THE DIFFERENTLY ABLED

“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn't prevent you doing well, and don't regret the things it interferes with. Don't be disabled in spirit as well as physically.” - Stephen Hawking

The third of December is International Day of People with Disability, a United Nations sanctioned day that celebrates progress in breaking down barriers, opening doors, and realising an inclusive society for all. Disability organisations, businesses, governments and the community come together at events across the country to mark the occasion and celebrate the achievements of people with disability.

Each year the UN announces a theme. The theme for 2015 is: Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities. There are also three sub-themes this year:

Making cities inclusive and accessible for all;

Improving disability data and statistics;

Including persons with invisible disabilities in society and development.

The annual theme provides a frame for considering how people with disability are excluded from society by promoting the removal of all types of barriers; including those relating to the physical environment, information and communications technology (ICT), or attitudinal barriers. This has been occurring since 1992 when the General Assembly proclaimed December 3rd as the International Day of Disabled Persons.

Today, the world population is over 7 billion people. More than one billion people, or approximately 15 per cent of the world's population, live with some form of disability. 80 per cent live in developing countries. Factors which place people with disabilities at higher risk of violence include stigma, discrimination, and ignorance about disability, as well as a lack of social support for those who care for them.

Additionally, the disabled face many barriers to inclusion in many key aspects of society. As a result, people with disabilities do not enjoy access to society on an equal basis with others, which includes areas of transportation, employment, and education as well as social and political participation. The right to participate in public life is essential to create stable democracies, active citizenship and reduce inequalities in society. By promoting empowerment, real opportunities for people are created. This enhances their own capacities and supports them in setting their own priorities.

Empowerment involves investing in people - in jobs, health, nutrition, education, and social protection. When people are empowered they are better prepared to take advantage of opportunities, they become agents of change and can more readily embrace their civic responsibilities.

DAY AGAINST POVERTY

“One must be poor to know the luxury of giving” - George Eliot
 
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed on October 17 every year since 1993, when the General Assembly, by resolution 47/196, designated this day as one that promotes awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, particularly in developing countries. This is a need that has become a development priority.
 
At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty (people whose income is less than one dollar a day).
 
The theme for this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is “Working Together out of Poverty”. The theme highlights the need for a truly global anti-poverty alliance, one in which both developed and developing countries participate actively and collaboratively. It is a challenging theme, especially in these financially unstable times where even traditionally rich, well-developed nations are facing major economic issues and their own populations are experiencing poverty conditions in growing numbers.
 
However, “poverty” is a relative condition and being poor in a developed nation is still different to being poor in a developing one. Besides, in most Western-type nations varying degrees of government support and state welfare systems provide an avenue for help for people without a job or who are very poor. In developing countries, these support mechanisms are very limited or completely absent and extreme poverty can mean loss of dignity, uncertainty, hunger, homelessness or even loss of life.
 
This day is an opportunity to acknowledge the struggle and efforts of those people who are living in poverty. It is important to consider ways of giving them the chance to make their concerns heard and recognise that these poor people are the first ones who can fight against poverty. The main objective of marking this day is to make the voice of the poor heard. Its not only Government or social organisations responsibility to ease the burden of poverty, it is also a major responsibility of every person.
 
With the global financial crisis, the emphasis in the West is on regaining lost wealth, encouraging growth, gaining more money, and recovering pathways to success. It is easy to forget that while we in the West have become relatively less well off, others around the world are becoming even poorer and the number of people struggling to survive in conditions of extreme poverty is increasing. It is often said that the poor are those better able to appreciate the lot of those worse off than them, and often it is they who will also provide help… The message is that whoever we are, if we are able to help someone who is worse off than us, we should make efforts to do so in whatever way we can.
 
On this day, government and non-government organisations arrange activities or special programs so as to promote the goals of the day. Major initiatives against poverty may be announced, or inaugurated, and debate can occur on how improvements in infrastructure, special assistance programs, educational initiatives can all help in eradicating poverty. Special fund-raising activities for assistance programs and development initiatives can be organised on this day.

