UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28 (IPS) – The 193-member General Assembly, the UN’s highest policy-making body, routinely designates ‘International Days’ and ‘World Days’ on a wide range of topics and events – from the sublime to the ridiculous: described as ‘a sudden shift from something great and awesome to something silly and insignificant’.
Commemorations range from International Women’s Day and International Day for Combating Islamophobia to International Monday and World Cycling Day (not to mention World Tuna Day, World Bee Day, International Potato Day, World Horse Day, World Legume Day and International Arabian Leopard Day).
According to the UN, the world organization observes 218 international days annually (and counting).
One of the first indications came from the 1947 UN General Assembly declaration that October 24 should be celebrated as United Nations Daythe anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter who founded the organization.
Since then, UN member states have proposed more than 200 appointments and submitted draft resolutions to the General Assembly for all members, representing 193 countries, to vote.
But a new resolution, aimed at revitalizing the work of the General Assembly, “notes with concern the significant increase in the number of proposals to declare international days, weeks, months, years or decades.”
The resolution decides to suspend, on an experimental basis, the consideration of new proposals for international days, weeks, months, years and decades during the eighty-first and eighty-second sessions.
The resolution also requests the President of the General Assembly, with effect from the eighty-first session in 2026, to group all proclamation requests for international commemoration into a single resolution per agenda item, with each proposed commemoration containing its own operational paragraph focused on its realization.
The upcoming International Days in March 2026 include:
March 1 – World Seagrass Day
March 1 – United Nations Zero Discrimination Day
March 3 – International Day for Ear and Hearing Loss
March 3 – World Nature Day
March 5 – International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness
March 8 – International Women’s Day
March 10 – International Day of Women Judges
March 15 – International Day to Combat Islamophobia
March 20 – International Day of Happiness
March 20 – Day of the French Language
March 21 – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
March 21 – World Poetry Day
March 21 – International Nowruz Day
March 21 – World Down Syndrome Day
March 21 – International Day of Forests
March 21 – World Glacier Day
March 22 – World Water Day
March 23 – World Meteorological Day
March 24 – World Tuberculosis Day
March 24 – International Day for the Right to the Truth about Gross Human Rights
March 25 – International Day in Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery
March 25 – International Day of Solidarity with Detainees and Missing Personnel
March 30 – International Day of Zero Waste
The list for December includes:
December 1 – World AIDS Day
December 2 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (A/RES/317(IV)
December 3 – International Day of Persons with Disabilities (A/RES/47/3)
December 4 – International Banking Day (A/RES/74/245)
December 4 – International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures (A/RES/79/293)
December 5 – International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (A/RES/40/212)
December 5 – World Soil Day (A/RES/68/232)
December 7 – International Civil Aviation Day (A/RES/51/33)
December 9 – International Day of Remembrance and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide and the Prevention of this Crime (A/RES/69/323)
December 9 – International Anti-Corruption Day (A/RES/58/4)
December 10 – Human Rights Day (A/RES/423 (V)
December 11 – International Mountain Day (A/RES/57/245)
December 12 – International Day of Neutrality (A/RES/71/275)
December 12 – International Day of Universal Healthcare (A/RES/72/138)
December 18 – International Migrants Day (A/RES/55/93)
December 18 – Arabic Language Day
December 20 – International Day of Human Solidarity (A/RES/60/209)
December 21 – World Meditation Day (A/RES/79/137)
December 21 – World Basketball Day (A/RES/77/324)
December 27 – International Day of Epidemic Preparedness (A/RES/75/27)
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