Note to Correspondents

ceremony panel discussion to mark international day

for eradication of poverty, 14 OCTOBER

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty will be marked at the United Nations on Thursday, 14 October by a ceremony at 2 p.m. and a panel discussion at 4 p.m.

The observance of the International Day seeks to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty, and to remind people that a continued effort is vital to achieve the millennium development goal of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015.

Progress against global poverty remains uneven and in many countries there has been a deterioration, says Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a 27 August report.  There has been little or no progress in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, Mr. Annan says, and in Western Asia poverty has increased.  Almost half the population of sub-Saharan Africa was struggling to survive on $1 per day or less in 2001 -- the same proportion as in 1990 –- and the magnitude of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is almost three times that in Southern Asia, the next most impoverished region.

The United Nations observance, taking place from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. around the Commemorative Stone in Honour of the Victims of Extreme Poverty in the North Lawn of the United Nations garden, will feature children and adults living in poverty, who will share testimonies about their efforts to defend their human rights.  The Peace of Heart Choir will sing, and storyteller Tammy Hall will perform with children.  Jean-Marc de la Sablière and Michael Kafando, France’s and Burkina Faso’s Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, will talk about the Day and the commitment of governments to fighting poverty.

At 4 p.m., a panel discussion on "How Poverty Separates Parents and Children" will feature Marilyn Gutierrez, author of a study in the Philippines, Njongonkulu Ndungane, Archbishop of Cape Town, and Elizabeth Gibbons of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).  José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will give the opening statement.  Participants will discuss lessons learned about the fight against poverty in Guatemala, the Philippines and the United States.  The panel, conducted by ATD Fourth World and sponsored by the United Nations, will be held in the FamilySchool on 323 East 47^th Street, between First and Second Avenue.

The non-governmental organization International Movement ATD Fourth World carries out projects in partnership with very poor families and communities, conducts research on poverty together with poor people, and campaigns to mobilize public opinion.

The observance is jointly sponsored by the International Movement ATD Fourth World, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Department of Public Information and the NGO Sub-Committee for the Eradication of Poverty.

For more information, please contact:  Edoardo Bellando, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel.:  (212) 963 8275, e-mail:  bellando@un.org.

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