17 October: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

The 2016 theme for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, commemorated annually on 17 October, is ‘Moving from Humiliation and Exclusion to Participation: Ending poverty in all its forms.’

The United Nations officially celebrated the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty in 1992, although it has been unofficially celebrated since 1987 by participants at the Human Rights Plaza in Paris.

One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to 2030 is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, recognizing that there are many interrelated factors that affect the lives of people living in poverty. Poverty is not just a lack of income or material wealth, such as food, housing, land, and other assets.

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said ‘Poverty is not simply measured by inadequate income. It is manifested in restricted access to health, education, and other essential services and, too often, by the denial or abuse of other human rights … Let us listen to, and heed, the voices of people living in poverty. Let us commit to respect and defend the human rights of all people and end the humiliation and social exclusion that people living in poverty face every day by promoting their involvement in global efforts to end extreme poverty once and for all.’

http://www.un.org/en/events/povertyday/

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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