United Nations Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the United Nations Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.
There is no other global organization with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact of the United Nations. Today, the urgency for all countries to come together, to fulfil the promise of the nations united, has rarely been greater.
24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. This year, 2020, the United Nations will observe its 75th anniversary. There has been much consultation for UN 75, which will be taken up.
The year 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and its founding Charter. This anniversary comes in a time of great disruption for the world, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with severe economic and social impacts. But it is also a reminder that times of struggle can become an opportunity for positive change and transformation.
To commemorate the 75 years of the United Nations, Member States held a high-level event on 21 September 2020, where they reaffirmed and recognized that our challenges are interconnected and can only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism.
The future we want, the United Nations we need
The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us in the most powerful way that we are closely interconnected and only by working together and in solidarity we can build resilience against future pandemics and other global challenges.
In January 2020, the Secretary General launched a global conversation asking people through surveys and dialogues about their hopes and fears for the future, along with their priorities for international cooperation.
The findings of this Global Dialogue have been taken into account by world leaders and resulted in the adoption of a forward-looking political declaration during the high-level event of the 75th anniversary celebrations. The declaration was negotiated through an intergovernmental process under the theme “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.
UN annual concert
To celebrate UN Day, an annual concert is usually held in the General Assembly Hall.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the concert will be prerecorded and screened in the General Assembly Hall on Thursday, 22 October 2020 at 12.00 p.m. (New York local time).
The concert, sponsored by the Mission of Italy, will include a performance featuring Roberto Bolle, accompanied by other world class etoiles as well as the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, all recorded at La Scala Theater in Milan. A number of classical, modern and reimagined dances, curated specifically for the UN Day Concert, will be performed.
By connecting us and creating common understanding, art and culture create the fertile ground from which genuine solidarity can emerge. In this spirit, music and dance can help bring us together to reimagine a world “rebalanced”, to be designed and built together for present and future generations. Highlighting the significance of the 75th anniversary of the UN and reflecting on the experience of the pandemic, the 2020 UN Day performance will leverage the power of music and dance to capture our collective commitment to cooperation, multilateralism and global solidarity.
The UN Day Concert performance will be streaming LIVE on this page as well as on: UN Web TV (webtv.un.org), the UN Channel on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
