STAND
UP and SPEAK OUT: Day of global mobilization against poverty
and inequality
[ Ulaanbaatar, 17 October 2007 ] Mongolia Stands Up and Speaks Out against poverty on 17th of October! Thousands of Mongolian people throughout the country will stand up to bring poverty down and speak out for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. They will stand up against injustice and inequality and speak out to demand that our government’s promises are kept. The Stand Up 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 the Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the United Nations Millennium Campaign plan to mobilize people all over the world to break this record, urging millions more to join this growing global movement.
They will stand up and challenge the world record
Events are being planned in over 100 countries. These will range from major rallies and concerts to gatherings in school assemblies, town halls and refugee camps. Participants will be asked to register for the Guinness challenge in the 24-hour period from 9pm GMT on October 16th to 9pm GMT on October 17th.
A new piece of choral music, The Poverty Requiem, will be performed in a global chain of performances in over 25 countries. Delegations will meet politicians to present their demands to end poverty and on four continents International Women's Tribunals on Poverty will be held to raise awareness of gender issues. Elsewhere, groups are making giant Banners Against Poverty with messages for leaders and later linking these on key global mobilization dates.
Mongolia joins in solidarity with people from over 100 countries to say to the leaders of the wealthy countries to keep their promises on poverty – debt relief, more and better aid, trade justice and gender equality and ask the leaders of poorer countries to tackle inequality, to be accountable to your people, to govern fairly and justly, to fight corruption and to fulfill human rights.
The mass campaign of standing up throughout the country will take place on 17 October at 12h00 on Student’s square in front of the Mongolian National University and on large squares, classrooms of universities, schools, meeting halls of offices and in participating aimags centers with the support of the Mongolian Scouts Association.
For more information contact O.Adiya, Partnership and UN Coordination Officer, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office at 327585-113; Mongolian Scouts Association at 324171.
For more information on Stand Up and Speak Out events and a video reel from last year visit www.standagainstpoverty.org
