World Volunteer Day

Event Date

Every year on December 5, the world celebrates International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development. Another name for the holiday is Volunteers Day.

The tradition of celebration dates back to 1985. It was then that the UN General Assembly proposed to the governments of countries to celebrate this day annually to provide an opportunity for volunteers and various organizations to celebrate their work, share their values ​​and speak about themselves at the level of communities, non-governmental organizations, UN organizations, government and the private sector. The United Nations has called on states to educate people on the importance of volunteer work, thereby encouraging people in all walks of life to offer their services as volunteers, both at home and abroad.

In the Universal Declaration of Volunteering, adopted at the XVI World Conference of the International Association for Volunteer Effort in Amsterdam (2001), volunteering is called the foundation of civil society. It embodies the pursuit of peace, freedom, security, justice and the realization of opportunities for all people.

Volunteer work is a way of showing concern for your neighbor, providing real help to people. The volunteer movement contributes to the creation of healthy communities working to solve the common problems of the peoples of the Earth.

Anyone can become a volunteer. The Declaration supports the rights of any person - man, woman, child - to join the ranks of volunteers, regardless of cultural and ethnic characteristics, religion, age, gender, physical, material status. Each person has the right to freely devote time, talent, energy to other people through individual and collective actions, without expecting rewards.