Take a stand against poverty

from The Times of Malta

Claudia Calleja

World poverty may be the last thing on people's mind in the wake of yesterday's budget but standing up in solidarity with the eradication of poverty would not cost anyone anything.

Today and tomorrow, thousands of people all over the world will be standing up for a minute - from this evening at 9 to tomorrow at the same time - to underscore the urgency in eliminating human rights violation and extreme poverty.

"We feel there are a lot of people out there who believe that poverty should be eradicated and that decision makers ought to be more responsible. By standing up for one minute, people are making a public manifestation to decision makers... This is a case where the numbers count," the chairman of the National Platform of Maltese Non-Governmental Development Organisations (NGDOs), Vince Caruana said.

The platform is inviting the public to participate in a Stand Up by standing up, as a group, for one minute.

The outcome of the stand up event will be demonstrated during the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) conference held tomorrow at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Those who stand up and want to be heard can send a text message with the number of people standing up and the name of their organisation, workplace or school to 7984 2015 or send an e-mail to standupmalta@gmail.com.

Mr Caruana explained that the conference, that is free to the public, was the first national seminar organised on MDGs in Malta. It aimed to discuss the MDGs, raise awareness about poverty and global issues, enhance networks between organisations involved in development work and showcase work done by Maltese NGDOs and other organisations.

"We believe that development policy ought to be an electoral issue which is why during the conference the platform will be presenting the political parities with a five-point manifesto to include in their electoral manifesto," Mr Caruana said.

standagainstpoverty.org