UN celebrates precious little about every day
By Steven Edwards
NEW YORK - Earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions are called acts of God for a reason: Man still hasn't figured out how to prevent them.
Yet the UN's International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction suggests the folks at the world body think they have a shot. Nature followed last year's day with the December tsunami.
This and other UN special days, weeks, years and even decades are now so plentiful they make up a virtual UN calendar, eclipsing the time when all you had to remember were family birthdays, Mother's Day and, for married folk, wedding anniversaries.
But they also represent what might be the world's biggest job-creation project. Huge sums are drawn from the UN's annual budget to pay for all the speeches, statements and support projects that go into celebrating them.
UN officials say the aim is to foster dialogue and co-operation among the world's diverse populations. Maybe that's what happens on World Population Day, World AIDS Day or even International Youth Day.
It's a bit more difficult on International Mother Language Day, which celebrates the world's 6,000 different tongues. And imagine the number of "shushes" around the globe on World Television Day as people demand silence during their favourite soap.
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| Nature in 2004: The Indian Ocean tsunami |
But a lot of what is said is meaningless or obvious. Thanks to the International Day of Families, we have a chance to "promote appropriate action," says the General Assembly resolution creating it. In his May 15 message, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan added that "finding ways to keep parents alive" is very useful for keeping families intact.
On a past World Food Day, his wife, Nane, advised if we don't eat, "we would be much smaller, because without proper nutrition, our bodies cannot grow to their full size."
Then there are the intellectual statements, among them these thoughts on World Poetry Day from Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, the UN's scientific and cultural agency:
"Poetry is valuable to us because it does not make a fetish of knowledge but brings to light that part of it that is obscure, unsuspected, unfinished. This makes it a tremendous instrument of freedom, unfaltering in its challenge to codes and powers, the real and what can be represented."
Is he saying verses of the liberty-inspired poet William Wordsworth might have persuaded Saddam Hussein to change his ways without the need of the U.S.-led invasion? Or is it just blather?
The flow of UN special-day platitudes can be mind-numbing, but it's no use complaining. That would be against the spirit of the International Day for Tolerance.
This past week has included World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought -- not exactly a title that fits neatly into a card-shop category.
Mr. Annan said in his message that women hold the key to halting expansion of the world's sand-covered expanses. "In many of the world's dry, agricultural areas ... it is traditionally women who devote time and effort to the land," he explained.
Would rolling back Sahara, Gobi and other dust bowls be in addition to their other "traditional" jobs, like cooking, cleaning and doing the weekly wash?
World Refugee Day kicked off this week with Mr. Annan reminding us, "the world's millions of refugees ... endure enormous suffering without losing hope."
There would have also been a message from refugee chief Ruud Lubbers, but he was pushed to cut short his five-year-term in February after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.
Comment came instead from his replacement, Antonio Guterres, who had been on the job only six days as he marked World Refugee Day at a camp in Uganda full mainly of Sudanese.
"Courage is ... necessary to come here to Uganda and not to rely on the assistance of others," he told the mostly shirtless crowd who had perhaps hoped for something more concrete.
Instead, Mr. Guterres lamented the UN refugee agency was not able to match the generosity of the Ugandan government and called on rich countries to send more funds to Africa.
The world body's calendar may be the biggest challenge to the Gregorian system since the French created a Revolutionary Calendar after the storming of the Bastille. The Reign of Terror unfolded before France rid itself of that revision.
But even for more grounded UN observers its utility is questionable. Many of those making special day speeches and statements work on the top 10 floors of UN headquarters -- the same ones John Bolton, the White House's pick for U.S. ambassador to the UN, said the world body could lose and no one would notice.
Paying for it all are the contributions of UN member states --more than 85% of which come from the world's 15 richest countries, including Canada. But for an organization that believes it can decree a reduction in natural disasters, why should it think it's not entitled to the largesse?
UN CALENDAR FOR JUNE
JUNE 4 International Day of Innocent Child Victims of Aggression
JUNE 5 World Environment Day
JUNE 17 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
JUNE 20 World Refugee Day
JUNE 26 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
JUNE 26 International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Wed Jun 22 2005
"Poetry is valuable to us because it does not make a fetish of knowledge but brings to light that part of it that is obscure, unsuspected, unfinished. This makes it a tremendous instrument of freedom, unfaltering in its challenge to codes and powers, the real and what can be represented."
Is he saying verses of the liberty-inspired poet William Wordsworth might have persuaded Saddam Hussein to change his ways without the need of the U.S.-led invasion? Or is it just blather?
The flow of UN special-day platitudes can be mind-numbing, but it's no use complaining. That would be against the spirit of the International Day for Tolerance.
This past week has included World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought -- not exactly a title that fits neatly into a card-shop category.
Mr. Annan said in his message that women hold the key to halting expansion of the world's sand-covered expanses. "In many of the world's dry, agricultural areas ... it is traditionally women who devote time and effort to the land," he explained.
Would rolling back Sahara, Gobi and other dust bowls be in addition to their other "traditional" jobs, like cooking, cleaning and doing the weekly wash?
World Refugee Day kicked off this week with Mr. Annan reminding us, "the world's millions of refugees ... endure enormous suffering without losing hope."
There would have also been a message from refugee chief Ruud Lubbers, but he was pushed to cut short his five-year-term in February after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.
Comment came instead from his replacement, Antonio Guterres, who had been on the job only six days as he marked World Refugee Day at a camp in Uganda full mainly of Sudanese.
"Courage is ... necessary to come here to Uganda and not to rely on the assistance of others," he told the mostly shirtless crowd who had perhaps hoped for something more concrete.
Instead, Mr. Guterres lamented the UN refugee agency was not able to match the generosity of the Ugandan government and called on rich countries to send more funds to Africa.
The world body's calendar may be the biggest challenge to the Gregorian system since the French created a Revolutionary Calendar after the storming of the Bastille. The Reign of Terror unfolded before France rid itself of that revision.
But even for more grounded UN observers its utility is questionable. Many of those making special day speeches and statements work on the top 10 floors of UN headquarters -- the same ones John Bolton, the White House's pick for U.S. ambassador to the UN, said the world body could lose and no one would notice.
Paying for it all are the contributions of UN member states --more than 85% of which come from the world's 15 richest countries, including Canada. But for an organization that believes it can decree a reduction in natural disasters, why should it think it's not entitled to the largesse?
UN CALENDAR FOR JUNE
JUNE 4 International Day of Innocent Child Victims of Aggression
JUNE 5 World Environment Day
JUNE 17 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
JUNE 20 World Refugee Day
JUNE 26 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
JUNE 26 International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Wed Jun 22 2005
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Illustration:
• Black & White Photo: Paul De Bendern, Reuters / UN special days include World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Above, the Sahara Desert.
Illustration:
• Black & White Photo: Paul De Bendern, Reuters / UN special days include World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Above, the Sahara Desert.
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