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IOHR celebrates the work of the UN on UN Day

• IOHR joins the UN Day celebrations of the UN Association in London at a reception for their campaign #TOGETHERBAND.
• Mr Andrew Gilmour, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights to receive an award for his services to the UN
• IOHR attends the UN Refugee Agency global High-Level Segment on Statelessness and the Nansen Award ceremony in Geneva

24th October is the International day commemorating the founding of the United Nations and the commencement of the UN charter that underpins it. In the aftermath of the Second World War, 50 countries were represented in San Francisco to draw up the United Nations Charter.
The fundamental premise of this action was to:

• Maintain international peace and security
• Develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples
• Achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights
• To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

On 24th October 1945 this founding document was ratified by the majority of countries, including the 5 permanent members of the Security Council. The United Nations was born.

Today, more than ever in our fractured global society, the UN has a pivotal role to keep the balance and fight to deliver these founding promises. To ensure the UN direction and deliverables remains clear, a set of 17 sustainable development goals were created in 2015 for delivery by 2030.

To celebrate these goals and UN day, IOHR will be participating in the celebrations of the UN Association in London under their campaign for #TOGETHERBAND. The event will include an award presentation to Mr Andrew Gilmour, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights for his services to the UN. Joining Mr Gilmour will be Ms. Natalie Samarasinghe, Deputy to the Special Adviser on the Preparation of the Commemoration of the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary.

IOHR has had increasing engagement with UN bodies and recently participated in the UNHCR global High-Level Segment on Statelessness as part of the UNHCR Executive Committee meeting on 7 October 2019. Nations Member States and other stakeholders were brought up to date on the considerable progress of the #IBELONG Campaign to End Statelessness by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

He addressed an audience of several hundred in the United Nations Assembly Hall describing the impact that the #IBelong campaign has had on public awareness of stateless issues.

“today the prospect of ending statelessness entirely has never been closer and yet the progress is far from assured: damaging forms of nationalism, and the manipulation of anti-refugee and migrant sentiment – these are powerful currents internationally that risk putting progress,” Grandi said.

Actor and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett interviewed statelessness activist Maha Mamo whom IOHR recently interviewed on her fight for an identity:

IOHR caught up with Maha later at the prestigious UN Refugee Agency’s Nansen Refugee Award ceremony to celebrate the award presented to Azizbek Ashurov, a lawyer from the Kyrgyz Republic whose tireless work supported his country becoming the first in the world to end statelessness. IOHR celebrated the achievement of Kyrgyz Republic speaking with UNHCR’s Roman Marin:

Notes:

UN SDG Goals

• GOAL 1: No Poverty
• GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
• GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
• GOAL 4: Quality Education
• GOAL 5: Gender Equality
• GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
• GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
• GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• GOAL 13: Climate Action
• GOAL 14: Life Below Water
• GOAL 15: Life on Land
• GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
• GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal