UN to observe February 20 as World Day of Social Justice

The UN has decided to observe February 20 every year, starting in 2009, as the World Day of Social Justice to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the UN General Assembly urged its 192 member states to devote the day to promoting activities at the national level in support of the objectives and goals of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, which was held in Copenhagen.

Governments meeting at that summit had pledged to make poverty eradication, full employment and the fostering of social integration their overriding objectives of development.

In designating the World Day, the Assembly "recognizes the need to consolidate further the efforts of the international community in poverty eradication and in promoting full employment and decent work, gender equality and access to social well-being and justice for all".

In another resolution adopted on Monday, the Assembly linked illicit trade in rough diamonds to the fuelling of armed conflicts around the world and stressed the need for the widest possible participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.