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."
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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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