November 20 is celebrated as World Children’s Day, International Pediatrician Day and
World Day of Geographic Information Systems.
World Children’s Day
This day is established by the United Nations to draw attention to the protection of children’s rights and their well-being. This date was not chosen by chance: it was on November 20, 1959 that the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and 30 years later, in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted – a key international document protecting the rights of children around the world. This day is an opportunity to reflect on childhood problems, celebrate progress in solving them and call for further action. Despite advances in child rights, many still face challenges such as poverty, limited access to education, violence and discrimination.
Every year, this day unites governments, non-governmental organizations, parents, teachers and children themselves around the idea of creating a better future for the smallest inhabitants of the planet. Festive events, conferences, games and charity events are held in schools and children’s centers. Organizations conduct campaigns aimed at drawing attention to important problems and gathering resources to solve them.
Interesting facts
Currently, more than 2.2 billion children live on the planet – this is almost a third of the Earth’s population.
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child has been ratified by 196 countries of the world, which makes it one of the most supported international treaties.
Almost 25% of children live in poverty and more than 260 million do not have access to education.
Over the past 30 years, thanks to the development of medicine, mortality among children under the age of five has decreased by 50%.
On this day, in many countries, the action “Children rule the world” takes place, when children take part in decision-making or temporarily occupy the positions of adults.
International Day of Pediatricians
This is a professional holiday of children’s doctors. The initiative to create this day belongs to the UN General Assembly, which sought to emphasize the importance of the pediatrician profession in ensuring the health and well-being of children around the world. The date of the celebration was not chosen by chance: on this day in 1959, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted, and in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted. These documents laid the foundation for international efforts to protect children’s rights, including the right to quality medical care.
Pediatricians are specialists who take care of the physical, emotional and mental development of children from birth to adolescence. Their work covers disease prevention, treatment of acute and chronic ailments, support of families in the care of children and dissemination of knowledge about healthy lifestyles. Thanks to modern medical technologies and the hard work of pediatricians, mortality among children has decreased significantly over the past decades. They play a key role in the fight against infectious diseases, ensuring vaccination and early detection of serious pathologies.
Interesting facts
Pediatrics as a separate medical specialty appeared at the end of the 19th century, when it was understood that children need a unique approach to treatment.
In the middle of the 19th century, the German doctor Abraham Jacobi initiated a systematic study of children’s diseases.
Thanks to pediatricians, the world has overcome a number of dangerous childhood diseases, such as polio and measles.
According to WHO, more than 70% of children’s health depends on the work of pediatricians.
World Geographic Information Systems Day (GIS Day)
World Geographic Information Systems Day (GIS Day) is celebrated every year on the third Wednesday of November. This international holiday is aimed at popularizing geographic information systems (GIS) technologies and highlighting their impact on the modern world.
GIS Day was first organized in 1999 at the initiative of Esri, a leader in creating GIS software. The idea of this day arose as part of Geography Week, which is held with the support of the National Geographic Society of the United States. The purpose of the event is to draw attention to the importance of spatial data and geography in solving global and local problems.
GIS is a modern technology that allows you to collect, analyze and visualize spatial information. It is used in various fields: from environmental monitoring and urban planning to crisis management and logistics. GIS is changing the way we explore the world, allowing us to better understand the relationships between objects and phenomena.
Interesting facts
The first geographic information system was created in Canada in the 1960s for land management.
Popular services such as Google Maps use GIS for route planning, traffic analysis and navigation.
GIS technologies play an important role in predicting natural disasters, modeling the spread of diseases, and planning evacuations.
Thanks to GIS, information can be obtained even from the most remote corners of the planet using satellite images.
GIS allows you to create interactive maps that integrate multi-layered data, from demographics to climate conditions.
GIS is actively used to model climate change and develop mitigation strategies.
GIS is used in urban planning, agriculture, logistics, tourism and even marketing.
Historical events on this day
284 year: Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian became the Roman emperor. His reign marked the beginning of a period of stabilization in the Roman Empire after a period of anarchy. Diocletian is known for his administrative reform, which divided the empire into western and eastern parts, which laid the foundation for the continued existence of Byzantium.
1815 year: The Second Peace Treaty was signed in Paris after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo. The agreement formalized the new borders of Europe, cemented the restoration of the monarchy in France and determined the political structure of the continent for decades.
1910 year: Beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Francisco Madero, who opposed the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, called the Mexican people to an armed uprising. The revolution lasted more than 10 years and became an important event in the history of Latin America, contributing to the modernization of society.
1917 year: The Central Council issued III station wagon, which announced the creation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR) as part of federal Russia. This became an important step in the struggle of the Ukrainian people for self-determination.
1936 year: Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera was shot in Alicante, the founder of the Falangist party in Spain. His death during the civil war made him a symbol for the Francoists.
1947 year: The wedding of 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth took place in London (the future Queen Elizabeth II) with Lieutenant Philip Mountainbatten, who had Greek and Danish roots.
1976 year: The premiere of the film took place “Rocky”, which became a cult sports drama film and gave the world the hero Sylvester Stallone.
