Note to Correspondents

HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY TO BE LAUNCHED AT UNITED NATIONS 10 NOVEMBER; ‘Solidarność’

CO-FOUNDER, NOBEL LAUREATE LECH WAŁĘSA KEYNOTE SPEAKER

International Human Solidarity Day, 20 December, will be launched at the United Nations with a ceremony in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at 10 a.m. Friday, 10 November.

“Solidarity” co-founder Lech Wałęsa will be the keynote speaker.   Speakers will include Economic and Social Council President Ali Hachani, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs José Antonio Ocampo and the Permanent Representatives of Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil and Burkina Faso.  This will be followed by an open discussion.  The logo for the Day will be unveiled at the ceremony.

The event, which coincides with the consideration of the issue of poverty by the General Assembly Second Committee, will be chaired by Second Committee Chairperson Tiina Intelmann ( Estonia).

Mr. Wałęsa co-founded in 1980 Solidarity (Solidarność), the Soviet bloc’s first independent trade union; won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983; and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.  He is the founder of the Lech Wałęsa Institute, a foundation working to safeguard Poland’s national heritage, conducting research on Poland’s recent history, promoting its image abroad and educating and activating youth.

The General Assembly proclaimed the Day, to be observed on 20 December, in 2005 (resolution 60/209) to raise awareness of the importance of solidarity for advancing the international development agenda, especially for poverty eradication.  In the Millennium Declaration, Heads of State and Government identified solidarity as one of the “fundamental values… essential to international relations”.

The event is organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with the Second Committee.

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

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For information media • not an official record