Bangkok--15 Oct--UN
Citizens attempt to break another Guinness World Record by showing their governments they won’t stand for broken promises to world’s poorest
After a year in which progress on eradicating global poverty has actually reversed, millions of people are coming together across continents, cultures and time zones to tell their governments in no uncertain terms what they want them to do: End Poverty Now.
Citizens are gathering across the globe in millions of events from October 16 to 18, 2009 as part of “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!” to demand that world leaders achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — a set of promises to eradicate extreme poverty and its root causes by 2015.
In a sign of the massive global support for achieving the MDGs, last year more than 116 million people participated in “Stand Up,” shattering the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history. That mobilization spoke with one voice, to demand that governments act to end poverty.
“With just six years left until the deadline by which heads of state have pledged to eradicate extreme poverty and its root causes, ‘Stand Up’ will be a stark reminder that citizens will not accept excuses for governments breaking promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens,”
said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign.
Mr. Shetty explained that his year’s mobilization would place particular emphasis on telling world leaders that their track record on women’s rights, maternal mortality and hunger is unacceptable. “Citizens refuse to accept the fact that 70 percent of the people living in poverty are women and children and 500,000 women continue to die annually in the process of giving life, and they are demanding urgent action from their leaders.”
Adelaide Sosseh, Co-Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty
(GCAP) based in The Gambia said, “Given the amounts found to bail out banks in just a year, we know the resources are not lacking. It’s this lack of political will to tackle poverty that remains the biggest motivation behind Stand Up participation.”
This year, the UN Millennium Campaign has partnered with Skype and Ustream, the leading live online video platform that enables anyone to broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size. This partnership provides another means — along with social networking sites like facebook where the campaign is also active — to connect the world in conversation about the most important issues facing our generation.
On October 12-15, in the lead-up to the mobilization, former Irish President Mary Robinson and African entertainers Femi Kuti and Angelique Kidjo will be amongst a group of high profile decision makers and cultural celebrities participating in a 30 minute conversation with ordinary citizens around the world to discuss poverty and its root causes.
Visit www.facebook.com/mcampagin for more details and to watch and participate in the conversations live.
Actions Around Asia and the Pacific
Amongst the thousands of “Stand Up” events being planned across the globe, on Friday October 16 the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be Standing Up with students from the UN International School in New York to raise awareness about poverty and the MDGs, while events in Asia and the Pacific
include:
In Thailand, the Bangkok-based agencies will gather together at the UN Family Stand Up Event at the UN Conference Centre on October 16 and use this opportunity to highlight the Regional progress and challenge of achieving the MDGs with specific thematic focus on women’s right, hunger and climate change, while recognising the significance of public participation in this process.
In the Philippines, the Millennium Campaign will launch an “I Vote for the MDGs” campaign during “Stand Up” by surveying citizens about the issues they want their leaders to prioritize, in preparation for the May 2010 national and local elections. Results of the survey will be presented to the country’s presidential candidates during a forum on October 20.
In India, citizens will gather at India Gate on October 16 to light a lamp to symbolize the dispersal of the darkness of poverty and illiteracy, and to demand implementation of the Urban Employment Guarantee Act to provide livelihood opportunities to millions of people living in poverty in urban slums across the country.
In Bangladesh, tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a massive rally at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on October 17, inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The rally will encourage the government to make fighting poverty a major goal of Vision 2021, the long-term plan being developed in advance of the country’s 2021 Golden Jubilee. The event will be telecast on 10 screens in other public places throughout Dhaka.
In Nepal, the President will read a Stand Up Pledge with members of the Constituent assembly at an event organized by the National Planning Commission and UN in Nepal at the President’s Official residence, broadcast live on national television.
Visit www.standagainstpoverty.org/map for a full list of events.
The mobilization is organized globally by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).
For more information, audio-visual content, to book an interview or for details on events in Asia and the Pacific contact:
For more information please contact:
Kallayaphorn (Jasmine) Jaruphand
[email protected]
Telephone: +66 2 288 2867