Mercy Global Concern - 2003
UN Declared Days for July and August
July
International Day of Cooperatives (First Saturday of July: July 5, 2003)
In 1992, the General Assembly proclaimed the first Saturday in July of 1995
to be International Day of Cooperatives. The day marked the centenary of the
International Cooperative Alliance, an umbrella group of organizations comprising
760 million members in 100 countries. In 1994, recognizing that cooperatives
were becoming an indispensable factor of economic and social development, the
Assembly invited governments, international organizations, specialized agencies
and national and international cooperatives to observe the day every year.
July 11: World Population Day
In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme
recommended that July 11 be observed as World Population Day. The day focuses
attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, particularly in
the context of overall development plans and programmes and the need to find
solutions for these issues.
August
August 9: International Day of the World's Indigenous People
In 1994, the General assembly decided that the International day of the world's
Indigenous People shall be observed on August 9 every year during the International
decade of the World's Indigenous People.
August 12: International Youth Day
The General Assembly on 17 December 1999 endorsed the recommendation made
by the world Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth that August 12 be
declared International Youth Day. It recommended that public information activities
be organized to support the Day as a way to promote better awareness of the
World Programme of Action for Youth in the year 2000 and beyond.
August 23: International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its
Abolition.
The night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Santa Domingo (today Haiti and the
Dominican Republic) saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial
role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. This international Day
is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade in the
memory of all peoples. In accordance with the goals of the intercultural project
"The Slave route", it should offer an opportunity for collective consideration
of the historic causes, the methods and the consequences of this tragedy, and
for an analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa,
Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.
Deirdre Mullan RSM
MGC
New York
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