October 16 - For immediate release:
New Zealanders to join millions
Standing Up and Speaking Out Against Poverty

On 17th October 2007, millions of people around the world will be standing up in support of the eradication of extreme poverty. The Art of Living Foundation in partnership with the United Nations Millennium Campaign is organising Stand Up events in the main centres in New Zealand, in conjunction with many other events across the world.

World leaders have promised to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The purpose of the Stand Up and Speak Out initiative is to remind them of this promise. The Stand Up and 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 new Guinness World Record. This year will see a new world record set.

This year’s event is also supported by the Make Poverty History Campaign and the Council for International Development’s Pointseven Campaign, that asks the New Zealand government to honour its promise to give 0.7 percent of Gross National Income in aid by 2015.
In Wellington the Stand Up Event is as follows:

CIVIC SQUARE – October 17
Schedule
12 noon – Sam Manzanza and the Rhythm Band
12.15pm - Speakers
Rae Julian – Executive Director – Council for International Development
Pansy Wong – National List MP
Keith Locke – Green Party of Aotearoa, New Zealand
Hone Harawira – Maori Party, Member for Te Tai Tokerau
12.30pm – Reading of Stand Up Pledge
12.35pm – Music continues til 1.00pm

“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.”
HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji; 4th September 2007
The Art of Living International Centre, Bangalore, India.

www.millenniumcampaign.org, www.artofliving.org, www.standagainstpoverty.org
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated every year on October 17 throughout the world. It was officially recognised by the United Nations in 1992, but the first commemoration of the event took place in Paris, France in 1987. 100,000 people gathered on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro to honour victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear.
The text engraved in the stone reads as follows :"Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty"

At the Millennium Summit in September 2000,189 Country Heads firmly committed to work Together and Build A Safer, more Prosperous and Equitable World for all by 2015. They adopted unanimously a Visionary Document named Millennium Declaration, which gave birth to the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Millennium Development Goals
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC): The UN Millennium Campaign was launched in October 2002, prompted by the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to encourage citizens around the world in their efforts to hold governments to account for their commitment to the MDGs. The Campaign aims to inspire a global movement to achieve the Goals and eradicate extreme poverty by 2015.

This October 17 event is a follow-up to an alliance finalised in May 2007 between the Art of Living Foundation 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. The Art of Living Foundation founded in the year 1982 is dedicated and committed to uplift mankind through its life transforming Stress Elimination Programmes and Service Projects. One of the largest volunteer-based organizations in the world, the foundations work has touched more than 300 million people spanning over 140 countries. The foundation has been serving society with a non-denominational, secular and holistic approach, reminding us that diverse traditions and cultures have their roots in the same basic human values of peace, compassion, truth, belongingness and non-violence

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