The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an international observance celebrated each year on October 17 throughout the world. The first commemoration of the event took place in Paris, France in 1987 when 100,000 people gathered on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro to honor victims of poverty, hunger, violence, and fear at the unveiling of a commemorative stone by Joseph Wresinski, founder of the International Movement ATD Fourth World. In 1992, four years after Wresinski’s death, the United Nations officially designated October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
In December 1995, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997–2006), following the Copenhagen Social Summit. At the Millennium Summit in 2000, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015.
Through resolution 47/196, adopted on 22 December 1992, the UN General Assembly declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and invited all States to devote the Day to presenting and promoting, as appropriate in the national context, concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution.
However, the international poverty line does not fully describe how people experience poverty in multiple and simultaneous ways. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) tries to capture how people experience poverty in their daily lives. For instance, MPI indicators examine whether a household has access to drinking water, sanitation facilities or electricity or whether a household member has completed five years of schooling. The MPI data shows that 1.3 billion people around the world are in fact multi-dimensionally poor. The MPI also starkly highlights that there are poor people living outside of poor countries, outside of poor regions and outside of poor households.
The MPI results show that children suffer poverty more intensely than adults and are more likely to be deprived in all 10 of the MPI indicators, lacking essentials such as clean water, sanitation, adequate nutrition or primary education. Even more staggering, worldwide, one in three children is multidimensionally poor, compared to one in six adults. That means that nearly half of the people living in multidimensional poverty — 663 million — are children, with the youngest children bearing the greatest burden.
Its aim is to raise awareness of the issues driving global inequality and to lend a voice to those living in poverty. It’s hoped that, by doing so, political leaders will be motivated to alleviate the suffering of those living in poverty. To date, it’s been a fantastic success in raising awareness and the money required to help individuals and communities in need. Each year, the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has a theme or area to address. In 2019, this theme involved acting to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty.
This international day, held annually on 17 October, presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. This year, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty holds particular significance because it will be the first observance following the formal adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Within this new development framework, designed to replace and carry forward the aims of the Millennium Development Goals, all countries committed to ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions. Thus, the 2020 theme is: “Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination”.
