Poverty: Give us this day our daily bread

One of the world’s greatest statespersons Nelson Mandela has said as long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality exist in our world, none of us can truly rest. Former United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt has pointed out that the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. In Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Government is taking practical steps to pull the country out of its worst ever socio-economic crisis since independence in 1948, but millions of people are known to be caught up in a poverty trap and are struggling to provide at least two meals for the family with some of them known to be managing with rice and “Kiri Hodi”. They lack proper shelter and the means of providing facilities for education and healthcare of the family. President Wickremesinghe himself has said he would need at least a few months to improve the situation and we hope this paradise island will not face the indignity if not disgrace of being hit by a famine.   

On October 17, the United Nations marks the International Day for the Eradication of poverty with the theme being “Dignity for all in practice.” In a wide-ranging statement the world body highlights the commitments we need to make together for social justice, peace, and the planet. The 193-member world body says the dignity of the human being is not only a fundamental right in itself but constitutes the basis of all other fundamental rights. Therefore, “Dignity” is not an abstract concept: it belongs to each and every one. Today, many people living in persistent poverty experience their dignity being denied and disrespected.  

With the commitment to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure all people everywhere enjoy peace and prosperity, the 2030 Agenda again gestured toward the same promise established under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, the current reality shows that 1.3 billion people still live in multidimensional poverty with almost half of them children and youth.  

Inequalities of opportunities and income are sharply on the rise and, each year, the gap between the rich and poor gets even wider. In the past year, as millions struggled through the erosion of workers’ rights and job quality to make it to another day, corporate power and the wealth of the billionaire class have recorded an unprecedented rise.  

According to the UN Poverty and inequality are not inevitable. They are the result of deliberate decisions or inaction that disempower the poorest and marginalized in our societies and violate their fundamental rights. The silent and sustained violence of poverty – social exclusion, structural discrimination and disempowerment – makes it harder for people trapped in extreme poverty to escape and denies their humanity.  

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted this factor, exposing social protection system gaps and failures and structural inequalities and diverse forms of discrimination that deepen and perpetuate poverty. In addition to this, the climate emergency constitutes new violence against people living in poverty, as these communities are unduly burdened by more frequent occurrences of natural disasters and environmental degradation, leading to the destruction of their homes, crops and livelihoods.  

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty and the 30th anniversary of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This Day honors the millions of people suffering from poverty and their daily courage and recognizes the essential global solidarity and shared responsibility we hold to eradicate poverty and combat all forms of discrimination.  

In a world characterized by an unprecedented level of economic development, technological means and financial resources, that millions of people are living in extreme poverty is a moral outrage. Poverty is not solely an economic issue, but rather a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses a lack of both income and the basic capabilities to live in dignity.  

Persons living in poverty experience many interrelated and mutually reinforcing deprivations that prevent them from realizing their rights and perpetuate their poverty, including dangerous work conditions, unsafe housing, lack of nutritious food, unequal access to justice, lack of political power and limited access to health care  
Another world statesperson Mahatma Gandhi says there are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.