WORLD WATER DAY 2011

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” - Thomas Fuller

Water: Essential for life, indispensable nutrient, great solvent, excellent cleanser! Our bodies are about 70% water and 71% of our planet’s surface is covered by water. However, only 3% of this water is fresh water and even less is safe for human consumption. We can live many weeks without food, but without water we die within a day or two depending on our environment…

International World Water Day is held annually on 22nd March as a means of reminding people of the importance of fresh water and advocating for the sustainable management of fresh water resources.

An international day to celebrate fresh water was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of fresh water.

This year’s theme, Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the challenges of urban water management. This is the first time in human history that most of the world’s population live in cities: 3.3 billion people, in fact are city dwellers and the urban landscape continues to grow as urbanization becomes more widespread in the very populous developing countries. A significant proportion (38%) of the growth is represented by expanding slums, while the city populations are increasing faster than city infrastructure can adapt.

The objective of World Water Day 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. We expand our cities, our population grows, pollution becomes more widespread, rainfall less reliable and ground water contaminated, while demand for fresh water of good quality increases every day. And even in cities where tap water of excellent quality is to be found (we are fortunate in Melbourne to enjoy this), the amount of bottled water marketed is ridiculously high.

Water is life and without water, there is no living. Water is so essential, that when scientists explore the universe for life out there in the galaxy, they look for signs of water. Over 1 billion people in the world lack sustainable access to fresh water. Safe drinking water and basic sanitation are intrinsic to human survival, well-being and dignity. Cities cannot be sustainable without ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Coping with the growing needs of water and sanitation services within cities is one of the most pressing issues of this century. Sustainable, efficient and equitable management of water in cities has never been as important as in today’s world.

Within two decades, nearly 60% of the world’s people will be urban dwellers. Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world, where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month. The exploding urban population growth creates unprecedented challenges, among which provision for water and sanitation have been the most pressing and painfully felt when lacking. Next time you turn the tap on and you fill your glass with clean, fresh water that is safe to drink and bathe in, spare a thought for the majority of the people on our planet who cannot do that and many of whom risk dying of thirst and dehydration, or of water-borne diseases.

WORLD HEALTH DAY - DISASTERS

“Sickness is the vengeance of nature for the violation of her laws.” - Charles Simmons

April 7th is the day declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “World Health Day”. The celebration of World Health Day creates an international opportunity to raise awareness of important health-related issues, and each year a special theme highlights a current and topical problem worldwide. This year, World Health Day is dedicated to the safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers who treat those affected by emergencies. Health centres and staff are critical lifelines for vulnerable people in disasters - treating injuries, preventing illnesses and caring for people’s health needs.

Health facilities for primary health care in communities meet everyday needs, such as safe childbirth services, immunisations and chronic disease care that must continue in emergencies. In a disaster or an emergency, the already fragile health systems are unable to keep functioning with immediate and future public health consequences. The WHO and its international partners are highlighting this year on World Health Day the importance of investing in health infrastructure. Forward planning and resource allocation can withstand hazards and serve people in immediate need. Health facilities are being urged to implement systems to respond to internal emergencies, such as fires, and ensure the continuity of care.

Wars, cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, disease outbreaks, famine, floods, fires, radiological incidents and chemical spills all are emergencies that impact heavily on public health. Internal emergencies in health facilities, such as fires and loss of power or water, can damage buildings and equipment and affect staff and patients. In conflicts, reasons for hospital breakdowns include staff being forced to leave due to insecurity and the looting of equipment and drugs.

