Eradication of world poverty will take ‘bold’ action – Annan

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called for “bold reforms” from developing nations, and “bold action” from developed countries, to end world poverty.

In a message issued to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Mr. Annan said the answer to the problem “depends on many things. But none is more vital than forging a truly global partnership for development.”

“Such a partnership requires bold reforms from many developing countries. But it also requires bold action from developed countries,” he said.

“An essential component is a trading system that is both free and equitable. The failure of the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Cancún to reach agreement on reducing and ultimately phasing out tariff and non-tariff barriers is a source of great concern. These barriers shut out many developing countries from the markets of developed countries – stunting growth, stifling opportunity and starving millions of people who want to trade their way out of poverty,” he said.

“Approximately 1.2 billion people struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. An estimated 840 million suffer the gnawing pain of hunger, and as many as 24,000 people, many of them children, die every day as a result,” the Secretary-General added. “People who are hungry are more susceptible to disease, and find their capacity to work diminished as well. Hunger also impairs children’s ability to learn, with consequences that are felt long after childhood is over. There is no time to lose if we are to reach the Millennium Development Goal – agreed by all the world’s countries – of halving by 2015 the proportion of people who live on less than a dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.”

General Assembly President Julian Hunte of St. Lucia said, “It is time for us to take action, to make good our promises and to fulfil our commitments. We have a moral obligation to join the International Alliance against Hunger, the theme of this year’s World Food Day. Such an alliance of endeavour will better position people and nations to feed themselves. It should ensure the required international commitment to close the gap between rich and poor countries and to eliminate barriers to trade, increase market access and enhance the productive capacity of countries, particularly developing countries.”

Bertrand Ramcharan, the Acting High Commissioner for Human rights, said, “Poverty is a violation of basic human rights, which is very often forgotten. We must count it among the serious gross violations of human rights.

“The specific knowledge they have of their own condition, the coping strategies and the mechanisms of solidarity they develop must be taken into count when developing public policies,” he said.

The Secretary-General’s remarks were read at ceremonies to observe the Day at UN Headquarters in New York. Representatives of poor peoples of the world gave testimony of the daily life problems of the impoverished.