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International Day For Eradication Of Poverty 2012
by The Ovi Team
2012-10-17 09:44:45 |
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 The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the General Assembly, by resolution 47/196, designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, particularly in developing countries - a need that has become a development priority.
At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty - people whose income is less than one dollar a day.
The theme for this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty -- “Working together out of poverty” -- highlights the need for a truly global anti-poverty alliance, one in which both developed and developing countries participate actively.
The observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty can be traced back to 17 October 1987. On that day, over a hundred thousand people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris , where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger. They proclaimed that poverty is a violation of human rights and affirmed the need to come together to ensure that these rights are respected. These convictions are inscribed in a commemorative stone unveiled on this day. Since then, people of all backgrounds, beliefs and social origins have gathered every year on October 17 th to renew their commitment and show their solidarity with the poor. Replicas of the commemorative stone have been unveiled around the world and serve as a gathering place to celebrate the Day. One such replica is located in the garden of United Nations Headquarters and is the site of the annual commemoration organized by the United Nations Secretariat in New York .
Through resolution 47/196 adopted on 22 December 1992, the General Assembly declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and invited all States to devote the Day to presenting and promoting, as appropriate in the national context, concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution. The resolution further invites intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to assist States, at their request, in organizing national activities for the observance of the Day, and requests the Secretary-General to take, within existing resources, the measures necessary to ensure the success of the Day's observance by the United Nations.
October 17 th presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. Participation of the poor themselves has been at the center of the Day's celebration since its very beginning. The commemoration of October 17 th also reflects the willingness of people living in poverty to use their expertise to contribute to the eradication of poverty.
Message of the Secretary-General
The theme for this year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – “Working together out of poverty”—highlights the need for a truly global anti-poverty alliance, one in which both developed and developing countries participate actively.
The world has made real but insufficient progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Thus, while extreme poverty declined significantly between 1990 and 2002—from 28% to 19% of the developing world’s population—progress has been uneven both within and between regions and countries. In much of Asia, economic and social progress has lifted nearly a quarter of a billion people out of perpetual poverty. But poverty rates in Western Asia and Northern Africa have remained stagnant, while the transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have registered increases. And sub-Saharan Africa lags the most, with the region unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015.
Clearly, more needs to be done to tackle poverty and underdevelopment. The Doha trade negotiations need to produce freer and fairer trade for all. Developed nations need to come through on their Official Development Assistance (ODA) and debt relief commitments. Developing nations, for their part, should prioritize the Millennium Development Goals and, if they have not yet done so, adopt national strategies to achieve them. They should utilize ODA flows to bolster national capacities in a sustainable manner, emphasizing better governance and strengthened rule of law. And countries already on track to achieve the Goals can aim higher still by adopting even more ambitious targets.
Regrettably, the “global partnership for development” remains more phrase than fact. This has to change. All key development actors – governments, the private sector, civil society and people living in poverty – must undertake a truly collective anti-poverty effort that will lift living standards and alleviating human suffering.
The campaign to make poverty history—a central moral challenge of our age—cannot remain a task for the few, it must become a calling for the many. On this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, I urge everyone to join this struggle. Together, we can make real and sufficient progress towards the end of poverty.
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