Working together to eradicate poverty
17 OCTOBER 2013 | GLOBAL
Since 1990, the world has halved extreme poverty rates, millions more children go to school and more people have access to clean water. Yet, many challenges remain: 1 in 8 people remain hungry; millions continue to face discrimination and lack of access to education, employment and better lives , there are still millions of children living in extreme poverty and 6.9 million do not live to see their fifth birthday.
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an occasion to recognize people living in poverty as critical partners for fighting the development challenges we face.
Many from the poorest and most vulnerable communities are being left behind and their unique knowledge base as people living the reality overlooked. The theme for 2013 will focus on, "Working together towards a world without discrimination: Building on the experience and knowledge of people in extreme poverty". The theme highlights the discrimination that people face on a daily basis because of poverty, their marginalization in the political, economic and social spheres of their societies, and their lack of voice and representation in the conceptualisation, implementation and evaluation of policies and programmes that affect them directly and indirectly.
Today and as we look to the post-2015 agenda, by providing a space for people living in extreme poverty to elaborate on and add to existing knowledge about poverty, discrimination and human rights violations, the hope is that policies and programmes meant to eradicate poverty will be better adapted to the needs, realities and expectations of these people they are supposed to help.
There were global celebrations to mark the day including two key events at the United Nations:
- Archived web cast of World We Want 2015 event
- Press release
- Archived UN Webcast of Poverty Day commemoration
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly, by resolution 47/196, designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries. Fighting poverty remains at the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda.