"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."
United Nations Ex-Secretary-General, Kofi Annan"Excerpts taken from his message to be delivered on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October 2006".
United Nations Ex-Secretary-General, Kofi Annan"Excerpts taken from his message to be delivered on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October 2006".
October 17, 2009 marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The poverty rate in the United States has now risen to 13.2 percent, the highest level in eleven years of course developed states are used as a benchmark of sorts. And around the world, two billion people, or a full third of humanity, are poor, living on less than $2 a day. One billion live in extreme poverty, earning less than $1 a day. The latest numbers from the United Nations indicate that over a billion people are also going hungry. Irene Khan argues that these harsh numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Poverty, the book argues, must be recognized as the world’s worst human rights crisis.
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 17th 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.
GA Resolution A/RES/47/196 of 31 March 1993
Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International. Born in Bangladesh, she is the first Asian woman to head Amnesty International. She won the Sydney Peace Prize in 2006, and her book, out in the US today, is called The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights.
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