World Day of Social Justice

Every February 20, World Social Justice Day is celebrated. This occurs with the objective of raising awareness and promoting actions that contribute to greater social justice.

The commemoration dates back to 2007. That year, on November 26, it was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). According to the website www.diainternacionalde.com , the goal is to “eradicate poverty and promote full employment and decent work; equality between the sexes, access to social welfare and social justice for all.”

In a general understanding, social justice consists of defending equal opportunities, fighting discrimination and in favor of the rights of all people. When we talk about social justice, we refer to the rights and obligations of individuals in an equal, fair, and balanced fashionmanner. It’s a category of greater scope than that of legal justice.

It has been proven that the history of social justice dates back to ancient times, when the Greek philosopher Aristotle explained his ideas on this topic. A curious fact is that, according to research associated with the National University of Colombia, in the world there are nearly 80 constitutions that enshrine the expression “social justice” as one of the values of the State or one of its founding principles.

However, until today  there’s no globally accepted definition of this concept.
For the United Nations system, the pursuit of social justice represents, at least in principle, the core of its mission. Indeed, the UNGA resolution that established the commemoration maintains in its first operative point that “social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations.”

Later, the same document “recognizes the need to continue consolidating the work of the international community aimed at eradicating poverty and promoting full employment and decent work, equality between the sexes and access to social welfare and social justice for all".

However, these projections of the international community have not been enough for social justice to deepen in global society. Situations of helplessness are reported daily, in which large human conglomerates are deprived of their most basic rights; sometimes even the right to life.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff