During most of my kids’ schooling, from pre-school through high school, their biggest school holiday celebration was UN Day, October 24 (today). What else could an international school celebrate? With such a mix of students from all over the world, they couldn’t celebrate any one national holiday or a religious holiday of any particular religion. Those celebrations were left up to the families.
The UN Day celebrations in my daughters’ schools often lasted all week. In nursery school and elementary school, mothers brought in their best ethnic dishes to share and taught favorite crafts and games from their country to the kids.
Students dressed in their national costumes for the school’s Parade of Nations.
When they were old enough, they took part in Model UN.
As a mom and having been a school board member at International School Manila, I have a good feeling about international cooperation, and the organizations that work to make it possible. That’s why I still celebrate UN Day.
The United Nations has been in existence since 1945, seventy-nine years. And it has a lot to be proud of.
- The membership (General Assembly) has risen from 51 in 1945 to 193 today.
- Fifteen specialized agencies, which are independent but work with the UN, regulate and coordinate such things as civil aviation, shipping, weather, mail, and intellectual property. Other specialized agencies include the World Bank, the IMF, and WHO.
Ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, though, I’ve notice complaints about the UN on social media: “The UN is a joke.” “The UN is useless.” Obviously, what they’re referring to is one particular problem: the first point in the UN Charter’s preamble:
United Nations Charter:
PreambleWE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind …
Saving the world from “the scourge of war” is a goal that will continue to be hard if not impossible to accomplish as long as the five permanent members of the Security Council (the US, China, the UK, France, and Russia) retain the veto power.
Committees and working groups have been working on Security Council reform for decades with no tangible results. And yet, the desire to solve the problem has not waned. The stakes are too high to give up hope.
If you’re interested, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a great article last year on UN Security Council Reform.
Do you have hope for a more peaceful future?
I too was unaware of this celebration but will try to remember in future. Really good post – I had begun to lose my respect for the UN but this has changed my point of view. Hope for the future!
We wish the UN would be better. In fact, we wish people all over the world would be better. Maybe worldwide cooperation is impossible. But at least there’s an organization that’s working at it. My husband worked for an international organization for almost twenty years (Asian Development Bank), and I saw how good the staff and their families were at working together. It can be done.
Nicki, I’m so glad you can write about this, and offer first-hand experiences and perspective to this vital organization’s efforts. Still, the veto power in such hands is horrifying. But yes, I am still hopeful for a better future.
I think one reason some people aren’t hopeful about the UN is that they expect some kind of perfection. But anytime two or more people get together, they have to cooperate and compromise. And with the whole world involved, the cooperation is so hard. Still, any success is valuable. If we stop asking for perfection, we’ll see that during its 79 years, the UN has had many successes. Will the Security Council ever solve the problem of the power of the veto? I don’t know, but at least they keep working on it. That’s hopeful.
Thank you Nicki. This is such an important holiday and yet I was totally ignorant of its existence. My good friend attended an international school in Spain, and her stories sound much like yours. Understanding of other cultures is so important in being able to achieve peace.
The international school was a great experience for my daughters. They had a top-notch education–good teachers and classmates who were serious about learning. Even though some of them spoke English as a second language, they learned it unbelievably quickly. I remember when a Korean boy who moved to Manila only a year before won the spelling bee. But best of all, was how comfortable my daughters were having friends from various countries. Although they shared their native cultures with each other, you might say their main culture was being an international kid.
Wow Nicki That’s so interesting. How do you celebrate UN Day? Do your girls also celebrate? It seems like a wonderful educational opportunity for teachers. The preamble was surprising to me but sooo important. Hope springs eternal! Thank you for sharing this!
These days I just celebrate UN Day by remembering it. I agree about teachers. They could use UN Day to do simple social studies projects about some other part of the world–their songs, food, history, whatever.
FDR was the one who pushed the idea of a United Nations after the League of Nations failed.
The Preamble to the United Nations Charter is actually quite beautiful. Here’s some more of it:
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
to regain faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, …
It’s not very long. You can read the rest on Wikipedia.
And happy UN Day to you too. I’m proud to have worked for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization and for the World Food Programme, both dedicated to feeding the world.
The UN is associated with some wonderful agencies, and what could be better than working for an organization that aims to feed the world. I’d be proud too.
I didn’t know about this holiday and I suppose that shows how lost our society is. Keeping people safe seems important, yet also seems to be a dream. Love the photos, btw.
I suppose wars are inevitable. Peace and peaceful periods take effort, cooperation, and hope. I think much of Europe has felt hopeful since the end of WWII until this war in Ukraine. Diplomacy is a noble profession, but it must also be very frustrating.
Do I have hope? Yes!
I don’t recall celebrating UN Day in school when I was a kid. Presidents Day yes.
I love a hopeful person!
In the US, unless you’re in an international school, I suppose the only ones who celebrate UN Day are those who take part in model UN.
The UN gets as tied up as our government does. Compromise is almost non-existent. Sometimes it seems like mankind doesn’t learn from history and is doomed to repeat it over and over again. I love the idea of a UN celebration for kids in multinational places. They can learn a lot from each other.
One of the nice things about studying in an international school is that the kids learn to tolerate and appreciate each other’s differences. We could use more of that here. There’s no getting away from it: If we want to live with other people, we have to tolerate our differences, cooperate, and compromise.