Welcome
During International Days and major international conferences there is a special opportunity to serve in
the creation of a more unified and compassionate world.
As meditators we can symbolically stand together with all actively working in the spirit of the Charter of Compassion, and hold these events in the light of a Higher Wisdom.
A new world is in process of being born. The conferences and events featured here are one important part of the transformation that is taking place in the way we think about the future, plan for the future and act to bring that future into the present.
Millennium Goals & Climate Change
These International Days and events reflect important themes in the mobilization of energies to:
- fulfill the historic promise made by world leaders in 1999 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, halving extreme poverty
- to respond appropriately to the urgent needs of climate change
- and to engage people of goodwill all over the world in the process of defining new Sustainable Development Goals to replace the Millennium Development Goals that expire in 2015.
2014 United Nations International Years
2015:
2015 will be observed as International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies & International Year of Soils. more information. It is also marks the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals and the launch of a new set of goals for the international community, the Sustainable Development Goals.
Silence at the United Nations
The Spiritual Caucus at the United Nations gathers in the vicinity of UN Headquarters in New York (September - June) on the third Thursday every month for 30 minutes of silence followed by 30 minutes of dialogue, sharing insights and exploring ways to use an inner focus in service of the work of the UN. On the 1st Thursday of the month the Caucus invites friends to sit in silence for 30 minutes. Traditionally a gathering has been held in the Meditation Room in the public lobby of UN Headquarters in New York, but during the major redevelopment of the UN building in NY the Meditation Room is closed so on this first Thursday all are invited to hold the Meditation Room in the light and ponder its significance.
Please link in from wherever you are. More information at: http://www.spiritualcaucusun.org/
In June the Spiritual Caucus invites all to link subjectively on Thursday, 5th, 12:45 - 1:15 USA Eastern Daylight Time, holding the Meditation Room at the United Nations in the light during this period when the Room is closed due to rennovation work. Please also link with the full meeting on Thursday, June 19 at 1.15 PM EDT.
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June Please Hold These Events in the Light
May 29 - 31
Resilient Cities, Global Forum, Bonn, Germany
This is the fifth annual global forum on Urban Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation. It is organised by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLE), together with the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, and the City of Bonn.
Each year, Resilient Cities brings together 500 urban planners, mayors, international organization representatives, and researchers from over 60 countries. The 2014 Forum includes sessions on financing the resilient city, city-region food systems, and resilient infrastructure. It will include the 4th annual Mayors Adaptation Forum culminating in the Bonn Declaration of Mayors.
The Municipal Climate Partnerships Workshop during the Forum will focus on city-to-city partnerships between German cities and cities of the Global South.
resilient-cities.iclei.org/
June 4
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
This international day acknowledges the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse - and affirms a commitment to protect the rights of children. The statistics of child abuse in its many, many forms are horrendous. They include over 2 million children killed in conflict in the last two decades; around 10 million child refugees cared for by UNHCR; in the Latin America & Caribbean region 80 thousand children die every year from violence that breaks out within the family ...
Humanity is organising as never before to put children first in the process of building a better world, and this Day also celebrates the millions of individuals and organizations working to protect and preserve the rights of children. UNICEF devotes considerable resources to the protection of children and conducts annual surveys tracking progress in the rights of the child: We strive towards the day when nations will be judged not by their military or economic strength, nor by the splendour of their capital cities and public building, but by the well being of their children.
www.un.org/en/events/childvictimday/
June 4 - 6
Sustainable Energy for All Forum, UN Headquarters, New York, USA
At the Rio+20 Summit in 2012, leaders declared we are all determined to act to make sustainable energy for all a reality and, through this, help to eradicate poverty and lead to sustainable development and global prosperity. The Year 2014 marks the beginning of the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All (2014-2024) and this high level forum at the UN is the first of what is to become an annual event. The Forum will assess progress on sustainable energy since Rio, showcase success, share best practices, present new commitments, catalyze action and help shape the global energy debate for the next decade.
www.se4all.org/se4all-forum/
June 5
World Environment Day
2014 theme: Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level
Observed since 1972, World Environment Day is "considered by many to be the most important event on the environmental calendar". UNEP reports that the Day "inspires action by governments, individuals, non-governmental organisations, community and youth groups, business, industry and the media to improve their environment, including clean-up campaigns, tree planting, street rallies, exhibitions, green concerts, essays, painting and photographic competitions, recycling efforts and much more".
This year is International Year of Small Island Developing States and the theme for Environment Day draws attention to the need to act in the response to threatened sea level rise.
2014 is the year when nations need to lift their eyes beyond business as usual to one of greater ambition in order to deliver on a new and meaningful climate agreement in Paris in 2015. Small islands along with the Arctic and many coastal zones are on the frontline of extreme climate and sea level rise that risks lives, livelihoods and even entire countries.
www.unep.org/wed/
June 5 - 6
Sustainable Foods Summit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The European event is part of a series of international summits focusing on key issues of sustainability and food labelling.How do organic, fair trade and other certification schemes further sustainability? Will there ever be a single sustainability standard for food products? What are common approaches to measure sustainability performance?
The Latin American Summit was held in March in Sao Paulo, Brazil and in January 2015 the North American Summit will be held in San Francisco, USA.
www.sustainablefoodssummit.com/
Theme for 2014: Together We Have the Power to Protect the Ocean
Described as the world's largest celebration of the oceans, World Oceans Day recognizes the importance and significance of international cooperation in caring for the well-being and sustainable management of the oceans.
The oceans of the world: Generate most of the oxygen we breathe; Help feed us; Regulate our climate; Clean the water we drink; Offer us a pharmacopoeia of potential medicines; Provide limitless inspiration!
worldoceansday.org/
www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/index.shtml
June 12
World Day Against Child Labour
Theme for 2014: Extend Social Protection:Combat Child Labour!
