International Day for the Eradication of Poverty by United Nations Agencies 2:20pm 18th Oct, 2008   Oct 2008    Nearly 117 million people in 131 countries stood up last weekend as part of a United Nations-led campaign to demand that world leaders keep their promises to halve extreme poverty and achieve the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their target date of 2015.    Over 8,000 events were held around the globe, from Afghanistan and Burundi to Thailand and Uganda, as part of the “Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty” campaign held from 17 to 19 October.    “We are very proud that there has been such a massive citizen response for the Millennium Development Goals and against poverty,” Salil Shetty, Director of the UN Millennium Campaign, which initiated the project, told reporters in New York today.    Nearly 117 million people – close to 2 per cent of the world’s population took part in Stand Up-related events, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest social mobilization ever on a single issue.    Mr. Shetty said the biggest mobilizations happened in Asia (over 73 million people), followed by Africa (more than 24 million) and the Arab States (nearly 18 million).    “It’s very appropriate that the parts of the world which are having to live with the daily reality of poverty are the ones who did the biggest mobilization,” he noted.    Mr. Shetty added that with the countdown to 2015 well under way, many of the events held around the world were a “wake-up call and a reminder to governments that time is running out and we expect leaders to take action.”    In a message issued for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded governments of their commitments to achieving the MDGs, saying that many had pledged new resources to bolster food security, eradicate disease, ensure access to water and sanitation, and manage the financial crisis.    “These commitments are not a matter of charity, but an obligation in the pursuit of human rights for all. If we fail to keep our promise on the MDGs, we create the conditions for greater human misery and global insecurity,” he warned.    17 October 2008    Senior United Nations officials today urged the international community to strengthen its efforts to lift the 1.4 billion people around the world living in abject poverty out of their desperate situation, as they marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that 60 years on from the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hundreds of millions of people are still deprived of basic human rights such as food, housing, education and decent working conditions.    “Those forced to live in poverty often face social exclusion, discrimination and disempowerment. Poverty robs the poor of their human dignity,” Mr. Ban said in a message issued today.    He also highlighted the challenges posed by the current economic uncertainties, saying that rising food and fuel prices and the global financial crisis threaten to negate the progress made to reduce poverty and hunger in many parts of the world, with an estimated 100 million more people at risk of falling into poverty.    Mr. Ban reminded governments of their commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the internationally agreed targets to halve extreme poverty and address other social ills by 2015 – saying that many had pledged new resources to bolster food security, eradicate disease, ensure access to water and sanitation, and manage the financial crisis.    “These commitments are not a matter of charity, but an obligation in the pursuit of human rights for all. If we fail to keep our promise on the MDGs, we create the conditions for greater human misery and global insecurity,” warned Mr. Ban.    Human rights challenges and poverty are often inextricably linked, noted Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a press release published today.    “International days such as this often stimulate fine words, but they need to be backed by deeds,” Ms. Pillay said. “A true commitment… [for] effective action, which will improve the actual day-to-day life of almost one quarter of the world’s population who live in poverty, is still far from evident,” she added.    Ms. Pillay noted that poverty and inequality often exacerbate abuse, neglect and discrimination, denying millions the enjoyment of their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights and ultimately their right to development.    While noting that an estimated 2 billion more people will be malnourished because of the recent increase in the cost of food and energy, the world must not forget that behind the figures and statistics lie the lives and unfulfilled hopes of human beings, of women, men and children across the world, said the Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG) Sergei A. Ordzhonikidze.    “Every person living in degrading poverty is a fellow human being. And this Day is their opportunity to have their voices heard,” said Mr. Ordzhonikidze.    It is the testimonies of the poor that will take the world beyond the abstract data and bear witness to the distress and despair of the vicious cycle of poverty, as well as the fortitude and determination of those who break the cycle, he told attendants of a ceremony at the Palais des Nations.    The current global financial crisis and looming economic recession will have acute and dire consequences for those already living poverty, warned Magdalena Sepúlveda, the UN Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty.    She highlighted the trillion dollars committed in recent weeks to rescue the financial system while noting that last month’s summit to renew the commitments to achieving the MDGs ended with pledges of $16 billion.    “Now more than ever, it must be understood that the protection of the fundamental rights of the poor is not a luxury that can be dismissed in time of economic hardship. It is a fundamental legal obligation that can never be ignored,” said Ms. Sepúlveda.    She also explained that those living in poverty are stripped of their human dignity, and regularly experience discrimination and violence, and denied access to justice.    There is no time to waste in the fight against poverty, the Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro warned as she led a gathering at the United Nations to symbolically stand up against poverty today, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.    “We join millions around the world today standing up against hunger and malnutrition; Standing up against deaths from preventable diseases; Standing up against poor living conditions,” Ms. Migiro told participants.    The event at UN Headquarters is part of the global “Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty” campaign, involving more than 100 countries this weekend.    The campaign is aimed at mobilizing support to fight against poverty and call on world leaders to deliver their commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the internationally agreed targets to halve extreme poverty and address other social ills by 2015.    “There are still 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty. More than 30,000 people die of malnutrition, avoidable diseases and hunger every day. There is no time to waste if we are to achieve the MDGs by the target year of 2015,” Ms. Migiro told UN staff, senior officials, diplomats, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and students pledging their support.    “We are standing because everyday 50,000 people die needlessly as a result of extreme poverty, and the gap between the rich and poor is getting wider,” participants read out as part of their pledge taken on the front lawn of the Secretariat building.    President of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto, said in his address to the event that “the persistence of poverty represents a flagrant violation of the human rights of most of the world’s people.”    “This poverty is inexcusable, since it is a man-made problem caused by the dominant culture"s perverse logic of selfishness and is within our power to eradicate,” Mr. d’Escoto added.    “I call on all parties not to reduce aid in these trying times; instead, we should triple it. Let us not wait until the poor and excluded take to the streets to demand it.”    Meanwhile more than 10,000 people from all parts of Thai society took part in an event in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, where the UN and Thai Government pledged their commitment to stamping out poverty and inequality. The event started with a walk, symbolizing unity behind the goal of eliminating poverty, and ended with Government officials signing a promise committing them to on behalf of the approximately 5.4 million Thais living below the national poverty line.    The UN Millennium Campaign, responsible for initiating the annual Stand Up events, says that luminaries such as Bono, Archbishop Tutu and Martin Luther King III will join the millions demanding governments keep promises made at the Millennium summit in 2000 to achieve the MDGs.    “From Friday to Sunday, in rich and poor countries, at concerts and sporting events, in universities and in houses of worship, millions of people will show that they will not remain seated in the face of poverty and broken promises to end it,” said Salil Shetty, Director of the UN Millennium Campaign.    “This mass mobilization will demonstrate to world leaders that citizens do not consider the global financial crisis to be an excuse for breaking promises, and they must commit to concrete plans of action now to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the MDGs by 2015.”    The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the General Assembly designated the day to promote awareness of the need to eliminate poverty and destitution in all countries.    Sep 2008    The struggle against poverty has evolved more and more visibly into an overarching development goal of the international community. Poverty eradication, however, is not only a development goal; it is also a central challenge for ensuring world-wide recognition of human rights. The international community has acknowledged that poverty is a violation of human rights and that promoting human rights can reduce poverty.    The world-wide persistence of poverty can be attributed in part to the violations of human rights. In fact, human rights violations can be both a cause and a consequence of poverty. People living in poverty are excluded from society, and their ability to secure their own rights is particularly limited by their predicament.    Poverty can be seen as a human condition of deprivation of resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.    Under the core human rights instruments, human beings are guaranteed among others, the rights to life, liberty and security of person, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to just and favourable working conditions, the right to adequate food, housing and social security, the right to education and participation in the democratic process. Securing those rights for all would bring us closer to poverty eradication.    Human rights based approach to fighting poverty links poverty reduction to the question of obligation, rather than charity and compels policymakers to implement strategies helping the most vulnerable individuals and groups escape poverty and destitution. Visit the related web page
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