SECRETARY-GENERAL CONFERS IN GENEVA WITH DELEGATION OF PEOPLE LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY
Press Release
SOC/4406
SECRETARY-GENERAL CONFERS IN GENEVA WITH DELEGATION OF PEOPLE LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY
19960625 GENEVA, 25 June (UN Information Service) -- Declaring that the United Nations must be an open, living forum where everyone's voice can be heard, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali this morning engaged in a dialogue lasting more than an hour with a delegation of people from 20 countries around the world who live in extreme poverty.The delegation came to the Palais des Nations through a project financed by the Canton of Geneva and organized by the international non-governmental organization movement ATD-Fourth World, in collaboration with the United Nations Office at Geneva. The President of ATD-Fourth World, Alwine de Vos, and the President of the State Council of Geneva, Guy-Olivier Segond, were present for the dialogue.
The emphasis throughout was on how extreme poverty is a violation of human rights. The Secretary-General heard from a woman about the anxieties in her family, living and dying under a traffic bridge, and of a legal system using a language her family could not understand. Others spoke of how poverty excluded them from participation in their community and broke up families, with children being taken by the state.
Six persons spoke during a private meeting with the Secretary-General and another three during a public meeting, attended also by members of Permanent Missions, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and the media.
They heard pleas, not for money or help, but for recognition. One woman said: "What is most difficult for us as we go through all this is realizing that it means nothing to anyone else. We are not recognized, our courage and perseverance is not acknowledged. Our poverty is not seen as a scandal."
Another noted that there had been many promises made to the poor for jobs, schools, training and housing. But such promises were rarely kept.
Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali responded saying that he understood the despair of broken promises as well as the need for long-term friends. "I am your friend; we in the United Nations are here for you. We will make few
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promises but we will keep the promises we make. We promise to work with you, to work with non-governmental organizations, with civil society to find solutions to extreme poverty."
In comments during the public meeting, the Secretary-General attacked as "inadmissable and intolerable" the fact that 1.3 billion people were still living in extreme poverty. He said extreme poverty was offensive to the basic values of the United Nations Charter and noted the commitment of the 1995 Copenhagen Social Summit to eradicate poverty, as well as the General Assembly's proclamation of 1996 as the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty.
The President of ATD-Fourth World, Alwine de Vos, appealed for priority to be given to those in extreme poverty, saying that much of the world was poor but not all the poor were equal. She urged that in any evaluation of programmes against poverty, the yardstick for achievement should be their impact on those in extreme poverty.
(The text of the Secretary-General's statement to the meeting is contained in Press Release SG/SM/6009, issued yesterday.)
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