International Human Solidarity Day 2020: History and significance of this day

On this day, the UN encourages new initiatives for poverty eradication with events held all over the world to promote the importance of solidarity. These events include presentations, seminars, conferences, and roundtable discussions.

International Human Solidarity Day is celebrated every year on December 20. According to the UN website, the day celebrates unity in diversity throughout the world and serves as a reminder to governments to respect their commitment to international agreements and raise public awareness. International Human Solidarity Day also reiterates the importance of solidarity in removing poverty.

On December 22, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly identified solidarity as one of the fundamental and universal values that should underline relations between people from around the world in the 21st century. The General Assembly, thus, proclaimed December 20 of each year as International Human Solidarity Day. (Unsplash)

The day has been observed since December 2002, when the United Nations General assembly established the World Solidarity Fund. This fund was set up in February 2003 to fund the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which worked to eradicate poverty. On December 22, 2005, the UN General Assembly identified solidarity as a universal value.

According to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, solidarity is one of the fundamental values that are essential for healthy ‘international relations’. Thus, after the UN General Assembly convinced that promotion of the culture of solidarity and the spirit of sharing is important to combat poverty since then December 20 was declared as International Human Solidarity Day.

On this day, the UN encourages new initiatives for poverty eradication with events held all over the world to promote the importance of solidarity. These events include presentations, seminars, conferences, and roundtable discussions. Many of these events also focus on how to combat poverty. Although, this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the celebrations will not be the same as before.

The UN says that the International Human Solidarity Day is a day “to celebrate our unity in diversity; a day to remind governments to respect their commitments to international agreements; a day to raise public awareness of the importance of solidarity; a day to encourage debate on the ways to promote solidarity for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals including poverty eradication; a day of action to encourage new initiatives for poverty eradication.”