ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TO MARK INTERNATIONAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY, 15 DECEMBER

 

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will observe the first International Human Solidarity Day at 11 a.m., Friday, 15 December, in the ECOSOC Chamber.

Speakers include Economic and Social Council President Ali Hachani, who will chair the meeting, General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, José Antonio Ocampo, the Secretary-General’s High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Anwarul Chowdhury, and the Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Ad Melker.

The event seeks to raise awareness of the importance of solidarity for advancing the international development agenda and raising global understanding of the value of human solidarity.

The General Assembly proclaimed the International Human Solidarity Day, to be observed on 20 December, in 2005 (resolution 60/209) as an initiative in the fight against poverty.  In the Millennium Declaration, world leaders identified solidarity as one of the fundamental values essential to international relations in the twenty-first century and emphasized that “global challenges must be managed in a way that distributes the costs and burdens fairly, in accordance with basic principles of equity and social justice.  Those who suffer or who benefit least deserve help from those who benefit most.”

For further information, please visit www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/solidarity.htm, or contact Edoardo Bellando at the Department of Public Information, tel. 212 963 8275, e-mail:  bellando@un.org, or  Renata Kaczmarska at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, tel. 212 963 4596, e-mail:  kaczmarska@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record