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Dates for 2008

International Year of Sanitation
International Year of Languages - Languages matter!
International Year of the Potato - Hidden Treasure
International Year of Planet Earth (spanning 2007-09)

2008 - International Year of Planet Earth

IYPE LogoThe General Assembly of the United Nations has proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE). Its subtitle Earth Sciences for Society reflects the IYPE’s main ambition: to make our planet a safer, healthier and wealthier place for its societies around the globe by ensuring a greater and more effective use of the knowledge accumulated by the world’s 400,000 Earth scientists. The International Year of Planet Earth was officially launched at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris on 12 and 13 February. Visit the IYPE website with further information.

Note: The links below are for reference only. The Social Action Office does not necessarily agree with or endorse all of the content of the websites.

JANUARY

1

World Day of Peace - The Human Family, a Community of Peace

5

Guru Gobind Singh born 1666 (Sikh)

Peace Dove

8

Galileo died 1642

10

Islamic New Year (1 Muharram 1429 H.)

15

Martin Luther King Jr born 1929

19

Day of 'Ashura (Muslim Observance)

21-22

Tu B'Shevet - New Year for Trees (Jewish)

23

Vietnam Peace Treaty announced 1973

26

Australia Day or Survival/Invasion Day

27

Mozart born 1756

30

Mahatma Gandhi assassinated 1948

30

Bloody Sunday (Irish)

31

Thomas Merton born 1915

FEBRUARY

2

World Wetlands Day - Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People

5

Cape York Heads of Agreement signed 1996

6

Ash Wednesday

6

Waitangi Day - signing of The Treaty of Waitangi 1840

7

Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rat

12

The Freedom Ride against racism to NSW country towns commenced 1965

18

Martin Luther died 1546

21

International Mother Language Day

MARCH - Landcare Month

1

International Treaty to Ban Landmines becomes effective 1999

2

Clean Up Australia Day

5

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission commenced operations 1990

5

International Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 1970

8

International Women's Day

16

ATSIC Amendment Bill passed abolishing ATSIC 2005

16-23

Holy Week

19

US and allies invade Iraq 2003

20

World Day of Planetary Consciousness

20

Mawlid an-Nabi (Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad)

21

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

21

National Harmony Day

World Water Day - Year of Sanitation

21

World Forestry Day

21-28

Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination

22

World Water Day - Sanitation

23

World Meteorological Day

24

Assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero 1980

24

ATSIC ceased operations 2005

25

Death of Caroline Chisholm 1877

28

National Parks Day (Contact: 07 3367 0878)

APRIL

4

Dr Martin Luther King Jr assassinated 1968

Xanana Gusmao
Xanana Gusmao

6-13

NSW Seniors Week - Live Life!

7

World Health Day - Protecting health from climate change

9-10

28th Session - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Budapest, Hungary

11

Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), John XXIII 1963

12

Holocaust Remembrance Day

13

Baisakhi - Sikh New Year

14

First presidential elections elect Xanana Gusmao as President of Timor-Leste 2002

14

Rachel Carson died 1964

15

Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Royal Commission Final Report signed 1991

18

World Heritage Day

18

Albert Einstein died 1955

22

International Earth Day (Prayer for International Earth Day)

24

First United Nations Conference opened with 50 countries represented 1945

25

ANZAC Day

26

Bishop Gerardi murdered in Guatemala 1998

28

St Peter Chanel, first martyr from Oceania, killed on Futuna in the New Hebrides 1841

MAY

1

International Workers Day

1-7

Save the Children Week - Skip a Treat

4-11

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2008 - Pray without ceasing
(NCCA Resource)

8

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day

10

Nelson Mandela's Inaugural Address as President of South Africa 1994

16

World Debt Day 2008 - Ten years on ... the crisis isn't over

17

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2008 - Connecting Persons with Disabilities: ICT Opportunities for All

