The World Day of Remembrance is the day on which all those killed and injured in road crashes are remembered, together with their families, the emergency services and all others affected or involved in the aftermath.
Why is there a need for a World Day of Remembrance?
Road deaths and injuries are sudden, violent, traumatic events, and their impact is long-lasting, often permanent. Each year, millions of newly bereaved and injured people from every corner of the world are added to the many millions already suffering as the result of a road crash.
The sense of grief and distress of this huge group of people is all the greater because many of the victims are young, because many of the crashes could and should have been prevented and because the response to road death and injury and to road crash victims is often experienced as inadequate, cruelly unsympathetic, and inappropriate to a loss of life or quality of life.
This year, the World Day of Remembrance is taking place on 21st November 2010. YOURS fully endorses the reach and scope of this work and encourages organizations to organize events on this day. Information on how to do this can be found on the attachments.
History of the World Day of Remembrance: Victim organisations establish this day
Observed for ten years from 1993 by victim organisations under the umbrella of the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims, FEVR, this Remembrance Day has become a very important day for bereaved and injured victims and all those supporting them. Gradually it has also come to be seen by many others as an important day on which to highlight the huge scale of road death and injury, its impact and cost, and as an opportunity for taking action. See page 4 of the WDOR guide for more information.
WHO and UN promote global recognition
From 2003 onwards the World Health Organisation has been supporting the recognition of this day by the United Nations and this recognition came with UN resolution 60/5, adopted by the General Assembly on 26 October 2005 who welcomed …the proposal to designate the third Sunday in November as the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, in recognition of road traffic victim and their families’ loss and suffering and invited Member States and the international community to recognize this day. WHO website
World Day is observed worldwide
World Day observance has already spread to all continents and is spreading to more countries on each continent with every year. The Annual Archive will show their rising number, as will some World Day press releases and online research.
Importance of World Day
Giving significance to this Remembrance Day will signal the importance governments accord to the issue of road danger reduction, therefore their response to the call for official World Day recognition will be closely observed.