International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

[Madalena Lobao_Tello]

"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".

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
Observance of an International Day for the Eradication of poverty
Brochure (to be made into an HTML file)
Poster for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/intldays/IntlDay/index.html

[Madalena Lobao_Tello]

[Madalena Lobao_Tello]

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

TRIBUTE TO KEVIN CARTER

Kevin Carter did not survive his prize-winning photo. His obituary was published in the Britannica Book of the Year with that photo on half page size, and the following text :
"Carter, who was increasingly depressed by the violence and suffering he had witnessed and despondent over the shooting death of his friend and colleague Ken Oosterbroek, took his own life."

Kevin Carter was born and died in Johannesburg. 1960-1994.

This photo and the story behind are the most terrific testimony in the history of our "civilization". Thank you Mada for keeping its memory.

[Rebanta Goswami]

Mada,
All these are spreading a deep chilling fear about our existence as human beings. How people are surviving not only just below poverty level, but as humanoids. No food, no care, its a living HELL.
You have done the most right thing to remind us always about the highest crisis of humanity. My regards.
Rebanta

[Madalena Lobao_Tello]

Reb

Most of the time this hunger is not caused by famine, but by disaster, war or the ravages of extreme poverty. Hunger is insidious; not only does it destroy healthy bodies, but it starves communities of able-bodied workers and drives families deeper into poverty.
Every 3.6 seconds, one person dies of hunger.

Distribution of the world-wide wealth
The wealth in the planet Earth is distributed of UNJUST form:
In 1983 20% of population were owner of 80% of the wealth.
In 2001 17% of population are owner of 83% of the wealth.
While the rich countries are more and more rich and powerful at economic, cultural and military level, great masses of people die of hunger.
But by very rich that we are we will not have peace in our heart (nor in our streets) while we do not avoid that there are bags of extreme poverty in our common house: The Earth.
There is no peace without culture and before there is culture must disappear the hunger.

[Deborah J. Boyd]

It is hard to feed people when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide security. Until the UN and anyone else wants to wake up and understand that dictators are not effective as heads of state. Poverty is a byproduct of wealth. The wealthy use poverty to depress wages and remind people who work for them that if they don't fall in line with the "boss" they will be in poverty also. There are vast regions of the Earth where people live worse than most animals in the USA. Charities should be reserved for emergency situations. Sending resources to most of the people in need frequently falls into the hands of a few who then sell much of it in order to support their corrupt governments. We need to invest in plans to get thes populations into sustainable situations where they learn to provide for themselves. As long as war and corruption are tollerated I do not see how this will be possible.

[Brajanne]

A lot is coming up in me when I see this pictures ... Rebanta, you are right: this is living hell. But for those who are responsible for this, their "power trip" is more important then the wellbeing of the people. And they go on and on without stopping and if they stop it is because another power freak takes over.

[Chus Láuzara]

Dia Internacional de la Erradicación de la Pobreza...Yo personalmente le llamaria DIA DE LA HIPOCRESIA INTERNACIONAL...
Me explico: Somos humanos y como humanos, tenemos fallos y el más grande es que solo nos miramos el hombligo, porque no empezamos por mirar un poco más allí... solo un poquito... todos los dias desde hace un tiempo la prensa solo nos habla de las caidas de las bolsas, de algo que pagaremos todos y que se llama CRISIS, que no servirá nada más que para que los Señores Ricos del planeta sean cada dia Más Ricos y que los pobres lo sean cada minuto en mayor cantidad y de menor poder adquisitivo, cada vez más miserables...
No hace falta recurrir a las fotografias, del llamado tercer mundo...eso parece que queda muy lejos y poco podemos hacer por ellos, pero si miramos en algún rincón de nuestro Primer Mundo, no muy lejos de nuestro confortable hogar, seguro que encontramos a más de un vecino, que por no tener no tiene ni para comer hoy, aunque ayer le hayamos visto salir con su carrito de la compra...com casi todos los dias.
Estoy segura que est@ vecin@, no fué al Super, ni mucho menos al Hipermercado...al menos en horario comercial,quizás fué a otro barrio en donde nadie le conzca, a hurgar en sus cubos de basura, solo por ver si en este barrio Bién, puede encontrar una barra de pan, que como ya no nos hace falta, porque ya tenemos otra más fresca que esa, la hemos tirado en su embalaje original, igal tiene suerte y encuentra un brick de leche que caducó ayer, porque no unos yogures también caducados...Quizás tenga suerte, más suerte que ayer y sea capaz incluso de encontrarse con algo más... unos vecinos que peleén, se rebelen contra las injusticias de nuestro pueblo, por que está más interesado en saber si nuetro equipo va a ganar el partido de futbol este fin de semana, puede que le interese más comprarse esa tv. tan chula que vío en Media Mark, si no lloverá para poder í a Ikea a buscar algo que le guste aunque no le haga falta

[Chus Láuzara]

... Continuando con el comentario...
Se dice que las fabricas están preparando recortes de personal, ¿a quién le tocará ésta vez caer en el infierno del paro?, cualquiera de nosotros podemos ser uno de esos numeros que salen públícados en los diarios, pero no pasa nada, porque como tenemos estudios, somos hijos de un país fuerte y bíen estructurado, la mala racha pasará pronto.
Ay de nosotros que el dia que se convoquen elecciones no vayamos a votar, por que si no no seremos buenos ciudadanos, felices y contentos con nuestros gobernantes, que tanto nos prometen y que a duras penas notamos la diferencia de los que están ahora a los que estaban antes , porque en realidad, ellos no son las grandes fortunas que gobiernan de verdad, como lo son La Banca, El Petroleo, La Automoción, La Construción, La Estafa, El Engaño ...

[Madalena Lobao_Tello]

Chus

En este site puedes encontrar todas las campañas que se estan haciendo para terminar con la pobreza.
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/keepcampaigning/

[Madalena Lobao_Tello]

A nivel mundial, mientras las grandes potencias corren al salvataje de los banqueros y aseguradores de Wall Street, cubriendo con fondos públicos las pérdidas de su irresponsable especulación financiera, el incremento de los precios de los alimentos ha empujado a 75 millones de personas más a la pobreza. Esta situación ameritaría medidas tan urgentes e inmediatas como las tomadas en estos días para atajar la crisis financiera mundial.
En medio del naufragio, los ricos son rescatados y los pobres quedan a la deriva.

[Magali Gómez]

If I didn't get this message I would never had known about! My country seems to be blind to the issues out of free commerce trades, sign commercial treaties! Not even the Human Rights networks of the country said a word, shame on us! poorer than the poor! Our poverty is located in the hearts of the Nation!