United Nations
General Assembly
A/RES/57/106
Distr.: General
13 February 2003
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 98
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/57/L.8 and Add.1)]
57/106. Follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 40/212 of 17 December 1985, in which it invited
Governments to observe annually, on 5 December, an International Volunteer Day
for Economic and Social Development,
Recalling also its resolution 52/17 of 20 November 1997, in which it
proclaimed the year 2001 as the International Year of Volunteers, and its resolution
55/57 of 4 December 2000 on the observance of the International Year of
Volunteers,
Recalling further and reaffirming its resolution 56/38 of 5 December 2001,
which lays down recommendations for ways in which Governments and the United
Nations system could support volunteering,
Recognizing the valuable contribution of volunteering, including traditional
forms of mutual aid and self-help, formal service delivery and other forms of civic
participation, to economic and social development, benefiting society at large,
communities and the individual volunteer,
Recognizing also that volunteerism is an important component of any strategy
aimed at, inter alia, such areas as poverty reduction, sustainable development,
health, disaster prevention and management and social integration and, in particular,
overcoming social exclusion and discrimination,
Recognizing further that volunteering, particularly at the community level, will
help to achieve the development goals and objectives set out in the United Nations
Millennium Declaration 1 and at other major United Nations conferences, summits,
special sessions and their follow-up meetings,
Noting with appreciation the efforts to increase awareness of volunteerism
through global information sharing and education, including efforts to develop an
effective network for volunteers through, inter alia, the International Year of
Volunteers web site 2 and linked national sites,
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1
2
02 54486
See resolution 55/2.
www.iyv2001.org.