In 2008, a total of 321 natural disasters killed 235,816 people (a death toll that was almost four times higher than the average annual total for the seven previous years). This increase was due to just two events. Cyclone Nargis left 138,366 people dead or missing in Myanmar, and a major earthquake in south-western China's Sichuan province killed 87,476 people, according to the United Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). Asia, the worst-affected continent, was home to nine of the world’s top 10 countries for disaster-related deaths. Along with other weather-related events, floods remained one of the most frequent disasters last year, according to UNISDR. Conflicts around the globe have also led to great human suffering and have stretched health care services to the extreme.

Although only 11% of the people exposed to natural hazards live in developing countries, they account for more than 53% of global deaths due to natural disasters. The difference in impact suggests there is great potential to reduce the human death toll caused by natural disasters in developing countries. The key ingredient in these tragedies is human inaction and poor support of essential services and health facilities by governments.

We can all help to support better health care in emergencies. Wide support for safer hospitals is needed from all within the community. Partnerships between different sectors (including emergency services) are vital to ensure that health facilities receive priority attention when an emergency occurs; for instance, by safeguarding the water supply or securing access to hospitals and other health centres. Many people are involved in this already. Some individuals volunteer in health facilities, professional bodies encourage innovations and designs that make health facilities safer and more functional in emergencies. However, urgent action need be taken if unnecessary death and suffering are to be prevented when our hospitals fail in emergencies.

Governments, financial institutions, private and corporate donors, universities and training organisations should all be collaborating in ensuring that resources are allocated wisely, infrastructure planning and implementation of strategies are occurring in a timely fashion. Health facilities and health workers should ensure that resources are being utilised at the maximum efficiency, good planning and budgeting are occurring so as to ensure good emergency responses. Plans for emergency responses should be familiar to everyone and staff should not only be familiar with this plan, but should be trained adequately in order to respond effectively.

The World Health Day 2009 is quite appropriate given the recent events in central Italy where a powerful earthquake that rocked the medieval town of L’ Aquila killed about 200 people and left tens of thousand homeless. More than 24 hours after the quake struck in the early hours of Monday morning tens of people were still reported missing. The quake of magnitude 6.2 Richter damaged some 10,000 buildings, many beyond repair, leaving up to 70,000 people homeless, according to a government estimate. Such numbers are optimistic and conservative estimates.

Of the dead, about 39 were in the small nearby town of Onna, which had a population of around 250. The nearby villages of Villa Sant’ Angelo and Borgo di Castelnuovo were practically wiped out. In the wake of the tragedy, emergency services and health facilities will be stretched to the limit as the infrastructure will struggle to cope with the dead, the injured, the infectious diseases that may break out. Doctors treated people in the open air outside L’ Aquila’s main hospital as only one operating room was functioning. This highlights the WHO’s sensitisation of the issue of emergency and disaster and how resilient health services and facilities are in the face of such disasters…

END RACISM!

“Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.” - Countess of Blessington

The United Nations has laid aside the 21st of March as the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination. On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid "pass laws". At that time, the South African Government was a brutal regime that applied the theory of inequality between races, regardless of humanity’s moral and ethical advances. Proclaiming the Day in 1966, the General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

Quality education is vital in eliminating racial discrimination. International agencies such as UNESCO have constantly advocated the importance of education for combating stereotypes and building mutual understanding and respect between the various peoples of the world. High quality learning materials and pedagogical approaches that promote social cohesion and respect for human rights are among the most powerful weapons in the fight against discrimination. Sport and physical education must also provide an effective framework for promoting dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding, in particular among youth. If children all over the world are brought up to respect diversity, celebrate differences and learn from each other’s cultures, the adults that they will grow up to be will be citizens of a better of world. Today, is an opportunity to affirm and intensify these efforts to eliminate racial discrimination, and to realize the right of every individual to live in dignity and peace.

