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World Humanitarian Day 19 August

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Providing life-saving support during the pandemic.

On World Humanitarian Day (WHD) August 19, the world commemorates humanitarian workers killed and injured in the course of their work, and we honour all aid and health
workers who continue, despite the odds, to provide life-saving support and protection to people most in need.
This year World Humanitarian Day comes as the world continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic over recent months. Aid workers are overcoming unprecedented access hurdles to assist people in humanitarian crises in 54 countries, as well as in a further nine countries which have been catapulted into humanitarian need by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This day was designated in memory of the 19 August 2003 bomb attack on the Canal
Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 22 people, including the chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio
Vieira de Mello. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as
World Humanitarian Day.

International Day of Friendship, July 30th

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Our world faces many challenges, crises and forces of division — such as poverty, violence, and human rights abuses — among many others — that undermine peace,
security, development and social harmony among the world’s peoples.
To confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by
promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which is friendship.
Through friendship — by accumulating bonds of camaraderie and developing strong ties of trust — we can contribute to the fundamental shifts that are urgently needed to achieve lasting stability, weave a safety net that will protect us all, and generate passion for a better world where all are united for the greater good.

Background
The International Day of Friendship was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General
Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and
individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.
The resolution places emphasis on involving young people, as future leaders, in
community activities that include different cultures and promote international
understanding and respect for diversity.
To mark the International Day of Friendship the UN encourages governments,
international organizations and civil society groups to hold events, activities and
initiatives that contribute to the efforts of the international community towards promoting
a dialogue among civilizations, solidarity, mutual understanding and reconciliation.
The International Day of Friendship is an initiative that follows on the proposal made by
UNESCO defining the Culture of Peace as a set of values, attitudes and behaviours that
reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems. It was then adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1997.

Year 1399: The Year of National Solidarity for the Rescue of Iran and Iranians

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Each year, the Pasargad Heritage Foundation proposes a name for the coming Persian New Year, on the eve of Iran’s most significant holiday and national celebration. This choice has so far been in the context of the preservation of Iran’s historical and cultural heritage.
The goal of the Pasargad Heritage Foundation is to name the year to remind people of the unique values of Iran’s exquisite culture of wisdom and affection and to pay attention to the destructive, discriminatory, and anti-cultural practices that have been endangering our cultural and natural heritage for the last 41 years.
As everyone is aware, this year is critical in that not only our cultural, historical, and natural heritage are severely threatened, but also our venerable land and all its natural resources are greatly endangered.
Poverty, disease, and natural and man-made disasters, alongside all types of governmental violence, killing, and intentional neglect, put both the lives and livelihood of our people on the brink of disaster and our land on the edge of natural catastrophe.
Iran has been plagued by years of neglect and destruction. Is it possible to even find a
government in our times, even in the most dictatorial countries, a government so ignorant, thoughtless, and uncaring of its own people as we see with the Islamic government in Iran?
Now, when Iran and Iranians need expert, efficient, humanitarian, and kind Iranians to take control of our land, the ruling Islamic Republic of Iran is only ready to step up and crush and endanger lives of these Iranians.
In our view of the current situation, Iranians need national solidarity, the kind that has aided and solidified the future and prospects of the colonized or war-torn countries of the last two centuries after challenging times.
It is now necessary for the people of Iran to strive to help one another to overthrow this cruel, anti-freedom government, in the hopes that these invisible chains will be broken so as to bring light from the current darkness.
In honor of Nowruz, Pasargad Heritage Foundation, which symbolizes the belief in humanity, nature, and the preservation of the physical and psychological values of human life, designates the year 1399 as the “Year of National Solidarity for the Rescue of Iran and Iranians.” This is with the hope that the beautiful humanitarian and patriotic attitudes that have saved Iran and Iranians from destruction many times in history will flourish again and that the Iranian people will survive and triumph amid this critical crisis.
Wishing you a Happy New Year, and looking forward to a prosperous Iran, with happy and healthy people and a vibrant and beautiful atmosphere of freedom.

