A day to reflect

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Around the world today, thousands are gathering to put an end to poverty.

When over 100,000 people gathered in Paris 20 years ago today to protest against world poverty, little did they realise that during the next two decades their demonstration would become a global day of action.

The symbolic location for that Parisian outburst was the Trocadero, site of the signature of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The date, 17 October, was officially adopted by the UN as its International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, an annual reminder honouring victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger all over the world.