October 17, 2007: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

On this day, civil society campaigners around the world will demand that global governments keep their promises to achieve the Millennium Development Goals to end extreme poverty by 2015. Last year on October 17, over 23 million people in 87 countries "stood up" against poverty in what was "the largest single coordinated mobilisation of people in the history of the Guinness World Records". All around the world, in churches, schools, workplaces and on the streets, civil society joined with one action and one message in a powerful show of solidarity that reached political leaders on every continent.

This year, on October 17, the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) will be aiming to break this record and mobilise millions more to become part of the growing movement to end poverty. The task for this year is to show that the movement is growing and to keep the momentum going. As Nelson Mandela said at the launch of GCAP, "As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest". Read more at: http://www.civicus.org/new/content/deskofthesecretarygeneral78.htm

Full details on the campaign can be found on http://www.whiteband.org/ or http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/.

Source: e-CIVICUS 353 HTML, 22 August 2007, ISSUE No. 353