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In India, the UN Week (24-30 October) celebrations had its centerpiece in New Delhi with the United Nations in India presenting an exhibition entitled Crafting the Future showcasing the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through the creations of traditional Indian artists and craftsperson’s. Ms. Erna Witoelar, UN Special Ambassador for the MDGs for Asia and the Pacific inaugurated this at Dilli Haat on 25 October.
The Dastkaari Haat Samiti for the United Nations in India is coordinating ‘Crafting the Future’. The Samiti mobilised the creativity inherent in the crafts sector to translate the 8 MDGs into eight exclusive works of high artistic merit. These works will be on display until 31 October. The artists who created these work will be displaying and selling their regular crafts for the duration of the exhibition.
The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 was a seminal event in the history of the United Nations. The eight MDGs—which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015—form a blueprint for action agreed to by all countries of the world. The Goals have galvanised unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. Incidentally, 2007 marks the mid-point of the timeline (2000-2015) for achieving the Goals.
According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “Since their adoption by all United Nations Member States in 2000, the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals have become a universal framework for development and a means for developing countries and their development partners to work together in pursuit of a shared future for all. The MDGs are still achievable if we act now. This will require inclusive sound governance, increased public investment in economic growth, enhanced productive capacity, and the creation of decent work.”
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Humanity’s
Greatest
Hope
The United Nations(UN) Day, celebrated on October 24, commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Charter on October 24, 1945. In the spring of 1945, representatives of 50 nations gathered in San Francisco to put the final touches on a document of far-reaching consequence - the Charter of the United Nations. In 1947 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that October 24 “shall be henceforth officially called United Nations Day and shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the UN, and to gaining their support for the work of the United Nations”. The UN Day is now marked in the 189 UN Member States, large and small, throughout the world.
After the horrors of World War II, the United Nations became the sole platform for nations to work out their problems in a peaceful way to create a better world for all.
In the last 62 years, the United Nations has been in the forefront in alleviating suffering in every part of the world and strengthening the mechanisms of international cooperation. It has taken several big steps forward in the common struggle of all nations for development, security, and human rights.
United Nations has succeeded in promoting world solidarity for nations to achieve the Millennium Goals, which will in turn depend upon the ability of the United Nations to act collectively to promote a moral code of globalisation and social dialogue on a world scale.
This makes the role of United Nations more central than ever in creating a better and safer world for all. Encouraged to manage tasks with even greater determination, the United Nations relies on the people all over the world to move forward and to work together to face all these challenges successfully, for the nations it exists to serve in the present and future generations.
There is little exaggeration in saying that the United Nations has evolved as humanity’s greatest hope for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. It has helped to promote human rights, freedom and democracy, erase poverty and hunger, improve health and education and urge the governments of the world to work together in peace. |
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