International Human Solidarity Day
Date/Time
Date(s) - 20/12/2024
All Day
Categories
20 December marks International Human Solidarity Day. The concept of solidarity has defined the work of the United Nations since its birth. The creation of the UN drew the peoples and nations of the world together to promote peace, human rights and social and economic development. The Organization was founded on the basic premise of unity and harmony among its members.
The world is facing many global challenges, not least that of climate change. The UN General Assembly believes that solidarity is one of its fundamental values and principles. 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.
It was based on this belief that the UN General Assembly identified solidarity as one of the fundamental and universal values that should underlie relations between peoples in the twenty-first century and proclaimed 20 December of each year International Human Solidarity Day.
However the recent COP29 which ended in November 2024 showed that poorer countries were deeply disappointed by the totally inadequate finance that rich countries offered them to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect lives and livelihoods from the worsening impacts of climate change.
This goes against the spirit of solidarity that the UN relies on. Cooperation is fundamental in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character.