World
Day of Social Justice or World Social Justice Day is observed on February 20
every year. The main objective of celebrating World Day of Social Justice is to
raise voice against social injustice and to bring the various communities
internationally together to eliminate poverty, gender, and physical
discrimination, illiteracy, religious discrimination to make a socially
integrated society.
On
this day many schools, colleges and universities do special activities and
organise events around a theme related to poverty, social and economic
exclusion or unemployment.
"Our
lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King
If
you face any injustice in your life you can't sit on the sidelines of life and
watch injustice; rather you need to speak out and consciously push it back.
Theme
To
raise voice against social injustice and to remove barriers regarding gender,
age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability World Social Justice Day
is observed.
A
few themes says,
‘Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve
Social Justice.’
'If
you want Peace and Development, Work for Social Justice'.
Here are some inspirational quotes about
social justice and freedom
"Where
justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and
where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to
oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."
-Frederick Douglass
"There
may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never
be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Weasel
"Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. " -Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Until
the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility
for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained." -Helen
Keller
"The
failure to invest in civil justice is directly related to the increase in
criminal disorder. The more people feel there is injustice the more it becomes
part of their psyche." -Wilhelm Joseph
"We
need love, and to ensure love, we need to have full employment, and we need
social justice. We need gender equity. We need freedom from hunger. These are
our most fundamental needs as social creatures." - David Suzuki
History
In
1995, the World Summit for Social Development was held in Copenhagen, Denmark,
and resulted in the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action. At this
summit, more than 100 political leaders pledged to make the conquest of poverty
and full employment, as well as stable, safe and just societies, their
overriding objectives. They also agreed on the need to put people at the centre
of development plans.
Nearly
10 years later, the UN's member states reviewed the Copenhagen Declaration and
Programme of Action when they gathered at a session of the Commission for
Social Development in New York in February 2005. They also agreed to commit to advance
social development.
On November 26, 2007, the UN General Assembly declared that starting from the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, February 20 will be celebrated annually as the World Day of Social Justice. In 2009 the day was scheduled to be first observed.