Stand up Against Poverty

Hundreds of people gathered on 16 October at the ILO headquarters in Geneva to Stand Up Against Poverty in a joint action with UNDP and UN agencies. Together with ILO Director-General Mr Juan Somavia and UNDP Deputy Director Ms Najat Rochdi, participants read the SUTA 2009 Pledge and shared a soup for the benefit of a Red Cross Geneva training programme helping young people aged 16 to 25 to enter the labour market. View the video of the event

Background information

’Stand Up & Take Action’, initiated and coordinated by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), is a global event during which millions of citizens – civil society organizations, faith based groups, local governments, youth, media and other role players – take action and call upon world leaders to keep the pledge of achieving the MDGs, as an expression of solidarity with the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

Last year, over 116 million people – nearly two percent of the world population – took action in the Stand-UP, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization around a single-cause event in recorded history.

This year, the International Labour Organization is pleased to host the event in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme and invites you to join us on Friday, 16 October 2009 – World Food Day – at ILO headquarters in Geneva to Stand Up together Against Poverty.

A group photo will be taken at 11h30 at the ILO Colonnades (R2 North). You are kindly requested to arrive no later than 11h00 at R2 North Entrance of the ILO. The event will be photo and video-recorded, registered on the official Stand-UP website www.standagainstpoverty.org and released to the press.

Programme of the day:

11:00 - 11:15 Gathering toward the ILO Entrance (R2 North) at the Colonnades

11:30 Group Photo at the Colonnades

11:40 Reading of the Stand UP 2009 PLEDGE (video-recording)

12:00 Share a soup at the Gobelins Bar and/or the ILO Cafeteria – the soup will cost CHF 5.- and the funds raised will be donated to the Croix-Rouge Genevoise for a programme helping young people (16-25 years) to join the labour market.