, and inspires others to serve. Celebrating the power of individuals to create change in their communities can also bring more attention and resources to a cause.
Take action:
Nominate a hero in your life for an award.
Visit the only national monument to honor volunteers.
Get inspired by volunteer stories.
Volunteer to Fight Against Hunger
AARP and AARP Foundation: These organizations work with state and community partners and volunteers to help older adults enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commission research on the causes and consequences of senior hunger, and award grants to help develop or expand sustainable solutions for older-adult anti-hunger programs. Volunteer Opportunities: Community outreach, nutrition education, community events.
Feeding America serves 37 million people, including nearly 14 million children and 3 million seniors, through local agencies such as food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters and after-school programs. Feeding America food banks provide nutrition education programs. In addition, the organization’s network operates programs that promote self-sufficiency, educates the public about the problem of hunger and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Volunteer Opportunities: Food rescue, driving, loading, repacking, community outreach, food banks.
Meals On Wheels. Representing community-based senior nutrition programs across the country, the Meals On Wheels Association of America serves approximately 1 million meals a day to the nation’s seniors through two methods of food distribution: direct delivery to homebound seniors and adults with disabilities, and congregate meals served in group settings such as a community center or long-term care facility. Volunteer Opportunities: Meal preparation, packaging or delivery, clerical support, special events.
No Kid Hungry. Families at risk of hunger need access to food and the skills to make healthy meals with their resources, nutrition education is a key part of the No Kid Hungry campaign. Through its Cooking Matters program, nutrition educators and chefs equip low-income families with skills to stretch their food budgets, shop smarter, make healthier food choices and cook delicious, affordable meals. Volunteer Opportunities: Community event planning, nutrition education, fundraising, advocacy.
UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and has helped save more children’s lives than anyother humanitarian organization in the world. Nutrition is a key component to its work, whether through an emergency feeding program during a disaster or famine or an established community clinic offering nutrition education and support to young mothers. UNICEF is the world’s largest supplier of ready-to-use therapeutic food for malnourished children and helped increase the world’s supply of therapeutic food by more than 9,000 percent between 2008 and 2012. Volunteer Opportunities: Fundraising, advocacy, education.
The World Food Programme serves the world’s least food secure in regions where hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Last year, the organization distributed 3.5 million metric tons of food to 97 million people in 80 countries. The World Food Programme works to prevent hunger through helping communities build assets, educate its people and develop stronger and more dynamic infrastructures - from establishing environmental sustainability and connecting farmers with markets to supporting breastfeeding initiatives and introducing school meal programs. The World Food Programme is funded entirely by voluntary donations. Volunteer Opportunities: Fundraising, advocacy, education.
A global youth service movement igniting the power of all kids to make their mark on the world. They are the youth division of Points of Light.
GenerationOn has brought the nation's leading youth service organizations and programs under one umbrella including Children for Children, The League, Learning to Give, and Kids Care Clubs, HandsOn Schools. By partnering with teachers, parents, schools, community organizations and businesses, generationOn gives kids the opportunity to see firsthand the issues in their communities and the tools and resources they need to respond and become part of the solution”.
What Will You Bring to the Table?
Powered by generationOn
Points of Light connects people to their power to make a meaningful difference by providing access to tools, resources, and opportunities to help volunteers use their time, talent, voice, and money to meet the critical needs of our communities.
Biodiversity, at the level of species and ecosystems, provides an important foundation for many aspects of tourism. Recognition of the great importance to tourism economies of attractive landscapes and a rich biodiversity underpins the political and economic case for biodiversity conservation. Many issues addressed under the Convention on Biological Diversity directly affect the tourism sector. A well-managed tourist sector can contribute significantly to reducing threats to, and maintain or increase, key wildlife populations and biodiversity values through tourism revenue. For many coastal communities, the survival of marine and coastal ecosystems and biodiversity is essential to their nutritional, spiritual, societal and religious well-being. But even for the many millions of people who may not think that they have any strong reliance on the ocean, marine ecosystems and wildlife provide all kinds of benefits. Many coastal environments provide protection for those farther inland from the ravages of the sea. Coral reefs buffer land from waves and storms and prevent beach erosion. Dune systems on beaches stabilize shorelines from erosion and encroachment. Mangroves, mudflats and deltas trap sediment, preventing the land behind it from sliding ever-seaward.
The ocean world is in all our daily lives. For example, sponges from the Mediterranean have been used for painting, cooking, cleaning and even contraception for at least 5,000 years. Substances derived from seaweeds stabilize and thicken creams, sauces, and pastes, are mixed into paint and used to make paper and even in skin lotion and toothpaste.
Many marine plants and animals also contain a multitude of substances already being used, or identified as being of potential use, in medicines. Each of the 700 known species of cone snail produces a unique cocktail of 100 to 200 toxins, some of which have already been developed into pain killers: one, which has been on the market since 2004, is more than 100 times more powerful than morphine. A 2010 study predicted the existence of between 250,000 and close to 600,000 chemicals in the marine environment, approximately 92 percent of which remained undiscovered; those chemicals, the study’s authors estimated, might yield up to 214 new anti-cancer drugs, worth anywhere from US $563 billion to $5.69 trillion.
Most importantly of all, tiny marine plants called phytoplankton produce energy, like plants on land, through photosynthesis. As a result of that photosynthesis, they release oxygen. In fact, phytoplankton release half of all oxygen in the atmosphere.
UN Secretary-General message "International Year of Water Cooperation 2013"
The United Nations has prepared materials on Natural Solutions For Water Security. This is a segment on "The Elements of Good Practices in the Drinking Water Sector".
Finalists of 2013 edition of UN-Water
´Water for Life´ Best Practices Award
Clean water, free of pollution, bacteria and other contaminants, is the bedrock upon which sustainable, thriving and equitable human societies are built. Good governance of the ecosystems providing us with quality drinking water is an essential pre-requisite involving the cooperation of private sector enterprises, all levels of government, public agencies, indigenous and local communities, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders.
Water is a deeply local issue in terms of availability, economic and environmental setting, climate and conflicting interests.
Good policy approaches for drinking water require holistic strategic approaches involving full consideration of: * Water quality and availability
* Managing drinking water for both present and future needs
* Maintaining ecosystem integrity and functions * The role of biodiversity * Realistic approaches
The United Nations International Day of Families is celebrated each May at the United Nations headquarters and around the world. The Universal Peace Federation joins in commemorating this day because it considers the family as a microcosm of the global community and because sustainable peace is grounded in the family as the most intimate social unit, the school of love.
"On this International Day of Families, let us resolve to support families as they nurture the young, care for the old and foster strong communities built on tolerance and dignity for all."
- Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General's Message for 2011
The Family Meal
The Family Meal is a Tradition Celebrated All Over the World. Sharing family meals symbolizes love and communication. Eating dinner together keeps the doors of communication open. It's a perfect time to show your children they are your priority. Studies have shown children who eat dinner with their families are less likely to use alcohol, tobacco and/or illegal drugs and more likely to develop good eating habits.
Foods For Health: Building Healthy Kids and Families
"Guyatitian" David Grotto offers healthy eating and physical activity tips for building healthy kids and families. Part of the International Food Information Council Foundation's
Foods For Health series
It's A Small World A childhood favorite reminding me how special all Families are. by Disney
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