International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

To mark International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October), UNESCO is supporting the initiative of the collective L’Arche et la Dalle*, which will launch various activities to raise awareness of poverty in the business district of La Défense, near Paris. Notably it will participate in a conference on 15 October and present the exhibition La pauvreté saisie par l’image (Pictures of poverty).

According to the World Bank, 1.4 billion people in developing countries were living in extreme poverty (on less than US$1.25 per day) in 2005. In 2006, in these same countries, moe than 140 million children were underweight. The current economic difficulties are likely to aggravate the situation.

In a message for the International Day, Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, states “Fighting against poverty…entails proposing new ways of disseminating and sharing knowledge; it also means fostering dialogue between the various systems of knowledge and cultures, and creating new opportunities for development. Effectively mobilizing the international community is both a necessity and a matter of urgency…. UNESCO, alongside the entire United Nations system, and its partners, is fully mobilized to respond to these challenges.” This message will be presented on a large screen at the closing ceremony (17 October) of the events organized by L’Arche et la Dalle.

The conference debate on 15 October (12.30 p.m., on the Parvis de la Défense) will include a speech by the coordinator of UNESCO’s Anti-Poverty and Human Rights Programme, on the topic “A second decade to eradicate poverty: why?” A film about this programme will be shown the same day (6.30 p.m.) in the amphitheatre of the Toit de l’arche de la Défense.

The photo exhibition La pauvreté saisie par l’image tracks the progress of UNESCO pilot projects over a period of six years and promotes an interdisciplinary approach by tackling poverty through a series of themes – the right to education, to health care, to a healthy environment, etc. The exhibition is divided between the Toit de l’Arche (12 posters) and the Point Info Défense, managed by the Etablissement public d’aménagement de La Défense (5 posters).

*The collective L’Arche et la Dalle comprises ATD Quart Monde, Amnesty International, the Secours catholique, Notre-Dame de Pentecôte et the Maison de l’amitié.

• Autor (es):Media Advisory N°2008-67
• Fuente:UNESCOPRESS
• 13-10-2008