Sunday Times 2
Will the UN dedicate a day for rambutans?
View(s):By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (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 subjects and events—from the sublime to the ridiculous: described as a sudden shift from something grand and awe-inspiring to something silly and frivolous.
The annual commemorations range from International Women’s Day and the International Day to Combat Islamophobia to International Moon Day and World Bicycle Day (not forgetting World Tuna Day, World Bee Day, World Horse Day, World Pulses Day and International Day of the Arabian Leopard).
If there is an International Day of Potato (commemorated every year on May 30), why not an International Day of Rambutans or even an International Day of Pineapples or Mangosteens?
When the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to designate May 25 as World Football Day. UN Photo/Loey Felipe
But these “Days”, sponsored by UN member states, are eventually approved by the General Assembly with no opposition. According to the UN, the world body observes 218 international days annually (and counting).
One of the first designations came from the UN General Assembly’s declaration in 1947 that October 24 should be celebrated as United Nations Day, the anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter that founded the world body.
Since then, UN Member States have proposed more than 200 designations, presenting draft resolutions to the General Assembly so the entire membership, representing 193 nations, can vote.
But a new resolution aimed at revitalising the work of the General Assembly “notes with concern the significant increase in the number of proposals to proclaim international days, weeks, months, years or decades”.
The resolution decides, on a trial basis, to put on hold 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, effective from the eighty-first session in 2026, to group all proclamation requests for international commemoration into a single resolution per agenda item, where each proposed commemoration contains its own operative paragraph focused on its establishment.
The upcoming International Days in March 2026, for example, include:
- March 1 - World Seagrass Day; United Nations Zero Discrimination Day
- March 3 - International Day for Ear and Hearing Loss; World Wildlife 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; French Language Day
- March 21 - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; World Poetry Day; International Nowruz Day; World Down Syndrome Day; International Day of Forests; World Day of Glaciers
- March 22 - World Water Day
- March 23 - World Meteorological Day
- March 24 - World Tuberculosis Day; International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights
- March 25 - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery; International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members
- March 30 - International Day of Zero Waste
The list for December includes:
- Dec 1 - World AIDS Day
- Dec 2 - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
- Dec 3 - International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- Dec 4 - International Day of Banks; International Day Against Unilateral Coercive Measures
- Dec 5 - International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development; World Soil Day
- Dec 7 - International Civil Aviation Day (A/RES/51/33)
- Dec 9 - International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime;
- International Anti-Corruption Day
- Dec 10 - Human Rights Day
- Dec 11 – International Mountain Day
- Dec 12 - International Day of Neutrality; International Universal Health Coverage Day
- Dec 18 – International Migrants Day; Arabic Language Day
- Dec 20 - International Human Solidarity Day
- Dec 21 - World Meditation Day; World Basketball Day
- Dec 27 - International Day of Epidemic Preparedness