A ceremony was held at the United Nations Headquarters on Wednesday to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivering a speech on the significance of poverty alleviation efforts.
More than 200 UN officials and representatives from international organisations attended the event and called on actions to alleviate poverty.
In the speech, Guterres said that 10% of the world’s population remains in extreme poverty and that more than 700 million people are unable to meet their basic daily needs.
The UN chief stressed that it is timely to recall the proclamation of “freedom from want” as being among the highest aspirations of the world’s people.
“Poverty is not inevitable. It is not a natural state of being or occurrence. It is most often the outcome of choices that societies have made. Today, we must choose to build a fair globalisation that creates opportunities for all. We need policies that create a strong enabling economic environment and that promote access to education, health services, decent work and social protection to everybody. We need policies that dismantle barriers that contribute to the perpetuation of poverty,” said Guterres.
Designated to promote awareness about the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993.
