UN’s “International Days” Range From Serious to Silly

When the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to designate 25 May as World Football Day.

The 193-member General Assembly, the UN’s highest policy-making body, routinely designates “International Days” and “World Days” on a wide range of subjects and events – from the sublime to the ridiculous, described as “a sudden shift from something grand and awe-inspiring to something silly and unimportant.”

The commemorations range from International Women’s Day and the International Day to Combat Islamophobia to International Moon Day and World Bicycle Day (not forgetting World Tuna Day, World Bee Day, International Day of Potato, World Horse Day, World Pulses Day, and International Day of the Arabian Leopard).

According to the UN, the organization observes 218 international days annually (and counting).

One of the first designations came from the UN General Assembly’s 1947 declaration that 24 October should be celebrated as United Nations Day, marking the adoption of the UN Charter.

Since then, UN Member States have proposed more than 200 designations, presenting draft resolutions to the General Assembly for a vote by all 193 member nations.

A new resolution aimed at revitalizing the work of the General Assembly “notes with concern the significant increase in the number of proposals to proclaim international days, weeks, months, years, or decades.”

The resolution decides, on a trial basis, to put on hold consideration of new proposals for international days, weeks, months, years, and decades during the eighty-first and eighty-second sessions.

It also requests that the President of the General Assembly, effective from the eighty-first session in 2026, group all proclamation requests into a single resolution per agenda item, with each proposed commemoration containing its own operative paragraph focused on its establishment.

The upcoming International Days in March 2026 include:

1 March – World Seagrass Day

1 March – United Nations Zero Discrimination Day

3 March – International Day for Ear and Hearing Loss

3 March – World Wildlife Day

5 March – International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness

8 March – International Women’s Day

10 March – International Day of Women Judges

15 March – International Day to Combat Islamophobia

20 March – International Day of Happiness

20 March – French Language Day

21 March – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

21 March – World Poetry Day

21 March – International Nowruz Day

21 March – World Down Syndrome Day

21 March – International Day of Forests

21 March – World Day of Glaciers

22 March – World Water Day

23 March – World Meteorological Day

24 March – World Tuberculosis Day

24 March – International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights

25 March – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery

25 March – International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members

30 March – International Day of Zero Waste

The list for December includes:

1 Dec – World AIDS Day

2 Dec – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (A/RES/317(IV))

3 Dec – International Day of Persons with Disabilities (A/RES/47/3)

4 Dec – International Day of Banks (A/RES/74/245)

4 Dec – International Day Against Unilateral Coercive Measures (A/RES/79/293)

5 Dec – International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (A/RES/40/212)

5 Dec – World Soil Day (A/RES/68/232)

7 Dec – International Civil Aviation Day (A/RES/51/33)

9 Dec – International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime (A/RES/69/323)

9 Dec – International Anti-Corruption Day (A/RES/58/4)

10 Dec – Human Rights Day (A/RES/423(V))

11 Dec – International Mountain Day (A/RES/57/245)

12 Dec – International Day of Neutrality (A/RES/71/275)

12 Dec – International Universal Health Coverage Day (A/RES/72/138)

18 Dec – International Migrants Day (A/RES/55/93)

18 Dec – Arabic Language Day

20 Dec – International Human Solidarity Day (A/RES/60/209)

21 Dec – World Meditation Day (A/RES/79/137)

21 Dec – World Basketball Day (A/RES/77/324)

27 Dec – International Day of Epidemic Preparedness (A/RES/75/27)