Anti-Poverty Mobilisation

With just two weeks to go before International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the biggest ever mobilization against poverty and inequality and in support of the Millennium Development Goals, is geared to take place in almost 90 countries.

Stand Up and Speak Out is a day when the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) alliance and UN Millennium Campaign call on millions to show courage and demand a more urgent political response to the growing crisis of global poverty. For 24 hours from 9pm GMT on the 16th of October people around the world from all walks of life will gather in public spaces, schools, places of work or worship, at sports and cultural events and at landmarks to demonstrate their frustration that we still live in a world where 50,000 people die daily from preventable causes. It will also offer a voice for global civil society seeking more involvement in the current aid architecture debate, debt cancellation processes, trade negotiations and public accountability monitoring.

Last year on this day 23.5 million people stood up to demand an end to poverty and set a Guinness World Record in the process. This year the goal is to widen the call to action so that we send an even louder message which politicians cannot ignore. The result of the Guinness record attempt will be announced globally on the 18th of October.

“The staggering range of events show more than just creativity but that there is a new energy and compulsion to speak out against the greatest injustice of our time – the disgrace that is preventable death from poverty. The gap between rich and poor, unequal distribution of resources and sheer lack of urgency our leaders show in responding to this with real action, is driving this year’s mobilization to new heights. People want trade injustices tackled head on now, debts cancelled immediately and aid to be far more effective than it is at present in poor countries –places where the people are preparing to hold their own leaders accountable for how this money is spent.” said Kumi Naidoo, Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty in South Africa this week.

In 2000, world leaders made a commitment to do everything in their power to end poverty, by agreeing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This year marks the halfway point to this deadline and still almost a billion people living on less than a dollar a day. Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign said “As we cross the mid-point to the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, it is clear that urgent action in many countries is needed now more than ever. By standing up last year millions around the world demonstrated their frustration with the lack of real progress in poverty eradication.

This year, millions more are joining this growing global movement of people who refuse to stay silent in the face of poverty or broken promises to end it”. Virtual Stand Up - As well as the vast range of events, millions of people will join the campaign in cyberspace posting October 17th blogs, wikis, videos and pictures on the standagainstpoverty.org website and other online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and MyGamma. In Italy, Microsoft will create a dedicated micro-site for the action and in many poor countries, particularly in Africa, mobile phone technology has enabled groups to pre-register their activities online using WAP phones and viewing videos of Stand Ups in other countries on services like You Tube.

Stand_Up_and_Speak_Out_press_release.doc

<< Back to main