With kindness,
Shokooh Mirzadegi

Responsible for the executive affairs of the Pasargad Heritage Foundation
March 14, 2020

Happy Nowruz March 21, 2020

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Nowruz is first day of Spring and the beginning of the Iranian year . Nowruz is celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox , on 20th March or the previous / following day depending on where it is celebrated. Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian people as well as several other countries across Asia including Afghanistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan and many more. The new year starts at the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day or exactly when the Earth has completed one cycle around the Sun.
The celebration has its roots in Ancient Iran. Due to its antiquity, there exist various
foundation myths for Nowruz in Iranian mythology. The Shahnameh dates Nowruz as
far back to the reign of Jamshid, who in Zoroastrian texts saved mankind from a killer
winter that was destined to kill every living creature. In the Shahnameh and Iranian
mythology, Jamshid is credited with the foundation of Nowruz. In the Shahnama,
Jamshid constructed a throne studded with gems. He had demons raise him above the
earth into the heavens; there he sat on his throne like the sun shining in the sky. The
world’s creatures gathered in wonder about him and scattered jewels around him, and
called this day the New Day or Now-Ruz. This was the first day of the month of
Farvardin (the first month of the Persian calendar). On Nowruz, families gather together
to observe the rituals and celebrate the beginning of the new year.
In addition, it is believed that originally the celebration was the holiest Zoroastrian
festival, and Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although
there is no clear date of origin. Since the Achaemenid era, the official year has begun
with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox.
International Nowruz Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, in
its resolution A/RES/64/253 of 2010, at the initiative of several countries that share this
holiday (Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

The International Day of Education

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The world will celebrate the International Day of Education on 24 January 2020, a day proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to honor education and its entrality to human well-being and sustainable development. The 2020 celebration will position education and the learning it enables as humanity’s greatest renewable resource and reaffirm the role of education as a fundamental right, a public good and an enabler of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It will frame ‘inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all’ as a goal in and of itself, as well as a necessary means to accelerate progress to meet the targets of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. As the UN organization mandated to lead on education in the 2030 Agenda, UNESCO will draw on its convening power and engage with education and development partners to celebrate the Day around the world by focusing on the many ways learning can empower people, preserve the planet, build shared prosperity and foster peace.The 2020 theme ‘Learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace’, highlights the integrated nature of education, its humanistic aims, as well as its centrality to our collective development ambitions. It also gives stakeholders and partners flexibility to tailor the celebration for diverse audiences, a variety of contexts and for priority themes.

A humanistic approach to education implies an integrated approach to the multiple individual and collective purposes of education. Education is at the heart of both personal and community development. Its mission is to help all people develop their talents fully and to realize their creative potentials, including responsibility for their own lives and the capacity to contribute to society. Education is also a powerful catalyst – for combating poverty and inequality, improving health and well-being, and overcoming discrimination. It is the key to achieving gender equality and is vital for peacebuilding and reconciliation. Education initiatives have a proven potential to help marginalized populations gain access to justice that contributes to peaceful societies.

Happy New Year 2020

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Happy New Year
Dear friends, supporters, and members of World Cultural Heritage Voices.  On behalf of our colleagues and volunteers at WCHV and on the occasion of the New Year, I would like to thank you for your generous support in 2019, which has been so
instrumental in achieving our goals and mission.
We hope that you, as a valued supporter, friend and member of our organization,
continue to play an active role in supporting us to meet our goals in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Shokooh Mirzadegi
Executive Director
12.27.2019
www.wchv.org

Human Rights Day

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Human Rights Day
10 December
Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger “
Eleanor Roosevelt
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): a milestone document proclaiming the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.

World Children’s Day

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UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Around the world, children are showing us their strength and leadership advocating for a more sustainable world for all. Let’s build on advances and re-commit to putting children first. For every child, every right.
World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare.
November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General
Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child . It is also the date in 1989
when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child .
Since 1990, World Children’s Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN
General Assembly adopted both the Declaration and the Convention on children’s rights.
Mothers and fathers, teachers, nurses and doctors, government leaders and civil society
activists, religious and community elders, corporate moguls and media professionals, as
well as young people and children themselves, can play an important part in making
World Children’s Day relevant for their societies, communities and nations.

Happy Cyrus the Great Day Oct. 29

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This year, the twenty-ninth day of October 2019 coincides with the annual celebration of “Cyrus the Great Day” by Iranian people and many friends of culture across the globe. In 2005, the Pasargad Heritage Foundation – the first international NGO for preservation of the cultural heritage of Iran- that introduced the idea. At the time, Cyrus’ mausoleum in Iran- a monument registered on the UNESCO’s world heritage list – was in danger of being inundated and eventually destroyed. However, the hard work of this Foundation and timely intervention of UNESCO, human rights activists and organizations removed the danger and led to a world-wide recognition of Cyrus’ seminal contribution to the survival of our common human civilization.