UN International Days from February to May 2009

 

The United Nations was built on spiritual principles and universal values such as peace, human rights, human dignity and worth, justice, respect, good neighbourliness, freedom, respect for nature and shared responsibility. TOS groups will therefore find that many UN designated International Days provide opportunities for promoting the theosophical principles underpinning TOS work as well as networking with similar community groups in supporting relevant UN activities.

February 21: International Mother Language Day
Close to half of the 6,000 languages spoken in the world are doomed or likely to disappear in the foreseeable future.

March 6: International Women's Day

March 20: World Water Day

March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

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

April 22: Earth Day

April 23: World Book Day
(World Book Day was celebrated on 6 March in Ireland and the UK.)

April 25: World Malaria Day

May 3: World Press Freedom Day

May 15: International Day of Families

May 17: World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

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
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.