UNIS/INF/290
14 October 2008
Millions Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty and for the Millennium Development Goals
17-19 October
VIENNA, 14 October (UN Information Service) - STAND UP, TAKE ACTION is a worldwide call to show your support to end poverty and achieve and exceed the Millennium Development Goals. From 17-19 October people will literally and symbolically STAND UP and TAKE a variety of ACTIONS to demand their governments to deliver on commitments to end extreme poverty.
Last year, over 43 million people stood up to demand that world leaders keep their promises to end poverty and inequality.
This year, help us break that record and send an even louder message to our governments. At the halfway point to the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the time for talk is over; we demand urgent action to implement these Goals now.
Join the global movement of people who refuse to stay seated or silent in the face of poverty and broken promises to end it!
At United Nations headquarters in Vienna, staff of the Vienna-based organizations, members of the diplomatic community and civil society representatives will join visitors to the United Nations in Vienna on 17 October at 12:30, for a Stand Up event held in the Visitor Centre of the Vienna International Centre in conjunction with a celebration of the Visitor Centre's tenth anniversary. UNIS Vienna Director Maher Nasser will address the gathering. All guided tours at the Vienna International Centre on 17 October will also participate in the Stand Up campaign.
In Slovenia, the United Nations Association of Slovenia will hold a round table on 17 October in Ljubljana where experts will discuss the need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals with the aim of presenting proposals to the Government of Slovenia. Also in Slovenia, students of several schools across the country will participate in the campaign and stand up on 17 October. The school events are held in cooperation with the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, Sloga (Slovenian Global Action), the United Nations Association of Slovenia and the Association for Slovene-Indonesian Friendship.
In Slovakia, participating groups include employees of international private sector companies based in Bratislava who are standing up in their workplace, as well as school classes.
Stand Up events are also being prepared by students and civil society organizations in Hungary.
You can join any of these events or organize your own Stand Up event and encourage a group or organization you are a part of to get involved. This is a unique opportunity to speak with one voice on one issue. Get the message across with your action.
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For information visit:
www.unis.unvienna.org
or contact:
Sonja Wintersberger
UNIS Vienna
Telephone: (+43 1) 260 60-3430
E-mail:
sonja.wintersberger@unvienna.org
For information on the global Stand Up campaign, visit:
www.standagainstpoverty.org
