UN Resolutions
The importance of volunteering to the United Nations system, and to the UN Member States who vote in the General Assembly, should not be underestimated.
Since 1985, there have been several relevant Resolutions on volunteering: you can download them below.
The latest is Resolution 66/67, adopted by the United Nations general Assembly on 5 December 2011. The official Resolution is yet to be published online, but you can download the Third Committee draft below.
Resolution A/RES/66/67 was co-sponspored by 97 countries: Albania,, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia , Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Panama, Papa New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America , Uruguay, Vanuatu and Yemen.
Res63.153_2009.pdfCall to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers - 2008
Other UN Resolutions relevant to volunteering
Res40.212_1985.pdfEstablishing International Volunteer Day for Social and Economic Development - 1985
Throughout 2011, the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers, stakeholders convened to discuss ways forward for volunteering.
Download the main declarations and recommendations below, or read more about:
- Regional Consultations (Quito, Ankara, Manila and Dakar, March-June 2011)
- Sustainable Societies, Responsive Citizens (Bonn, September 2011)
- The Global Volunteering Conference (Budapest, September 2011)
- Volunteering for Sustainable Development (New York, March 2012)