1979 year: The hostage-taking began in the holy mosque Al-Haram in the city of Mecca. The conflict, which lasted 15 days, claimed the lives of 255 people.
1985 year: Microsoft introduced the Windows operating system, which became a breakthrough in the development of personal computers.
1998 year: The first module of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched into orbit, which became the basis for global scientific cooperation in space.
2003 year: A terrorist act took place in the center of Istanbul, as a result of which 28 people died and 450 were injured. The explosions rocked Turkey and became part of a wave of terrorism in the early 2000s.
2015 year: In the capital of Mali, Bamako, armed terrorists took hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel. As a result of the attack, 19 people were killed, and 2 more terrorists were eliminated.
The beginning of the Nuremberg Trials
On November 20, 1945, the Nuremberg Trials began, which became the first ever international trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. This trial, which lasted 316 days and ended on October 1, 1946, is considered one of the main trials of the 20th century.
The venue was not chosen by chance – Nuremberg, a Bavarian city that became a symbol of the rise of the Third Reich, thanks to large-scale propaganda rallies of the Nazi Party. The symbolism of the city was reminiscent of the origins of Nazi ideology.
24 key political and military leaders of Nazi Germany, as well as representatives of the government, military, medical and business circles, were on the dock. The trial took place with the participation of representatives of four states: the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and France. In total, more than 200 people were brought to justice.
Each defendant was provided with a lawyer. In total, their interests were represented by 27 defenders, who were assisted by 54 assistants and 67 secretaries. During the process, 403 open meetings were held and 240 witnesses were heard. The written materials included more than 300,000 documents, and the total volume of the tribunal protocols reached 16,000 pages.
Among the key innovations of the Nuremberg Trials was the introduction of the concept of “genocide.””. The author of this term was a lawyer of Polish-Jewish origin, Raphael Lemkin, who lost almost 50 relatives during the Holocaust. He defined genocide as “a coordinated plan of action aimed at destroying the foundations of life of certain national groups.”
This process created a precedent in international law: for the first time, a supranational court considered the crimes of an individual state. A clear line was also drawn between laws and the law: in the Third Reich, “laws” were enforced that were inherently criminal in themselves.
None of the defendants admitted their guilt or asked for mercy. However, it is interesting that they and their lawyers did not deny the very fact of the existence of crimes. Their position was as follows: Hitler, Himmler, and Heydrich, who had already died, were responsible for everything, and their judgment was called “the justice of the victors.”
In particular, Hermann Goering, one of the key defendants, declared that he remained loyal to Hitler and expressed his belief that “his name will be remembered.” Goering, sentenced to death by hanging, poisoned himself with cyanide on the eve of his execution, demanding that he be shot rather than hanged.
As a result of the Nuremberg trials, most of the convicts were executed on October 16, 1946 in the gymnasium of the Nuremberg prison. Others received various prison terms, including life. Three defendants were acquitted, including the chief propagandist of the Third Reich, Hans Fritsche. Among those convicted were 23 Nazi doctors responsible for experiments on humans.
The Nuremberg trial became a historical precedent in international law:
- For the first time, the state was punished for crimes against humanity.
- A mechanism for prosecution of genocide and war crimes appeared in international law.
- The world learned for the first time about the secret crimes of the Nazis, in particular about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which was previously classified.
The Nuremberg trials laid the foundations for modern international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It became a lesson for future generations and a call to action that responsibility for crimes does not disappear with the end of war.
The beginning of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine
November 20, 2004 became a key date in the history of Ukraine, because it was then that the Orange Revolution began – an event that determined the political development of the country for the following years. On this day, the Shevchenkivskiy District Court of Kyiv made an important decision: to reject the submission of the Kyiv City State Administration regarding the restriction of mass actions on the Independence Square. This decision opened the way for large-scale protests that soon covered the entire country.
On the same day, the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, made a landmark statement in his televised address to the people of Ukraine:
“We all know that revolutions are planned by dreamers, carried out by fanatics, and their fruits are used by scoundrels. There will be no revolution. There will be elections worthy of a European country of the 21st century. There will be elections…”.
However, despite the words of the head of state, the situation in the country rapidly escalated. Mass falsifications during the second round of presidential elections on November 21, when Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner, caused outrage among citizens. This indignation resulted in large-scale peaceful protests, which later became known as the “Orange Revolution”.
One of the leaders of the protests and the instigators of the revolution, it was later said: “We won, but we couldn’t keep the victory.” These words symbolize not only the success in the fight for justice in the elections, but also the challenges that arose later due to the inability to realize all the expectations placed on the revolution.
The Orange Revolution was the first powerful manifestation of civil activism, which proved that the people of Ukraine are ready to defend their rights by peaceful means.
This event became a landmark not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole world, showing the desire of Ukrainians for democratic changes and European values. It laid the foundation for subsequent civil movements, in particular the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014.
November 20, 2004 will forever remain in the memory of Ukrainians as the day when one of the greatest peaceful revolutions of modern times began, which became a symbol of the struggle for freedom and justice.
