Belize Joins Global Celebration of United Nations Day, Reflecting on UN Initiatives and Goals

Today is celebrated around the world as United Nations Day, marking the anniversary of the charter that brought the UN into existence. The UN was established on October 24, 1945, out of a desire for peace after countries witnessed and endured the devastation of the First and Second World Wars. With 193 member countries and more than 30 organizations, the UN focuses on promoting and supporting the development of the world guided by shared principles. Michael Lund, Deputy Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme in Belize, says that UN Day is used annually to reflect on the success of the UN’s initiatives, and consider what challenges need to be overcome.

Michael Lund, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP: “Today is the UN Day, it’s the 24th of October. We celebrate that the UN Charter came into effect in 1945. It’s a day where we look at and celebrate the efforts that the UN does within the three pillars; peace and security, human rights and sustainable development. It’s also a day where we take stock on where we are and the world is not as great as it could be. We have 2 billion people suffering from conflict and turmoil, we have an increasing threat of climate change and we have increasing inequalities. Collaboration is the key to addressing these issues and multilateralism is the foundation behind the United Nations needs to be invigorated. The member states adopted a plan for the future during this general assembly which has 56 concrete actions to try and promote those three pillars that I said because I think we all realized we’re not making the progress that we want to do. In UNDP we are at the global development program, we are in 170 countries around the world including in Belize were we have been for over three decades working with the government, with civil society and with all partners to promote the sustainable development goals.”

UN Day 2024 is being celebrated under the theme, “The World Needs the UN; the UN Needs Us.”