Eradication of poverty
Today, October 17, is recognised by the United Nations as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This particular observance was instituted by the General Assembly of the UN with Resolution 47/196 in 1992, with the attention of highlighting global poverty and its causes.
Of course there are instances of poverty and deprivation everywhere, including some in Ireland and Europe, but the worst incidence in still in the developing world, where it encompasses not just the absence of money, but disease, lack of education and a lack of political representation. Furthermore, the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development (an output from the 1995 World Summit on Social Development) drew attention to the connection between poverty and a lack of transparent democracy.
I believe we too readily tolerate poverty and deprivation, as we also tolerate corrupt and abusive government as long as we don’t experience it here. We must ensure that we engage actively with the global community to ensure that poverty and its underlying causes are effectively addressed. Doing so during a recession is more important than ever.
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University Blog 
October 17, 2009 at 6:43 am
I believe that Poverty is an absolute not something relative like wealth. We mistakenly use them as antonym of each other. The problem is that we use the term poverty to mean the situation where the consultant surgeon has less in its pocket than say a investment banker.
When you see a kid with an ulcerated cheek the size of the lenses cap on your camera, that is poverty, for an entire system is absent. Not having private rooms for SF patients is tragic but it is not poverty.