International Volunteer Day (05/12)

«The role of volunteerism in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, which manifests itself in a wide variety of and ever-changing forms, deserves strong support from governments and other actors. On this International Day, I thank the volunteers for what they are doing to ensure that no one is forgotten». UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

In 1985, the UN General Assembly invited (in resolution 40/212) governments to annually celebrate International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development on December 5 or, briefly and understandably, — International Volunteer Day.

Volunteers (and in recent years you can increasingly hear transformed from English — volunteers) — are people who spend their free time for the benefit of society. The areas of activity in which volunteers can be seen working free of charge are truly numerous and varied.

For example, such people voluntarily volunteer to help clean up public territory, distribute posters or brochures of a social campaign, are ready to conduct free excursions around their hometown, and be translators at large international sports competitions. Moreover, volunteers help staff in orphanages and nursing homes and rush to help in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, examples of dedicated volunteer work could be seen everywhere, including providing health care and providing assistance to the elderly and people with disabilities.

The World Volunteer Declaration states that they have the right to devote their talent, time, and energy to individual and collective actions without expecting remuneration for it.

Society undoubtedly needs the effective work of volunteers. After all, volunteering — is a huge renewable resource for solving social, economic and environmental problems around the world. When the world faces growing challenges, volunteers are often the first to come to the rescue. Volunteers find themselves at the forefront of crisis and emergency management, often in very difficult and dire situations.

The UN therefore continually calls on states to take action to raise awareness of the important contribution of volunteer service, thereby encouraging even more people in all fields of activity to offer their services as volunteers both at home and abroad.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program mobilizes thousands of volunteers around the world to promote peace and development. UNV advocates for strengthening the role of volunteers and works closely with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programmes. Every year, more than 8 thousand UN volunteers work in collaboration with UN units in the most difficult conditions around the world. 13 thousand UN volunteers, acting remotely, carry out more than 20 thousand tasks through UNV Online.

Today provides an opportunity for volunteers and various organizations to celebrate their work, share their values and educate themselves at the community, non-governmental, UN, government and private sector levels. By the way, every year the events held as part of the Day are dedicated to a specific topic.

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