International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October
2024 Theme
Ending Social and Institutional Maltreatment Acting together for just, peaceful and inclusive societies
Poverty has multiple dimensions, some visible and others hidden, but all interlinked. This year's theme will highlight one of the Hidden Dimension of Poverty the social and institutional maltreatment experienced by people living in poverty, and consider ways to act together on Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) 16 to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
People living in poverty face negative attitudes. They are stigmatized, discriminated against, judged for example by their appearance, accent, address - or lack of it, blamed for their situation, and treated with disrespect.
Social maltreatment creates a setting for institutional maltreatment, with a combination of negative attitudes, like mistrust and disrespect, as well as controlling discriminatory policies and practices, denying people of their fundamental human rights, for example, access to healthcare, education, housing, and the right to legal identity.
Social and institutional maltreatment interact and amplify each other, fueling this double-edged violence and deepening the injustice, and this is more pronounced for people who face other forms of prejudice as well, including gender, sexual orientation, race, or ethnicity.
A meaningful understanding of poverty and how the different forms of violence and domination interact with each other and impact people in poverty is critical.
Daily experiences of injustice and dehumanization undermines self-esteem, destroys personal agency, denies people of their dignity and the chance of getting out of poverty. Social and institutional maltreatment is a catastrophic loss of human potential to society.
Background
In a world characterized by an unprecedented level of economic development, technological means and financial resources, that millions of persons are living in extreme poverty is a moral outrage. Poverty is not solely an economic issue, but rather a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses a lack of both income and the basic capabilities to live in dignity.
Persons living in poverty experience many interrelated and mutually reinforcing deprivations that prevent them from realizing their rights and perpetuate their poverty, including:
Poverty Facts and Figures
Extreme poverty is defined as surviving on less than $2.15 per person per day at 2017 purchasing power parity.
By the end of 2022, 8.4 per cent of the world’s population, or as many as 670 million people, are expected to be living in extreme poverty.
An estimated 7% of the global population – around 575 million people – could still find themselves trapped in extreme poverty by 2030.
In response to the cost-of-living crisis, 105 countries and territories announced almost 350 social protection measures between February 2022 and February 2023.
Testimonial Quotes
When you live in extreme poverty, you are caught up in a complex system of power relationships and domination. We need to adopt a systemic approach to show how these different dimensions interact with each other.” Consultation on the theme of October 17, Forum for Overcoming Poverty (March 2024)
“Social and institutional maltreatment destroys our dignity. It often makes you feel weak because you put all your energy into doing something and in the end, you don't see the results. It's a divisive thing.” - A person in poverty
“We are not seen as families who need help or support, but as parents who have failed. Our living conditions are not taken into account. This perception of failure distorts relations between parents and professionals and becomes a pretext for reproducing the domination of institutions over parents.” - European seminar “Building a future without poverty for children: parents and society together” (November 2023)
Implementing 3rd Decade for Eradicating Poverty
As the world embarks on the Third Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, an estimated 783 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day in 2013, compared with 1.867 billion people in 1990. Economic growth across developing countries has been remarkable since 2000, with faster growth in GDP per capita than advanced countries. Economic growth has fuelled poverty reduction and improvements in living standards. Achievements have also been recorded in job creation, gender equality, education and health care, social protection measures, agriculture and rural development, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. [Resolution A/73/298]
Multiple crises set to plunge more children into poverty
The number of children without access to social protection is increasing year-on-year, leaving them at risk of poverty, hunger and discrimination, according to a new report by the ILO and UNICEF
UN Report …
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