Bhutan

Joint Commemoration of the World Food Day and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty. This commitment is at risk of not being met at this time of multiple global crises. As many as 100 million more people are expected to fall below the poverty line in 2009. Food and nutritional security is a critical element of the global fight against poverty. Over the past two years, volatile food prices, the economic crisis, climate change and conflict have led to a dramatic rise in the number of people who cannot rely on getting the food they need to live, work and thrive. For the first time in history, more than 1 billion people are hungry.

These are some of the issues that provide the context for this year's commemoration of the World Food Day (WFD) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP). The two observances, marked on 16 and 17 October respectively, commemorate the causes of eliminating hunger and poverty, allowing both the governments and the public at large to take stock of what has been achieved so far and to review joint efforts towards coordinated action to address these challenges. Both the World Food Day and International Day for Eradication of Poverty are meant to raise awareness of the lack of access to basic human necessities of food, water and shelter, which affect the vulnerable groups the most.

Although Bhutan has achieved impressive socio-economic development over the last two decades, more than twenty percent of the population still lives in poverty with food insecurity on the rise mainly due to low food production and weak agricultural productivity.

Hence there is an urgent need to scale up activities to reduce poverty and increase food security. The UN in Bhutan is strongly committed to continue its assistance to the country in the fight against poverty and hunger, so that attainment of all the MDGs before the end of 2015 becomes a reality.

The World Food Day this year also marks the 64^th anniversary of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The theme is "Achieving Food Security in Times of Crises". Children in particular are the most vulnerable to the effects of poverty and food insecurity, but they are also the ones who can bring about a change. Extreme poverty prevents children from seeing their rights realized, and getting their voices heard. The theme for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty "Children and Families Speak Out Against Poverty" highlights the importance of securing children's rights, in particular the right to survival and full development, the right to protection from abuse and exploitation, and the right to participation in family, cultural and social life.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his World Food Day message encouraged all nations to "pursue coordinated and comprehensive strategies for agricultural development and effective social protection so that vulnerable people - women and children in particular - can get the food they need for nutritional security and well-being".

The joint observance of the World Food Day and the International Day of the Eradication of Poverty will take place in Tendu Middle Secondary School in Samtse.

As part of the commemoration, children across Bhutan have participated in a nationwide competition to express their views on the theme "Children Speak Out Against Poverty", organized jointly by the Ministry of Education and the United Nations System in Bhutan. The results of the competition will be compiled into a book titled "Voices of Children on Poverty", and the 20 best entries will be awarded prizes. Students from the Tendu Middle Secondary School will also participate in a series of events such as quiz competitions and debates.

The joint observance coincides with the global campaign "Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty". In Bhutan, school children will join the world in this important campaign by observing the Stand Up event during the morning assembly on 16 October 2009. The number of people who joined the event will be counted and submitted to the United Nations Headquarters in New York for a global tally. In 2008, 116.9 million people all over the world stood up against poverty, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history.