The United Nations (UN)’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) is annually observed across the globe on October 17 to promote understanding and dialogue between people living in poverty and wider society.
- The day aims to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies and core elements of the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 16.
- 17th October 2024 marks the 32nd commemoration of IDEP.
SDG 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Theme:
The theme of IDEP 2024 is “Ending Social and Institutional Maltreatment Acting together for just, peaceful and inclusive societies”.
- The theme highlights one of the Hidden Dimension of Poverty, the social and institutional maltreatment experienced by people living in poverty.
Origin:
ii.On 17th October 1987, a massive gathering was organised at the Trocadéro Plaza in Paris, France to honour the victims of hunger, violence, and ignorance.
iii.The gathering proclaimed poverty as a violation of human rights.
iv.Since then, the 17th of October of every year has been observed as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Background:
i.On 22 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/47/196 and proclaimed the 17th October of every year as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
ii.The first ever UN-recognised IDEP was observed on 17th October 1993.
Poverty:
i.The revised 2017 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) defined extreme poverty as surviving on less than USD 2.15 per person per day.
- The international poverty line of USD 2.15 increases by less than 1%, and the higher poverty lines of USD 3.65 and USD 6.85 more relevant for assessing poverty in lower- and upper-middle-income countries also increase by less than 2%.
ii.Around 575 million people (around 7% of the global population) are expected to be trapped in extreme poverty by 2030.
Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2024: Poverty Amid Conflict:
“Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2024: Poverty Amid Conflict” published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) states that around 455 million multidimensionally poor people are living in countries experiencing conflict, fragility, or ‘low peacefulness’.
- India is among the top 5 countries with the largest populations in poverty. India has 234 million people living in poverty, which is medium Human Development Index(HDI).
- The other countries among the top 5 are Pakistan (93 million), Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (66 million).
Points to note:
i.The 2024 report presents MPI data from 112 countries (6.3 billion people) covering 1,359 subnational regions.
ii.Around 1.1 billion of 6.3 billion people live in acute multidimensional poverty and over half of them (584 million) are children under the age of 18.
iii.Around 40% of poor people (455 million) live in countries experiencing war, fragility and/or low peacefulness.
iv.The MPI is measured over a 10-year period (2012-2023) to create a comparable index of global levels and trends.
UN Women: World survey on the role of women in development 2024
According to the report titled “World survey on the role of women in development 2024: Harnessing Social Protection for Gender Equality, Resilience and Transformation” published by UN Women(United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), around 2 billion women and girls are without access to any form of social protection.
Points to note:
i.Over 63% of women across the globe still give birth without access to maternity benefits, with the rate rising to 94% in sub-Saharan Africa.
ii.Out of the 1,000 social protection measures introduced by governments across 171 countries, only 18% is focused on women’s economic security.
