2 October Declared as International Day of Non-Violence
192 members at the UN Assembly have adopted the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, 02 October, as the International Day of Non-Violence it mark and work towards a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence through education and public awareness.
Below are extracts from a press release issued by the United Nations Sixty-first General Assembly
General Assembly adopts texts on day of non-violence;
[…]
Adopting a text on the International Day of Non-Violence, contained in document A/61/L.62, the Assembly decided to observe the International Day, with effect from the sixty-second session, on 2 October each year. Bearing in mind that non-violence, tolerance, full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, democracy, development, mutual understanding and respect of diversity, are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, it invited all Member States, United Nations organizations, regional and non-governmental organizations and individuals to commemorate the International Day in an appropriate manner and to disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness. It further requested the Secretary-General to recommend ways and means by which the United Nations system and the Secretariat could, within existing resources, assist Member States in organizing activities to commemorate the Day.
Introducing the text, Anand Sharma, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, said the idea of promoting the resolution originated from the Declaration adopted at the “International Conference on Peace, Non-Violence and Empowerment -– Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century”, which articulated a collective yearning to address hunger and poverty. He said the wide co-sponsorship of the draft resolution reflected the universal respect that Mahatma Gandhi commanded, noting that his mode of non-violence brought down colonialism and inspired leaders such as Badshah Khan. The draft was simple but significant, reaffirming the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence. Promoting non-violence in such a manner would significantly contribute to the realization of the goals set out in the 1999 United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace.