20

Timor-Leste became fully independent 2002

20

42nd World Communications Day 2008 - The Media: At the Crossroads between Self-Promotion and Service. Searching for the Truth in order to Share it with Others

21

Murder of Australian Josephite Sister Irene McCormack in Peru 1991

21

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

22

International Day for Biological Diversity 2008 - Biodiversity and Agriculture

Journey of Healing logo

25

Bringing Them Home Report released 1997

25

Africa Day

25-31

Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories 2008

26

National Sorry Day 2008

27

1967 Referendum allows Federal Government to grant citizenship rights to Aboriginal people (ABC Online Didj "u" Know Story)

27-3 June

National Reconciliation Week 2008 (12th Anniversary) - Reconciliation: it’s all our story

28

Amnesty International founded 1962

29

Torres Strait Islander flag launched 1992

29

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

JUNE

3

High Court Decision in Mabo Case 1992

Melting Ice

4

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression 2008

4

Tiananmen Square Massacre 1989

5

World Environment Day 2008 - CO2 Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy

10

Myall Creek Massacre 1838 (Decisions of the Superior Courts of NSW)

11

Neville Bonner became the first Aboriginal Australian to hold a seat in Federal Parliament 1971

12

Barunga Statement presented to Prime Minister Hawke by Aboriginal leaders 1988

12

World Day Against Child Labour 2008 - Education: The right response to child labour

14

The Society for the Promotion of Universal and Permanent Peace founded in London 1816 (International Peace Movement)

15

King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta 1215

16

International Day of the African Child

17

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 2008 - Combating Land Degradation for Sustainable Agriculture

19

Equal pay for women in Australia 1969

20

World Refugee Day

23

First International Peace Congress held in The Hague 1889

26

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

26

Native South Africans celebrated Freedom Day with bonfires and candles 1953, initiated by Chief Albert Lutuli who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960

30

Introduction of unemployment benefits in Australia 1945

JULY

1

14th International Day of Cooperatives 2008 - Confronting Climate Change through Cooperative Enterprise

1

Voluntary Native Title Agreement signed between the Gunggari People and the Cowley family

6

The Dalai Lama born in Tibet 1935 - awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989

7

Blessed Peter To Rot killed in Papua New Guinea 1945

6

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Sunday

6-13

National Aboriginal and Islander Week 2008 - Advance Australia Fair?

10

Anniversary of the Sinking of Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland 1985

11

World Population Day

Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela

12

Aboriginal flag first flown, Adelaide 1971

14

Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Islander flag proclaimed "Flags of Australia" 1995

15-20

World Youth Day 2008 Events in Sydney

16

First atomic bomb detonated in New Mexico 1945

18

Nelson Mandela born 1918

18

Peace Pilgrim born in New Jersey 1908

20

Neil Armstrong first person on the moon 1969

25

Schools Tree Day 2008

27

National Tree Day 2008 (Arbor Day)

29

Dag Hammarskjöld born in Sweden 1905 - awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961

Note: 2008 Calendar updated to here as much as possible

AUGUST

2

First Indo-Chinese refugees allowed to settle in Australia 1965 (White Australia Policy in the Twentieth Century)

4

National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families – Nurturing Our Children to Flourish

6

Hiroshima Day 1945

8

Feast of Mary MacKillop, founder of Sisters of St Joseph

8

Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki 1945

9

International Day of the World's Indigenous People

14

Death of Maximilian Kolbe 1941

15

Oscar Romero born in El Salvador 1917

15

End of World War II in the Pacific 1945

16

Wave Hill Station returned to Gurindji People 1975

17

Global National Day

18

Vietnam Veterans Day

18-26

Qld Seniors Week

23

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

25

93rd World Day of Migrants and Refugees - The migrant family (Message of Benedict XVI)

26

MV Tampa rescues 433 asylum seekers from a sinking vessel. Australian government refuses entry to its shores and sends troops to prevent disembarkation 2001 

