Today is World Day
for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. Another one of these
special annual occasions that I don’t know about till it happens. Even then, I
only find out about this one from a single, solitary tweet. And this is another
one of those special annual occasions that is relevant to the city and people
of Leicester, to Leicester Council of Faiths and to my post. It would have been
nice to mark it in some way here, if only by a letter in the Mercury.
Honestly, I simply can’t
keep up with all this! I'll have no reason not to see it coming next year, I guess ...
World Day for
Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is annually held on May 21 to
help people learn about the importance of cultural diversity and harmony.
Various events are organized to increase the
understanding of issues around cultural diversity and development among
governments, non-governmental organizations and the public. Many of these
include presentations on the progress of implementing the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. Events include:
- Seminars for professionals.
- Educational programmes for children and young
adolescents.
- The launch of collaborations between official
agencies and ethnic groups.
- Exhibitions to help people understand the history
of various cultural groups and the influence on their own identities.
- Celebrations to create greater awareness of
cultural values and the need to preserve them.
The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue
and Development tends to be marked in countries that embraced their varied
cultural history and acknowledged the importance of embracing it.
The World
Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is an observance and
not a public holiday.
The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural
Diversity in Paris, France, on November 2, 2001. Although the declaration was
the culmination of years of work, it was adopted in the wake of the terrorist
attacks on September 11, 2001. This reaffirmed the need for intercultural
dialogue to prevent segregation and fundamentalism.
The year
2002 was the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage. At the end of that
year, on December 20, 2002, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared
May 21 to be the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
The General Assembly emphasized links between the protection of cultural
diversity and the importance of dialogue between civilizations in the modern
world. The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development was
first observed in 2003.
