Kiwis to Take a Stand in UN Fight Against Poverty

New Zealanders will join millions around the world in a massive United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) event on October 17 to Stand Up & Speak Out against poverty.

Lunchtime events are being held in Auckland's Myers Park, Wellington's Civic Square, and Christchurch's City Mall, allowing ordinary New Zealanders to remind our leaders to honour international efforts to eradicate poverty.

The campaign supports the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight time-bound targets to which world leaders committed themselves. When achieved, they would end extreme poverty worldwide by 2015.

The goals are: 1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; 2) achieving universal primary education; 3) promoting gender equality and empowering women; 4) reducing child mortality; 5) improving maternal health; 6) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; 7) ensuring environmental sustainability and 8) developing a global partnership for development.

The Art of Living Foundation, an international humanitarian organisation with a presence in 145 countries, has put its support behind the UNMC's campaign.

Last year, 23 million people around the world took part in a 2-minute Stand Up & Speak Out pledge of support for the MDGs this year, we intend to break that record.

Glenn D'Souza, national president of the Art Of Living Foundation, says Kiwis have a strong sense of social justice, and support change. "These goals are ambitious, but why not put our energy behind achieving them? It only takes a small amount of energy per person, and the belief that it is possible. Yet the potential impact is huge."

"It starts with telling our leaders what values and principles we want them to bring to their decision-making on our behalf. If they use these values, they create an environment that supports the process of change."

There is a growing awareness in New Zealand and around the world that it is possible to bring about significant improvement in the fortunes of those who are less advantaged than us, he says. "But our leaders must be held accountable for making decisions on our behalf that will bring about a better standard of living for the 1.1 billion people in the world who live on less than $1 per day and whose voices are not heard."

ENDS

BACKGROUND AND INTERNATIONAL QUOTES

The October 17 event is a follow-up to an alliance finalised in May 2007 between the Art of Living and UNMC under which His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living, has pledged his commitment to support UNMC's initiatives to realise the Millennium Development Goals.

In his message exhorting people to join the campaign to eradicate poverty, Sri Sri said, "All the nations of the world have come together and have set up eight Millennium Development Goals, and it will remain just a dream if you don't stand up and participate. We all have to join together to eradicate poverty, to bring primary education, health, hygiene, care for the environment and make this world a more beautiful place to be in."

STAND UP events will be held all over the world, from the busiest square in the world, New York's Times Square to the smallest school in the tsunami-struck Ache province in Indonesia. Richa Chopra, head of the Art of Living International Centre, Bangalore, India, is globally coordinating the event. The events will be in different forms such as simple public gatherings, music concerts, group dances, rallies, carnivals and street theatres. "We are also looking to have the STAND UP pledge included in routine schedules of the day such as sporting events, film shows, etc apart from engaging schools, colleges, universities, and companies to hold pledge-taking events in their premises," Dr Chopra added.

In all STAND UP events, participants will stand up for two minutes and take a pledge to defeat extreme poverty. Minar Pimple, Deputy Director, Asia, UNMC said: "The idea behind the STAND UP campaign is to remind world leaders of their promise of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and urge them to show the necessary political will. The participants will stand up and urge the rich countries to keep their promises, provide better and more aid, cancel debt and promote fair trade. They will urge the poorer countries to make it their first responsibility to save the lives of the poorest citizens and achieve real transparency and accountability in how resources are deployed and spent."

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