At ESCAP, over 300 persons participated in the Stand Up.

Over 23.5 million people “Stand Up Against Poverty” on World Poverty Day

On 15-16 October, 23,542,614 people in over 80 countries around the world set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people standing up against poverty. In Asia and the Pacific alone, more than 18 million took the pledge against poverty eradication in multiple locations over 24 hours.
The Stand Up record attempt, an initiative of the United Nations Millennium Campaign in partnership with the Global Call to Action Against Poverty was set in time for the United Nations International Day for Poverty Eradication on 17 October.
Millions across the state of Madhya Pradesh, India; tens of thousands of cricket fans across Jaipur, India; rock fans across Manila, Philippines; millions of school children across Nepal and Pakistan; hundreds of thousands across Bangladesh as well as a huge gathering at the largest mosque in Indonesia all joined together for the world record attempt.
At each event, people stood up and pledged their solidarity with the world’s poorest people and demanded that Governments take urgent action to end poverty and inequality and to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The Millennium Campaign’s Executive Coordinator Eveline Herfkens said: “Together we have set an incredible record for the largest number of people standing up to demand action on poverty. But the record we really want to break is the world’s record of breaking promises and ignoring the poor. We don’t want to record numbers of people dying of poverty every year. This is the great issue of our times, let us become great by dealing with it decisively”.
(Source: Millennium Campaign, press release, 18 October)