The International Family Day is celebrated every year across the globe on 15th May. It is a global observance to commemorate the role that families play in the development of a better world. The day is celebrated to make people aware of the importance of a happy and healthy family. In today’s generation, people are prone to lead a lonely life and the concept of living in a family is becoming extinct in many parts of the globe. It has raised many social, economic and developmental concerns. The day acts as a reminder to the world that a well-balanced family is very important to be happy and without happiness development can never take place.
History and Origin
In 1993 at the United Nations General Assembly, it was decided that a special day needs to be celebrated for addressing the issues related to families. The economic and social changes in the global environment started to affect the families all over the world. It prompted the UN to come up with a special day that will reflect on the significance of families and cultures across the world. Thus, the UN officially announced the observance of International Family Day in 1994 and since then, it has been celebrated every year till now.
Theme and Symbol
The International Family Day is celebrated every year with a different theme. The first theme was “First Victims of Poverty and Homelessness”. The symbol for this special day comprises of a green circle with a red logo on the solid green. The logo shows a house and a heart in red, drawn artistically together. The meaning of the drawing is that families form the centre of the world and it is the society’s heart. The house provides a shelter to people of every strata and age.
Celebrating 20 Years
The 20th anniversary of the International Family Day was celebrated in 2014 and the year celebrates the Year of Family. The theme for the 20th anniversary was “Families Matter for the Achievement of Development Goals; International Year of the Family +20.” It focuses on the impact of families in overall development. It reviewed all the challenges that each family faces everyday and plan out different solutions to eradicate issues on families. It enhanced the policies on worldwide family development and promotes good practices among families. Various events were conducted revolving around the theme, along with Commission for Social Development events.
Celebrations to Commemorate the Day
Many awareness events have got their inspiration from the International Family Day. The day offers a chance to showcase different areas of importance and interest for the families. Workshops, cultural programmes, conferences, media events, theme based programmes on television and radio, demonstrations and a wide range of activities are organized by various bodies as a part of the celebrations. Special events like International expert meetings where family experts gather to address relevant issues, academic initiatives, exchange of good practices in every family and research activities like background paper etc are also prepared for the International Family Day. In addition, Secretary General of UN also publishes a special message to commemorate the day.