International Letter Writing Week

International Letter Writing Week

Netherlands - postmark International Letter Writing Week 1957 International Letter Writing Week was established at the 14th Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress held in Ottawa in 1957 with the aim of contributing to world peace by encouraging cultural exchanges among the people of the world through letter writing. The Congress adopted recommendation C 13/1957 to this effect. The next Congress in Tokyo adopted the supplementary recommendation C 5/1964.

Letter Writing Week spans the one-week period that includes 9 October, the anniversary of the inauguration of the UPU. Nowadays the Week is a yearly event in Thailand and Japan. UPU focuses more on the International letter-writing competition for young people (established 1969) and World Post Day.

Recommendation C 13/Ottawa 1957

The Fourteenth Congress of the Universal Postal Union urges all member countries of the Union to consider the possibility of making the week in which 9 October falls International Letter Writing Week. It expressed the formal opinion that the United Nations and specialized agencies, whose aims and objects coincide with those to be achieved by the said International Week, should assist effectively in introducing it.

Recommendation C 5/Vienna 1964

In view of the importance of International Letter-writing week and of the success it meets with, it is suggested that all member countries of the Union should choose the same day as the first day of the week in question, namely, the Sunday beginning the week in which 9 October falls.

Catalogue - 1957

Saarland stamp 1957 Saarland 5 October 1957