The latest ILO global child labour estimates, released in September 2013, indicate that the number of child labourers has declined by one third since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million. The number of children in hazardous work stands at 85 million, down from 171 million in 2000. Most of this advance was achieved between 2008 and 2012, when the global number fell by 47 million, from 215 to 168 million, and the number of children in hazardous work fell by 30 million, from 115 to 85 million. Despite this progress, the 2016 target set by the international community for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, as a priority within the global fight for the eradication of all child labour, will not be met. To have any chance of reaching that goal soon, we need to accelerate and intensify our efforts substantially.
www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/wdacl/
www.un.org/en/events/childlabourday/
June 12 - 13
Festival of Humanity and World Invocation Day
Since ancient times human beings have honored the full moon as a time when the sacred is most accesible. It is a time of light - the moon reflects the light of the sun onto the face of the earth. In astrology this is a time when the qualities and potentials of the zodiacal sign of the sun are especially available to humanity for use in service.
During the full moon religious and esoteric groups around the world use the opportunities of this time to vizualize light and love and spiritual power flowing into humanity and strengthening all that is being done to help prepare the way for a world of unity, justice and peace; a world in which the Millenium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved.
Gemini is a special full moon - celebrated around the world as the third of the three major spiritual festivals in the annual cycle of full moon festivals described by Alice Bailey (Easter - Wesak and the Festival of Humanity). As well as being the Festival of Humanity and the Christ's own Festival, the day is celebrated as World Invocation Day when people of goodwill are encouraged to use the world prayer, the Great Invocation, to invoke universal qualities of Light Love and Spiritual Purpose. God's purpose for humanity, the divine Plan, works out as human beings respond, organically and often unconsciously, to these higher energies.
In a special World Invocation Day radio broadcast in 1952, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of US President Franklin D Roosevelt, and one of the pioneering visionaries behind the universal Declaration of Human Rights, recorded the Great invocation. Listen to this broadcast here.
Register for the annual global Vigil when people around the world sign up for specific times to ensure that the Great Invocation is sounded every 15 minutes of the 24 hours of World Invocation Day - details at www.meditationvigil.org
www.worldinvocationday.org
June 16 - 20
Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations, New York - 12th Session
Focus of attention at the United Nations is on discussions to prepare a new set of Sustainable Development Goals for the human community. The plan is for these goals to be aspirational and easy to communicate - goals that can inspire people of goodwill in all parts of the world with a vision of achievable future possibilities. Nothing like the level of dialogue and noegotiation surrounding the birth of these new SDG's has ever happened before - in the history of the UN, or in human history. So it is worth paying attention. Discussions center around 16 focus areas - from 'Poverty eradication, building shared prosperity and promoting equality' to 'Peaceful and inclusive societies, rule of law and capable institutions'.
The Working Group consists of 30 members of the General Assembly charged with the task of presenting a proposal for the SDG's to the full General Assembly.In order to involve all members states in this process an innovative process has been developed. Each of the 30 seats on the Working Group is shared by a group of 1-4 nations, with each group deciding how it will work together.
sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
June 17
World Day to Combat Desertification
2014 theme: Land Belongs to the Future — Let's Climate Proof It
The world's most significant non-renewable resource is fertile soil, which is the peel of productive land. Nevertheless, each year 12 million ha of land, the area three times the size of Switzerland, are lost due to desertification. Land degradation directly affects 1.5 billion people globally.
This years theme draws attention to sustainable land management. The day has three objectives:
- Increase the attention given to land and soil within climate change adaptation
- Mobilize support for sustainable land management
- Call for the inclusion of land and soil and their significance in food security into national climate change adaptation policies.
www.unccd.int
June 18 - 19
A Better World Economic Order for Equality and Sustainable Development Post-2015, UNCTAD Public Symposium, Geneva, Switzerland
Every year UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) holds an annual symposium where diplomats, civil society representatives, academics, private sector and interested groups conduct a dialogue on key development themes. 2014 is the fiftieth anniversary of UNCTAD and the Symposium will explore how widening inequality poses a challenge to sustainable development — an issue that was raised as far back as 1964, when UNCTAD member States spoke of persistent "extremes of wealth and poverty" as a major risk to development and peace.
unctad.org/en/conferences/
June 20
World Refugee Day
A day to reflect on the scope of the refugee problem (there are some 19 million refugees under the care of the UN High Commission for Refugees); the immense personal, family and community suffering experienced by refugees; and the opportunities which the refugee crisis presents all peoples to act on their sense of interdependence and compassion.
www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/
June 23
International Widows Day
This United Nations Day seeks to raise awareness of the high levels of violence and deprivation faced by widow's in many parts of the world.
Widows are everywhere in the world, yet in many countries, they are nowhere to be seen or heard. They are hidden in the shadows, denied their basic rights and dignity. This [International Day] aims to shine a light on these women and their children, and put moral pressure on the guardians of the retrograde traditions that oppress them. Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of Gabon.
www.un.org/en/events/widowsday/
June 26
International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
June 26
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
2014 theme: Fighting ImpunityThis Day is widely observed as a focal point for a global campaign to eradicate torture. The campaign is co-ordinated by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. On this day events will be held all over the world in support of victims of torture.
In most cases the crime of torture is commited with impunity - no one is prosecuted or punished.Impunity is the failure of the state to fully investigate violations; to bring to justice and punish perpetrators; to provide victims with effective remedies; and to take all necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of the violation.
www.irct.org/Default.aspx?ID=6182
www.un.org/en/events/torturevictimsday/
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