1 billion people still live in extreme poverty, UN chief says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Some one billion people still live in extreme poverty and more than 800 million endure hunger and malnutrition,United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday, October 17.

Poverty is both a cause and consequence of marginalization and social exclusion, Ban said, stressing that to fulfill the promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind, “we must address the humiliation and exclusion of people living in poverty.”

In his message to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Secretary-General said that implementation of the 2030 Agenda is reaching the end of its first year, and with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it embodies a universal vision for peace, prosperity and dignity for all people on a healthy planet.

Achieving this objective is inconceivable without executing the mandate of SDG 1, which aims to end poverty in all its forms, he explained.

“But poverty is not simply measured by inadequate income. It is manifested in restricted access to health, education and other essential services and, too often, by the denial or abuse of other fundamental human rights,” stated Ban.

He went on to say that humiliation and exclusion are powerful drivers of social unrest and, in extreme cases, the violent extremism that is troubling so many parts of our world. But, in most instances, people living in poverty respond to these societal ills with stoic resilience as they work to escape the degrading reality of their daily lives, continued the Secretary-General.