|
"Extreme poverty is a weapon of mass
destruction. We have to destroy it"
Lilian Thuram
Footballer
Signatory of the Call to Action |
STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT 2008
Join millions worldwide to STAND UP and TAKE ACTION against Poverty and
for the Millennium Development Goals.
Last year, over 43 million people Stood Up to demand that world leaders keep their promises
to end poverty and inequality. This year, help us break that record and send an even louder message to our governments.
Join the global movement of people who refuse to stay seated or silent in the face of poverty
and broken promises to end it!
STAND UP and TAKE ACTION against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals.
Why Stand Up?
In 2000, leaders of 189 countries signed the Millennium Declaration agreeing to do everything
in their power to end poverty. They pledged to do this by achieving the Millennium Development Goals, a roadmap to end extreme poverty by 2015.
Still, every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich
and poor people is increasing. Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women. We have the power to change this.
Campaigners worldwide will STAND UP and TAKE ACTION to push their governments for more and
better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, healthcare, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability.
What’s new?
If you Stood Up last year you’ll notice a few
changes.
This year, to make sure more
people can take part, we will Stand Up between October 17 – 19, as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
unfolds across the world.
We are also
asking you to as part of your Stand Up event. This could mean sending letters to your government, organising teach-ins,
distributing books or other educational materials, donating blood, planting trees or any number of other ways to contribute
towards ending poverty and inequality.
ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond
to the world’s main development challenges. The MDGs are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 191
member countries of the United Nations, during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000.
This unprecedented global framework for development is a crucial step towards ending poverty
and inequality.
However, at the halfway point to the 2015 deadline for the achievement of the Goals, we have
seen some progress, but much more needs to be done. Urgent action must be taken by nations if they are to fulfill their promise to achieve the MDGs. Since
agreeing to make the MDGs a key framework for international action and cooperation to reduce poverty, much progress has been made.
But despite the gains, no region in the world is on-track to achieve all of the Goals, and
some regions are off-track on many of them. Urgent action is needed to implement sound policies to achieve the Goals set in 2000, and deliver on the promise made
to the world’s poor in the Millennium Declaration:
“We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and
dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected”
The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators.
The eight MDGs are:
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eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
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achieve universal primary education
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promote gender equality and empower women
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reduce child mortality
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improve maternal health
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combat HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases
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ensure environmental sustainability
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develop a global partnership for development
The MDGs:
·
synthesise, in a single package, many of the most important commitments
made separately at the international conferences and summits of the 1990s;
·
recognise explicitly the interdependence between growth, poverty
reduction and sustainable development
·
acknowledge that development rests on the foundations of democratic
governance, the rule of law, respect for human rights and peace and security
·
are based on time-bound and measurable targets accompanied by indicators
for monitoring progress;
·
bring together, in the eighth Goal, the responsibilities of developing
countries with those of developed countries.
