To commemorate the founding of the United Nations on October 24, 1945, TU Dresden and partners from across Dresden hosted the annual UN Day celebration on November 3. This special event at Dresden City Hall aims to connect citizens with the work and vision of the United Nations and inspire communities to actively engage in grassroots initiatives for sustainability, society and peace. This year's theme related to SDG 16: promoting peace, justice and strong institutions; a goal that has certainly been on the minds of many recently.

Festveranstaltung zum UN Tag 2022

The head of the Mayor's Office of the City of Dresden, Ms. Kerstin Zimmermann, opened the ceremony to present the city's perspective on the topic. Indeed, in recent months there has been an outpouring of social inclusion and calls for peace, with large numbers of Ukrainians seeking refuge in the city.

The guest of honor at the event was Dr Angela Kane, who has had a long and distinguished career of more than 35 years at the United Nations - both in the field and at headquarters in New York. Dr. Kane's most notable posts include her service as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for United Nations (UN) Disarmament Affairs, and as a member (2016-2019) and Chair (2019-2022) of the United Nations University (UNU) Council.

In her speech, Dr. Kane spoke of her concern about the rise of "me first" politics in the context of energy crises and support for refugees, as well as the danger of disinformation being spread by the press - especially given the rise of social media. For Dr. Kane, the concept of a culture of peace is something that needs to be continually worked toward, and in which youth play an essential role.

    "Instead of increasing populism, nationalism and bilateralism, we need a new vision of a just world order and a strengthening rather than weakening of international organizations. We have suddenly become aware of how fragile peace is. But that also means we need to do more to preserve it." - Dr. Angela Kane

Following Professor Dominik Steiger, Chair of International Law, European Law and Public Law at the Technical University of Dresden, placed his keynote speech under the motto "Si vis pacem - Para Bellum" ("If you want (peace), prepare (for) war."). He presented the thesis that a culture of peace presupposes the ability to defend oneself militarily if necessary, and emphasized that this theory is explicitly enshrined in the UN Charter.

Prof. Dr. Edeltraud Guenther, Director of UNU FLORES, then moderated a dynamic and informative panel discussion in which Dr. Kane and Prof. Steiger addressed questions posed to them by members of the public via social media. It became clear that the need to keep the peace is capturing the attention of people on the ground, with one prevailing aspect being the tendency of decision makers to avoid taking decisive long-term action for peace due to legislative periods in the political arena.

Award ceremony

The UN Day celebrations also included the award ceremony for special contributions to Dresden's sustainable development, organized for the 23rd time by the Local Agenda for Dresden e.V. and the Lions Club Dresden Agenda 21. This year, four regional initiatives received this prestigious award in a total of three categories.

Preisverleihung Lokale Agenda Wettbewerb beim UN Tag 2022

The prize in the category "Education for Sustainable Development and Social Coexistence", sponsored by SachsenEnergie AG, was won by two associations this year. The winners are "Dresden Migration Stories: Making Women's* Voices Visible" by the Ausländerrat Dresden e.V. and the "Metro_polis" by metro_polis n.e.V.". In the category "Sustainable children and youth projects" the jury of the Lions Club Dresden Agenda 21 has chosen the "little peace doves" of Kolibri e.V. as this year's winner. The prize money is sponsored by the Lions Club Dresden Agenda 21. The audience award was won by "Montagscafé - an intercultural forum for all" in 2022, which is happy about the donation of the prize money by Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH.
Congratulations to the committed initiatives and thank you for the groundbreaking, innovative and social ideas!

The festive event was accompanied through the evening by the musical duo from South Korea, Sukwoo Kang (vocals) and Jisu Park (grand piano). The guests enjoyed, among others, the classical aria "Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre" from the opera Carmen. The ceremony was followed by a reception with networking opportunities, catering and the presentation of the award winners in the ballroom of the Dresden City Hall.

UN Tag 2022 im Dresdner Rathaus

The organizers of the United Nations Day in Dresden include the TU Dresden, UNU-FLORES (UNU FLORES), the Local Agenda 21 for Dresden e. V. (Link), the state capital Dresden (Link), the Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia Regional Association of the German United Nations Association (DGVN), the Center for International Studies (ZIS), the Technical University of Dresden and the Lions Club Local Agenda 21 Dresden e. V. (Link).

The ceremony was broadcast by live stream, feel free to watch the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9aUp0DimJY