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AGENDA ITEM - STAND UP and SPEAK OUT: October 17th, 2007

August 07, 2007

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A day of global mobilization against poverty and inequality

On October 16^th and 17^th 2007, millions of people all over the world will once again Stand Up and Speak Out against poverty and inequality and in support of the Millennium Development Goals. The Stand Up Speak Out initiative is planned to coincide with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On this day last year, 23.5 million people stood up against poverty in a 24 hour, period setting a massive new Guinness World Record.

This year, on October 16th and 17th, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the United Nations Millennium Campaign plan to mobilize people all over the world to break this record, urging millions more to join the growing global movement of people who refuse to stay seated in the face of poverty.

They will demand that their governments and world leaders keep their promises to achieve the Millennium Goals to end extreme poverty by 2015. From workers to students, women’s groups to community groups, people will unite to call on political leaders to deliver more and better aid to the poorest nations, implement fairer trade conditions, cancel debt, ensure gender equality as well as greater transparency and accountability from their governments.

Events are being planned in over 100 countries and on every continent. These will range from major rallies and concerts to gatherings in school assemblies and town halls as well as delegations visiting politicians. For more information on Stand Up and Speak Out events and a video reel from last year visit www.standagainstpoverty.org

They will stand up and challenge the world record

Thousands of events will take place around the world as part of the STAND UP and SPEAK OUT Guinness World Record challenge. From children in refugee camp schools to virtual stand ups through online social networking communities like Facebook, people will Stand Up, Speak Out and be counted. Participants will be asked to register their participation in the Guinness action in the 24-hour period from 9pm GMT on October 16th to 9pm GMT on October 17th. The data will be collated and the final number announced on October 18^th.

They will speak out through song

The Poverty Requiem is a brand new piece of music written by the Dutch composer Peter Maissan with lyrics from the director of Oxfam Novib, Sylvia Borren. Performances of the Requiem will take place in at least 23 countries and on 5 continents in a global chain of performances.

They will speak out to political leaders

Delegations of people will demand action from political leaders by meeting them directly on and around October 17^th. In an unprecedented global lobby, political leaders on every continent will be held to account by their public. International Women's Tribunals on Poverty will be held in the US, Egypt, Peru and India during the week.

They will stand up and speak out using giant banners

Coalitions in more than 100 countries are organizing events, big and small, on and around October 17^th. Some of these events will link to a Banners Against Poverty project in which people from several countries are making kilometer-long banners with messages for leaders and later linking these on key global mobilization dates.

They will speak out through the media

Well-known and grassroots ‘ambassadors’ will be available to speak to the media on every continent to give a voice to the millions of people living in and/or campaigning against poverty and inequality. A full list of spokespeople will be available closer to the date.

For more information contact:

Ciara O’Sullivan, GCAP Media Coordinator

ciara_os@hotmail.com Tel: +34 679 594 809 GCAP www.whiteband.org

Mandy Kibel, Deputy Director, Head of Communications, United Nations Millennium Campaign mandy.kibel@undp.org Tel: +1 212 906 6242

www.endpoverty2015.com

Notes to Editors

Every day, 50,000 people die as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. We have the resources to change this and will no longer stay seated and silent in the face of poverty.

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is an alliance of trade unions, community groups, women’s groups, faith groups and campaigners working together across more than 100 national platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. In particular, GCAP demands solutions that address the issues of; public accountability, just governance, fulfillment of human rights, trade justice, aid, debt cancellation and gender equality.

The UN Millennium Campaign was established by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2002. The Campaign supports citizens’ efforts to hold their governments to account for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by 189 world leaders from the north and south, as part of the Millennium Declaration which was signed in 2000. These leaders agreed to achieve the Goals by 2015. Our premise is simple, we are the first generation that can end poverty and we refuse to miss this opportunity.

Facts

980 million people live on less than $1 a day with nearly half the world’s population (2.8 billion) living on less than $2 a day.
More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day... 300 million are children. Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.
Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria. Approximately three million people die as a result.
Sub-Saharan Africa has only 4% of health workers but 25% of the global burden of disease. The Americas have 37% of health workers but only 10% of the global burden of disease.
More than 1 in 4 adults cannot read or write- two thirds of these are women.
Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, produce half of the world's food, and yet earn only 10% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the world's property.
Four out of every ten people in the world don’t have access even to a simple latrine. Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases. More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.
2.6 billion people lack access to decent sanitation. The Millennium Development Goal of halving the global sanitation deficit against the 1990 level requires bringing it to more than 120 million people every year between now and 2015. The cost with the cheapest latrines is $10 billion, and $34 billion for better technologies.