20 December 2016: International Human Solidarity Day

International Human Solidarity Day is celebrated annually on 20 December. In 2005 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that International Human Solidarity Day would take place on December 20 each year.

International Human Solidarity Day is a day to celebrate unity in diversity; to remind governments to respect their commitments to international agreements; to raise public awareness of the importance of solidarity; to encourage debate on the ways to promote solidarity for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals including poverty eradication; and a day of action to encourage new initiatives for poverty eradication.

Activities may include promoting campaigns on issues such as: banning land mines; making health and medication accessible to those in need; relief efforts to help those who suffered the effects of natural or human-made disasters; achieving universal education; and fighting against poverty, corruption and terrorism.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said, "On International Human Solidarity Day, let us emphasize the role of human solidarity in building lives of dignity for all on a healthy planet. We must work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and secure the future we want.”

This year's celebration of Human Solidarity Day comes after leaders of the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015-2030, which succeeded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure dignity for all.

The SDGs agenda is centred on human rights and supported by global partnerships determined to lift people out of poverty, hunger and disease. It is built on a foundation of global cooperation and solidarity.

http://www.un.org/en/events/humansolidarityday/

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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