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Afghanistan

More effort needed to eradecate poverty in Afghanistan: Inernational Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Kabul, 17 October 2008 - The United Nations in Afghanistan today calls for a greater investment in agriculture, good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights in Afghanistan. The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is a chance to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution.

A UN appeal to help address food insecurity is still under-funded. A combination of food price hikes, a downturn in the global economy, the effects of climate change, weak governance, and the intensification of the armed conflict, threaten to push even more Afghans into the ranks of the desperately poor. The poor have limited access to clean water and sanitation, adequate nutrition, shelter and other essentials that are fundamental to a life with dignity.

"Afghanistan is at an important cross-roads and much depends on moving forward with the key poverty-reduction objectives that are part of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy," says UNAMA's Chief of Human Rights Norah Niland. "Now is the time to translate the commitments, made by the Government of Afghanistan and its international partners, into concrete realities so that children can be students, fewer mothers die in child-birth, female-headed households can hold their families together and more jobs can be created."

"Poverty in Afghanistan is driven by many factors that include low literacy, poor health care, mismanagement of natural resources and social structures that disadvantage particular groups and communities. Poverty is not inevitable but a reflection of the way societies are organised and resources distributed," says UNAMA's Chief of Human Rights Norah Niland.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with a poverty rate of 42 per cent with another 20 per cent of people hovering just above the poverty line; 70 per cent of Afghans also face food insecurity.

- 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.

- World leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty - people whose income is less than one dollar a day.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
Spokesperson's Office, Kabul, Afghanistan
Tel: 00 39 0831 24 6121 - 00 93 (0) 20 297 6121
Email: spokesperson-unama@un.org Website:
www.unama-afg.org