"Our Generation Can Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger in the Next Decade"

(24 September 2013) According to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), speaking in New York "Our generation has an unprecedented opportunity to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger in the coming decade. Not only is this an ethical and moral obligation, but it is the only basis for true development and shared prosperity".

The senior official took part in the event What People Want: Global Conversation on the Post-2015 Agenda, organized on 23 September by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) in the framework of the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly being held in New York.

The activity was led by Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Chair of UNDG, Milo Đukanović, Prime Minister of Montenegro, Fumio Kishida, Japan's Foreign Affairs Minister, Amina Mohammed, UN Secretary General's Special Advisor on Post-2015 Development Planning, Pascal Canfin, France's Minister for Development, and Monique Coleman, United States actor and United Nations Youth Champion.

The report by the United Nations Development Group on global consultations on the post-2015 development agenda was presented at the event.

According to Ms. Bárcena, current coordinator of the five United Nations regional commissions "the debate on the post-2015 development agenda provides an opportunity to forge a common vision for the next decades, at least to 2030". She emphasized that this process could not be completed without active civil-society involvement.

According to the Executive Secretary "The only acceptable number of people living in extreme poverty is zero".

The most senior ECLAC official stated that Latin America and the Caribbean is the world's most unequal region, which calls for the implementation of progressive policies that not only meet the basic needs of poor people, but that are also able to tackle the current concentration of wealth in few hands.

She concluded "We must pursue equality with a right-based approach, as a way of narrowing the asymmetries and the productive, territorial and ethnic structural gaps that remain. We want equality based on recognition and dignity for all".

Any queries should be sent to the ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section.

E-mail: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56 2) 2210 2040.

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