UN DAY CELEBRATIONS SPAN GLOBE

UN DAY CELEBRATIONS SPAN GLOBE
New York, Oct 24 2007 8:00AM
From the planting of some 2,000 trees in Ethiopia to the opening of an exhibition inside one of Asia's largest shopping malls to a public forum in Afghanistan to the staging of classical music concerts in New York and Geneva, people around the world are marking United Nations Day, which celebrates the day in 1945 when the Organization was born.

In Addis Ababa, UN staff members are planting up to 2,000 trees in a national park above the Ethiopian capital and holding their traditional flag-raising ceremony as part of a series of events to observe the Day.

Professors and students at Kabul University in Afghanistan are holding a question-and-answer session about the role of the UN in which the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative Christopher Alexander will be participating.

In Bangkok, 22 UN entities and international organizations with offices in the Thai capital are taking part in a bilingual exhibition in CentralWorld, the city's largest mall, to show the many ways in which the Organization tries to improve the lives of people in the region. Musical performances and other events will also take place during the life of the three-day exhibition.

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is also scheduled to give an address during the official observance at the UN Conference Centre (UNCC) later today, which will also include a flag-raising ceremony and performances by a local singer, a school marching band and a school orchestra.

In Vienna, the UN Information Service (UNIS) in the Austrian capital has organized a student forum bringing together more than 80 students from universities in Austria and Slovakia.

Classical music concerts are being held tonight in both Geneva and New York. In the Swiss city, Luigi Cherubini and Maurice Ravel are performing at Victoria Hall, while the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will perform at the General Assembly Hall in New York.

In his first UN Day message as Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon said that although t
to strengthen its ability to respond to key global challenges on peace and security, development and human rights.

"More people and governments understand that multilateralism is the only path in our interdependent and globalizing world," Mr. Ban said in his message. "Global problems demand global solutions -- and going it alone is not a viable option."

He stressed that the demands on the UN were "growing every day," and warned that "we will be judged in the future on the actions we take today -- on results."

In a separate message, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Timor-Leste Atul Khare stressed that the UN peacekeeping mission in the South-East Asian country (UNMIT) was striving to transform the collective goodwill of the international community towards the small nation into practical action.

"We are dedicated to accomplishing the mandate entrusted to us by the Member States of the United Nations: promotion of peace, democracy and human rights, while supporting efforts to secure food, clean water, health care and the right to education and employment for all," Mr. Khare said.

The UN Country Team in Myanmar issued its own statement saying the Day should serve as an opportunity to "reflect on the importance of ensuring development, prosperity, peace, security and dignity for all" and stressing that all peoples deserve to have these rights and freedoms.

"In Myanmar, the peaceful demonstrations that followed the sudden hike in fuel prices on 15 August highlighted that many of these aspirations are not yet a reality for the people here," the statement noted.

The UN Country Team called for greater public spending in Myanmar's social sectors, a better working environment for humanitarian organizations and a scaling-up of international assistance for the poor.

It also reiterated the calls for action made by Mr. Ban, his Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari and other senior UN officials for the Government of Myanmar to address "the political, economic, humanitarian and human rights issues that are the

UN Day has been celebrated on 24 October every year since 1948, exactly three years after the UN Charter entered into force when China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories had ratified the document. In 1971, the General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending that the Day be observed as a public holiday by Member States.

2007-10-24 00:00:00.000

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