On this day in 1945, the UN Charter entered into force, an achievement that is commemorated annually on 24 October to remind the Organization of its commitment to preserving peace, providing security and helping those in need.

The joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, known as UNAMID, observed the Day with an official ceremony at its headquarters in the state of North Darfur.

UNAMID police and military paraded for an audience that included senior mission officials, UN Country Team representatives and North Darfur Government officials, as well as staff from the mission and UN agencies.

The celebration also included presentations of peace songs by school children from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and children from the Abu Shock camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs). In addition, Gambian and Rwandan UNAMID contingents performed cultural displays, with the Filipino police unit performing martial arts exercise.

During the event, the acting Joint Special Representative for UNAMID Henry Anyidoh urged the civilian, military and police staff to continue their task in serving the cause of peace, stability and development in Darfur and for the Darfurians.

He also read a message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released via video, on Friday, calling on his UN colleagues to “redouble our efforts on behalf of the vulnerable, the powerless, the defenceless. Let us stand more united than ever – united in purpose and united in action to make the world a safer, better place.”

In his message for UN Day, Mr. Ban added that the Organization is “forging a new multilateralism that can deliver real results for all people, especially those most in need.”

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Secretary-General's Special Representative Alan Doss quoted from Mr. Ban's message in his remarks to a ceremony in the nation's capital, Kinshasa.

“Today is a unique moment in world history,” said Mr. Doss, who heads the UN mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC.

“Multiple crises - food crisis, energy crisis, financial crisis and pandemic flu - hit us all at the same time. Climate change is more threatening every day,” said Mr. Doss.

“All these phenomena reflect a reality of the twenty-first century ¬- namely that we all live on one planet, under one roof. Together we will sink or survive, both individually as nations or across the species.”

In Timor-Leste today the UN mission (UNMIT) helped organize a Model UN conference in the country's capital, Dili, to commemorate the occasion.

The conference re-created the historic Security Council session of October 1999, responding to the eruption of violence, in which up to 2,000 people were killed, in the aftermath of the UN-organized Popular Consultation that saw Timorese turn out in huge numbers to vote for independence over autonomy within Indonesia.

“UNMIT and the whole United Nations family in Timor-Leste have been happy to support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its initiative to conduct this first Model UN,” said Finn Reske-Nielsen, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Timor-Leste.

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With concerts, films and ceremonies, UN marks its 64th birthday