REDOUBLE EFFORTS TO ERADICATE WORLD POVERTY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2006 (VIS) - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, yesterday participated in the 44th session of the Commission for Social Development of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which is meeting to review the results of the first "Decade for the Eradication of Poverty," a United Nations initiative covering the period 1997 to 2006.

  Archbishop Migliore opened his English-language speech by observing that, although between 1981 and 2001 the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty declined from 40 to 21 percent, "that still leaves far too many countries and peoples living with high levels of poverty."

  Despite "the encouraging progress being made in poverty reduction in several Asian countries," the archbishop went on, "the global picture is mixed, with sub-Saharan Africa having made little or no progress in reducing the incidence of poverty in the 1990s. If these trends continue, only eight African countries will halve extreme poverty by 2015." And "the number of Africans now living on less than 1 U.S. dollar a day has nearly doubled since 1980, from 165 million to 315 million."

  The permanent observer appealed for renewed efforts from the international community. "A three-pronged agenda is needed for developing countries: to improve the terms of trade; to double aid assistance; and to provide further debt relief.

  "Lessons from the experience of some developing countries, particularly in Asia, make it clear that rapid poverty reduction cannot take place without sustainable economic growth in which the poor share equitably in the benefits. Consequently, developing countries' leaders need to be encouraged and assisted in the pursuit of policies that will enable their countries to attain much higher economic growth rates than so far achieved since 2000."

  Archbishop Migliore concluded by emphasizing how the Holy See "continues to see a key role for ECOSOC in monitoring progress towards achieving MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) in the world's poorest countries. Such monitoring needs to be done now, on an annual basis, given the close proximity of 2015," the date by which, according to the MDGs, levels of poverty should be reduced by half.
DELSS/POVERTY ERADICATION/MIGLIORE                VIS 20060210 (370)