A myriad of brightly colored flags hangs from the ceiling, groups of students in traditional dress parade outside, and lively music bounces off the school walls. Students and staff share platters of delicious cultural foods, bringing unique tastes from all over the world. United Nations (UN) Day is a unique celebration that allows the UNIS community to further embrace its diversity. The annual celebration of the UN Day takes place around October 24, the date marking the establishment of the UN.

The history of UN Day traces back to the end of World War I when a group of leaders from various countries gathered to discuss the post-war settlements. This international association was known as the League of Nations. Yet despite the aspirational intentions of the league, it quickly disbanded at the beginning of World War II. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and several other figures acknowledged the need to promote international peace. They created the Atlantic Charter, the first document leading to the development of the UN. The term “United Nations” itself represented the United States’ decision to join the Allied forces against the Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, and Italy) during World War II.

Regardless of all the preceding discussions among leaders, the signing of the Declaration of the UN in 1942 sparked the formation of the group itself. Fifty representatives from twenty-six Allied countries convened in Washington D.C. to formalize their alliance. After the confirmation of the document, a UN Conference on International Organization was held in San Francisco, where leaders discussed the main focus of a possible UN Charter. Group members established the main principles of the UN; they emphasized: “maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation in solving international problems, and being a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends”. The charter was ratified by the United States, China, France, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom on October 24, 1945.

Ever since the UNIS was first established in Parkway Village, Queens, in 1947, UN Day has been a school tradition to commemorate the founding of the UN. “I had been at school assemblies before,” UNIS Queens’ principal Barbara Kennedy stated, “but the beauty of the international variety of music and songs from different cultures and in different languages really left an impact on me. I remember thinking that if only the world at large could come together like this, what a better place it would be for all of us!”

Every UN Day, we are reminded of not only the diverse cultures we should celebrate but also of the tasks we still need to work towards achieving peace and safety in our world. As former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said on UN Day, “More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together.”