23 October 2023

Tuesday¡¯s annual observance marking the official creation of the United Nations was overshadowed by the rising toll of suffering and sacrifice in Gaza, where 35 staff members with Palestine refugee agency Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA have now lost their lives.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Day on 24 October marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the ¨C the day the Organization officially came into being.

¡®We grieve, and we remember¡¯

The dead in Gaza include many teachers, the agency noted in a tweet on Monday. ¡°We grieve and we remember. These are not just numbers. These are our friends and colleagues¡­Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµRWA mourns this huge loss.¡±

The 13,000-strong agency which operates across the Palestine Occupied Territory has been working tirelessly with other Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ humanitarians inside Gaza and across the region, to aid stricken civilians, often at great personal risk.

Determined to forge peace

Through the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Charter, countries united in their resolve to ¡°save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.¡±

Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres recalled that the Charter ¡°is rooted in a determination¡± to build peace.

¡°On this United Nations Day, let us commit with hope and determination to build the better world of our aspirations,¡± he said.

Call for unity

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ chief called on all nations to commit to a future that lives up to the name of the indispensable organization.

¡°We are a divided world. We can and must be united nations,¡± he urged.

Commemorative events planned on Tuesday include at Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Headquarters in New York, on the theme of The Frontlines of Climate Action, reinforcing one of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ chief¡¯s key priorities, ahead of the crucial COP28 summit in Dubai next month.