Every day when I read the news, and follow statuses or tweets, I can see more and more people who share the idea of removing barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, or disability. Then I ask myself: did I have that image 5 years ago? And the answer is simple: I’ve chosen this group of people to follow, or information to absorb, so therefore, I live in a bubble where awareness about these topics is high. The reality is different: there is still a big need for reminding each other that if we want to strive for social development, we should remember and remind ourselves that at first, it aims at social justice. To follow this idea, today, we celebrate the World Day of Social Justice.
Originally proclaimed in 2007, the day supports efforts of the international community in poverty eradication, promoting full employment and decent work, gender equity, and access to social well-being and justice for all. Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. The principles of social justice are upheld when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants, and when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, or disability. Play for Peace supports the ideas of the World Day of Social Justice in many ways. But today, we focus on our work with refugee children. Across a multitude of situations and countries, Play for Peace has worked to help those displaced from their homes and communities who are seeking refuge in new parts of the world. Our volunteers have worked hard to ease tensions in refugee camps and to support the emotional health of children who have lost loved ones, supporting and reinforcing their feeling of safety. While promoting our idea of helping and making children smile again, we experienced even more joy through building life-long friendships and learning. We aim to establish “the society for all” by offering peaceful solutions for overcoming conflict situations, establishing foundations for successful learning, facilitating cooperative games, and much more. Today, we hope our work will help to spread the word about the equal right to freedom, the equal right to happiness, and the equal right to celebrate life. We will continue to use our voices and our presence to help those who need it most.
Editor's Note: Author Marija Markovic comes from Serbia and currently lives and works in Prague. She travels throughout the European countries, experiencing different cultures, and finding passion in projects related to children's education, sports occasions, and raising awareness for management in culture.
