Journalist Alec Collett

His body was found in 2009 in the Lebanon Bekaa Valley. According to the United Nations website the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members is taking increasing importance every year because “attacks against the United Nations intensify.” Over the years, many UN personnel have been kidnapped and detained in work-related tasks. According to UN’s Department of Safety and Security 28 UN staff members were arrested in 2010.

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day

Untill the year 1882 one in seven of the world’s people were dying of tuberculosis. Then, a German physician, Robert Koch, discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. Today’s date commemorates that day.

Currently, one-third of the world’s population is infected with TB. However, thanks to Robert Koch, there now are effective ways of treating the infection. Unfortunately, this cure  isn’t available to everyone, and approximately 1.7 million people still die of tuberculosis every year.

This year’s theme for World TB Day is the question: how can African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP Countries) strengthen each other and fight together against tuberculosis. World’s Healthy Organization (WHO) and Stop TB Partnership both support this day.

Another on-going theme has been “Stop TB in my lifetime.” The goal is that in our lifetimes we should expect to see a world where no one dies from TB.

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day

Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero

This day was declared an official UN observance day in December 2010. March 24th was chosen to mark a date in 1980 when archbishop Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero, an active promoter of human rights, was murdered while conducting a service at church in El Salvador.

The purpose of this day is to honor the memory of those who have experienced severe human rights violations, those who have spent their lives protecting these rights, and to highlight everybody’s right to truth and justice…

In his speech last year the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, wished:

“As we inaugurate this new international observance, let us recognize the indispensable role of the truth in upholding human rights – and let us pledge to defend the right to the truth as we pursue our global mission of human rights.”

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day

The WMO was established because climate and water are shared by everyone on this planet, thus international cooperation is essential in order for earth sciences to develop. WMO is a part of the United Nations and functions as their authoritative voice in water, climate, and weather related hazards.

This year, the theme for World Meteorological Day is ‘Powering our future with weather, climate, and water.’ World Meteorological Day generally features various events like conferences and exhibitions, and prizes for meteorological research are announced on this day.

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day

World Water Day 2012

This is the slogan for World Water Day 2012. According to unwater.org “it takes one thousand times more water to feed the human population than it does to satisfy its thirst.” This year’s theme is water and food security. Watch this clip to find out how many liters it takes to produce one kilo of beef…

World Water Day was added onto the UN calendar in 1993, after a UN conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since then, World Water Day has been used a platform by various member states and NGOs to focus public attention on critical water issues and it has become a popular trend in social media.

Ways UN Water is advising everyone to help this year, are:

• consume less water-intensive products;
• reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!
• produce more food, of better quality, with
  less water;
• follow a healthier diet

Smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realised,
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile
Then realised its worth,
A single SMILE just like mine
Could travel round the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin
Don’t leave it undetected,
Let’s start an epidemic quick
And get the world infected.

Taken from the book  Golden Apples by Bill Cullen

First officially celebrated in the year 2000, World Poetry Day celebrates diversity of language, efforts of small publishers, and the return to oral traditions of poetry recitals. Poetry pays tribute to language by constantly questioning and re-questioning the meanings of words and our perceptions. Using the words of the Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO, poetry “convey(s) a timeless message… and always reveals the original brilliance of culture.”

Surprisingly, March 21st is also the anniversary of Twitter! This Wednesday, thus, is a day that celebrates both the traditional, orally recited, connotative word, as well as the instant, pixel-built, abbreviated word…

To warm up for World Poetry Day, here is a poem that was recently seen on the London tube, posted by the lovely on-going project ‘Poems of the Underground:’

Optimistic Little Poem by Hanz Magnus Enzensberger, Germany

Now and then it happens
that someone shouts for help
and someone else jumps in at once
and absolutely gratis.

Here in the thick of the grossest capitalism
round the corner comes the shining fire brigade
and extinguishers, or suddenly
there’s silver in a beggar’s hat.

Mornings the streets are full
of people hurrying here and there without
daggers in their hands, quite equably
after milk or radishes.

As though in time of deepest peace.

A splendid sight.

(Translated by David Constantine)

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, people around the world are reminded of the negative consequences of racial discrimination. The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights famously says that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.

Common public activities for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination are photo essays, online petitions and discussions, articles and other publications promoting the fight against racial discrimination. Every year the UN Secretary General holds a speech, and last year the UN streamed a live webcast from its headquarters, featuring UN leaders.

Although the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is not a public holiday it has great symbolic value all around the world.

Here’s what Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, said last year:

Overcoming racism compels us to address public policies and private attitudes that perpetuate it. On this International Day, I call on Member States, international and non-governmental organizations, the media, civil society and all individuals to engage meaningfully in the promotion of the International Year for People of African descent – and to work together against racism whenever and wherever it occurs.

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day

Dried fruit and nuts are traditional Nowruz snacks

Today is the Iranian New Year. In Farsi (the language spoken in Iran), this day is called Nowruz, which literally translated means ‘new day’ or ‘new light.’ Nowruz marks the first day of spring, thus begins the new year in the Hijri calendar.

Recently, in 2010, Nowruz was proclaimed an international observance day by the United Nations. It was proclaimed not only on the basis that several countries (300 million people) share this holiday, but also because Nowruz promotes peace, reconciliation, and friendship.

Last year, on the International Nowruz Day, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, said:

“I hope people everywhere will join in observing this Day. At a time of crisis, upheaval and change, including in the very regions where the holiday is rooted, let the spirit of Nowruz prevail”

Happy Nowruz Day to you all!

Other celebrations in March:

Holi – India 

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

World Poetry Day

 World Water Day 

World Meteorological Day

International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and Its Abolition

Right to Truth Day

World Tuberculosis Day

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members

A Shamrock has become the symbol of St. Patrick's Day

Dublin’s Guinness museum.

March 17th is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day, a day to honor the death of one of the world’s most popular saints.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain, and he has been accredited for bringing Christianity to Ireland. Not much is known of St. Patrick’s life but one of the most famous legends says that he used the Shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to teach the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people.

Although the religious origins of the day are widely known, nowadays St. Patrick’s Day is also celebrated as a kind of Irish national day…

Ireland doesn’t have an Independence Day so often St. Patrick’s Day functions as a day to celebrate ‘Irishness’ all around the world.

Traditionally, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day has been popular throughout centuries because during this day rules around Lent and fasting were usually waived and the people could drink, dance, and feast. Celebrations in the modern day are similar as St. Patrick’s Day has been commercialised by alcohol producers, such as Guinness and Jameson’s. Irish pubs around the world host big parties on March 17th, and some even feature count-downs till this date.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in the UK, Canada, the US,  Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries where an Irish diaspora exists. Every year, New York hosts a St. Patrick’s Day parade of 150,000 participants, which makes it the largest parade in the US. It is also the oldest civilian parade that exists.

To kick start St. Patrick’s Day here’s a catchy Irish song for everyone to enjoy: Rocky Road to Dublin by The High Kings.

Other significant days in March:

Holi – India 

International Women’s Day