International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

October 17th- "The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the General Assembly designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, particularly in developing countries - a need that has become a development priority." http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/poverty/

"...Poverty may be defined as a human condition characterized by sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights" (United Nations Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, 2001)

We often see poverty as the root cause of social problems, but by digging deeper, we can see that it is symptomatic of the underlying factors which stop individuals from feeling safe and secure: discrimination, conflict, lack of access to proper food and water sources, displacement, etc.

World Food Day

October 16th- "World Food Day provides an occasion to once again highlight the plight of 923 million undernourished people in the world. Most of them live in rural areas where their main source of income is the agricultural sector. Global warming and the biofuel boom are now threatening to push the number of hungry even higher in the decades to come." http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/

In the past year there has been a lot of media attention given to the international food crisis/food security. For me, it comes down to economics; the basic food needs of all people on the planet can still be met, but we opt to grow crops to feed our cars rather than our people, and we raise the price of staples like rice and other grains, costing them beyond the means of low-income/no-income earners. Food is life, it should not be considered a privilege to have access to food, it should be a basic right.