KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Youth Month is commemorated throughout the month on June. Every year on the 16th of June South Africa commemorates the 1976 youth who stood up against the apartheid government and laid down their lives fighting for freedom and the right to equal education.
- National Environment Month is also celebrated in June to create awareness on environmental issues.
- International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is commemorated on 4 June each year to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse.
- World Oceans Day is commemorated on 8 June and aims to raise awareness of the role of the oceans and the importance of conserving and protecting our marine environment.
- International Albinism Awareness Day is commemorated on 13 June 2020 to stop the brutalities against people with albinism.
- World Blood Donor Day is commemorated annually on 14 June in a global celebration of the millions of people throughout the world who give their blood on a voluntary, unpaid basis to save the lives of those in need.
- World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is commemorated on 15 June 2020.
- Youth Day commemorates the Soweto youth uprising of 16 June 1976. In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools.
- World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is commemorated on 17 June 2020. It aims to promote community and ecosystem resilience while improving the human condition, particularly in dry lands.
- World Refugee Day is held every year on 20 June. It is a special day when the world takes time to recognise the resilience of forcibly displaced people throughout the world.