26

Refugee and Migrant Sunday

Refugee graphic

27

Dom Helder Camara died 1999

30

East Timor's Independence Ballot 1999

SEPTEMBER - Biodiversity Month

1

National Wattle Day - Spring commences

1

Beginning of Ramadan fasting month (Muslim Observance)

2

Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991

7

National Threatened Species Day (last Tasmanian Tiger in captivity died in Hobart Zoo 1936)

Steve Biko
Steve Biko

8

International Literacy Day

12

Death of Steve Biko 1977

15

Racial Hatred Act assented 1995

16

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

21

International Day of Prayer for Peace (See also DOV IDPP)


Aung San Suu Kyi

24

Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma forms National League for Democracy 1988

25

Social Justice Sunday

28

Death of John Pat in Roeburne Prison WA 1983 initiated the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

28

Green Consumer Day

30

Racial Discrimination Act proclaimed 1975

OCTOBER

1

International Day of Older Persons

Mahatma Ghandi
Mahatma Ghandi

1

World Wildlife Week begins

1

Eid al-Fitr - The Festival of Fast-Breaking (End of Ramadan - Muslim Observance)

2

Mahatma Ghandi born 1869

3

Day of Jewish and Christian Dialogue (Center for Christian-Jewish Learning)

3

World Habitat Day - Cities, magnets of hope

4

St Francis of Assisi - Patron Saint of Animals and the Environment

10

Treaty on the Exploration and Use of Outer Space 1967

10

World Mental Health Day

11

Opening Session of Vatican Council II 1962

12

International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction - 2006-07 - Disaster risk reduction begins at school

13

Racial Hatred Act commenced 1995

Rigoberta Menchu Tum
Rigoberta Menchu Tum

15

World Rural Women's Day

16

World Food Day - Investing in Agriculture for Food Security

16

Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala receives Nobel Peace Prize 1992

17

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty - Working Together out of Poverty (See also Millenium Campaign Voices Against Poverty)

19

Amnesty International Candle Day

19

The SIEV X sank in international waters inside the Australian border protection surveillance zone - 353 asylum seekers drown (146 children, 142 women and 65 men) 2001

24

United Nations Day - The anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that Member States observe it as a public holiday (resolution 2782 (XXVI).

24

World Development Information Day

24

Disarmament Week commences

26

Uluru handed back to traditional owners, the Mutijulu people 1985

31

Racial Discrimination Act proclaimed 1975

NOVEMBER

4

World Community Day

9

Wall separating East and West Berlin demolished 1989

10

Nine Nigerian environmentalists and human rights activists hanged 1995

11

Remembrance Day, commemorating the end of World War I 1918

12

Dili Massacre 1991

13

Death of Karen Silkwood 1975 en route to a meeting at which she planned to expose unsafe practices in a US nuclear facility

16

International Day for Tolerance

20

Anniversary of Declaration of Rights of the Child 1959 and Convention on Rights of the Child 1989

25

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

28-9 Dec

11th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and 1st meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, Montreal, Canada

29

Death of Dorothy Day 1980, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement

DECEMBER

1

World AIDS Day - Stop AIDS. Keep the promise

2

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

3

International Day of Disabled Persons

Eureka Flag

4

Battle of the Eureka Stockade

5

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development

6-11

Hajj Days (Muslim annual pilgrimage to Mecca)

7

Proclamation of Gaudium et Spes 1965

8

Close of Vatican Council II 1965

8

Eid al-Adha (Islamic Festival of the Sacrifice)

10

Human Rights Day - Adoption of United Nations Declaration of Human Rights 1948

10

Death of Thomas Merton 1968

18

International Migrants Day

18

South Australian Parliament was the first in the world to give women the right to vote 1894

21

Native Title Bill passed by the Senate 1993

23

Wik decision 1996

23

Immigration Restriction Act (White Australia Policy) enacted 1901

29

Islamic New Year (1 Muharram 1430 H.)

 

 

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