Australia has a bad record in terms of racial discrimination, but I am glad to say that times are changing and people are beginning to become more open-minded. The way that the indigenous people of Australia have been treated since the arrival of the Europeans is a shameful chapter in Australia’s history and the compounding of injustices over the centuries perhaps reached its peak with the stolen generations of the 50s and 60s where aboriginal children were taken from their parents and given to white families or put in orphanages in order to “bring them up right” and “save them from their savagery”. This caused generations of pain and psychological damage, separated families and obliterated the cultural heritage of a proud and free people. In recent times our former prime minister, John Howard, refused to acknowledge this injustice and refused until he was voted out to say “sorry” to the stolen generations. Our current prime minister Kevin Rudd acknowledged the wrongs of the past and apologized to the aboriginal people for the past wrongs.

Aboriginal people in Australia nowadays are beginning to regain their dignity, their culture and are ready to play an important role in modern Australian society of today and the future. Here is a song from the Australian Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi, called “Djäpana”. Highly characteristic is the native wind instrument, the didgeridoo, providing the low cooing sound.

ART SUNDAY - PICASSO FOR PEACE

“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” – Benjamin Franklin

September 21st has been designated by the United Nations as the International day of Peace. The International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 for “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace within and among all nations and people”. Twenty years later, the General Assembly set 21 September as the date to observe the occasion annually as a “day of global ceasefire and non-violence… through education and public awareness and to cooperate in the establishment of a global ceasefire”.

This year, as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the 60th anniversary of UN peacekeeping, the Day offers an opportunity to spotlight the crucial relationship between peace and human rights, which are increasingly recognised as inseparable. In the aftermath of World War II, world leaders acknowledged that “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts” and have prevented the “advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy…freedom from fear and want”.

Today, we are still struggling to achieve this vision. Too many conflicts, from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to conflicts in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Darfur, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, cause unnecessary loss of life and have a devastating impact on the structures that maintain societies, such as education, health and justice systems and the maintenance of law and order. With over 60 people dead and many injured in the deadly terrorist bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in Pakistan, one wonders what peace we hope to achieve in the near future.

Pablo Picasso’s “Child with a Dove” (1901), Oil on canvas, 73 x 54cm (National Gallery of Art, Trafalgar Square, London). The child clasps the dove and stands beside a multi-coloured ball. The whole canvas is heavily worked in thick layers of paint or 'impasto', and may have been painted over an earlier picture. This work was executed while the artist was in Paris. It is a strong symbol of peace through the innocence of childhood and the age-old association of the dove with peace.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2008

“Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age.” - Jeanne Moreau

Today is the United Nations International Youth Day. The General Assembly on 17 December 1999 in its resolution 54/120, endorsed the recommendation made by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth (Lisbon, 8-12 August 1998) that 12th August be declared International Youth Day. The Assembly recommended that public information activities be organised to support the Day as a way to promote better awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond, adopted by the General Assembly in 1995 (resolution 50/81). International Youth Day gives the world an opportunity to recognise the potential of youth, to celebrate their achievements, and plan for ways to better engage young people to successfully take action in the development of their societies. It presents a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to rally together to ensure that young people are included in decision-making at all levels.

This year, Youth Day is devoted to the theme: “Youth and Climate Change – Time for Action”. A major focus of the Day is practical action to further encourage the empowerment and participation of youth in the processes and decisions that affect their lives. The media have especially important role to play in support of the observance of the Day to promote public awareness of youth issues.

The deterioration of the natural environment is one of the principal concerns of young people worldwide as it has direct implications for their well-being for both now and in the future. The natural environment must be maintained and preserved for both present and future generations. The causes of environmental degradation must be addressed. The environmentally friendly use of natural resources and environmentally sustainable economic growth will improve human life. Sustainable development has become a key element in the programmes of youth organisations throughout the world. While every segment of society is responsible for maintaining the environmental integrity of the community, young people have a special interest in maintaining a healthy environment because they will be the ones to inherit it.

Youth symbolises vitality and good health. It comes with energy and vigour and transcends all nationalities and borders while uniting young members of the world’s society in a single bond. International Youth Day is the perfect tribute to the contributions youth make to improve health in the developing world and health of the environment. Healthy people living in a healthy environment is something we all must aim towards.