Action 2015: Children must not be forgotten

World Vision UK has today urged world leaders to consider the plight of vulnerable children and invest more commitment into fighting poverty, as latest figures show that a billion more people across the world may end up living in conditions of extreme hardship.
The charity which has joined more than a thousand organisations to launch a new campaign called action/2015 today, is calling on local and world leaders to take urgent action to eradicate poverty, address inequality and curb the afflictions of children in warzones. Latest research by the University of Denver shows that almost a billion people across the world face a life of extreme poverty if leaders continue to duck key decisions on poverty, inequality and climate change ahead of two crucial summits in New York and Paris later this year.

Tim Pilkington, World Vision UK’s Acting Chief Executive Officer said: “Of the most affected, we are acutely aware that children in fragile and conflict-affected countries are the most vulnerable. Millions of children live in fear for their lives and safety, have no access to the most basic nutrition, health care or education, and face little hope of a better future. 

“This is why we are urging leaders around the world to stimulate action by implementing more responsible policies and decisions to end man-made poverty and hardships. At World Vision we believe the opportunity 2015 brings cannot be missed. We work to support the most vulnerable children, living in the toughest places on earth. We need to put the children we serve at the heart of these goals. We will put them front-and-centre over the course of the year,” he explained.

The new University of Denver calculation released by the action/2015 coalition shows that the number of people living in extreme poverty (on less than $1.25 a day) could be reduced dramatically from over a billion to 360 million by 2030.  The study shows that, about 4 % of the global population would live in extreme poverty in 2030 - compared to 17% today - if critical policy choices on inequality, poverty investment and climate change are made this year and implemented thereafter.  Estimates of other researchers, looking at a longer list of variables, show that the eradication of extreme poverty is achievable for the first time in history, a key objective of the action/2015 campaign. 

However, if leaders fail to deliver and build on the growing momentum for ambitious deals at the UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development in September and the UN Climate talks in December, and scale back their efforts, the number of people living in extreme poverty could actually increase to 1.2 billion by 2030. This increase would be the first in a generation (since 1993) and almost a billion higher (886million) than if resolute action is taken. Under this scenario 1 in 3 of the world’s population would live under $2 a day.

The action/2015 campaign has a number of high profile backers including Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistan-born Nobel Prize winner who put her life on the line for the right to education.

Malala said: “2015 must be the year the world wakes up and delivers a safer, more just future for children and young people. We all must play our part in ensuring this is the case. Do not let this opportunity go to waste.”

Alongside Malala, dozens of high profile activists from Queen Rania of Jordan and Bono to Ben Affleck, Bill and Melinda Gates and Mo Ibrahim have backed the coalition of over a thousand organisations in more than 120 countries around the world.