Statement by President Michael D. Higgins 25th Anniversary of UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Date: Fri 17th Oct, 2025 | 16:42
Today, as we mark the 25th anniversary of the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we are called once again to reflect on the enduring injustice and great social ill that poverty represents in our world, and to recommit ourselves to the urgent task of eliminating it in all its forms.
The theme chosen by the UN for this year — “Ending social and institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families” — resonates deeply. It compels us to consider how structural and systemic failures compound the hardship of those already most vulnerable, and to recommit ourselves to policies rooted in dignity, inclusion, care and respect for every human family.
We do so at a time of grave concern. Globally, acute hunger grew for the sixth consecutive year in 2024, driven by the devastating consequences of war, conflict and climate change. More than 295 million people in 53 countries experienced the worst forms of acute food insecurity, with 80 percent facing such hardship every year. The number of people facing famine or the risk of famine more than doubled between 2023 and 2024, with over 95 percent of these in Gaza and Sudan.
Deepening inequality has become a scourge on our global society, the product of structural injustices that we have too often failed to confront. The persistence of these inequalities reflects the structural nature of the problem, a world economy and governance system that for too long has served privilege over need, extraction over protection, profit over people.
We must face up the simple fact that debt is strangling many nations and their ability to feed themselves in a sustainable manner. How shameful it is that all of this is taking place in a world where military expenditure has soared to unprecedented levels, reaching $2.7 trillion in 2024 — the highest ever recorded. When one thinks of what could be achieved if such sums were not deferred to preparations for war.
Major change is required, and with urgency. We must move away from the destructive socially ruinous paradigm under which our world has laboured towards an ecological-social model that is underpinned by values of justice, sustainability and inclusion. It is only by dismantling the systemic barriers that block opportunity and by acting together in a spirit of global solidarity that we can create the just, peaceful and inclusive societies to which this year’s theme for UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty aspires to achieve.
As we reflect, may I suggest that we should draw on what were our better, promising moments of achieving trust and shared purpose. For example, it is now ten years since the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by world leaders in 2015 — a moment of aspiration and ambition, of multilateral vision, when we collectively embraced a holistic and integrated blueprint for peace, prosperity and planetary survival to cooperate in recognising and responding to the consequences of climate change and the promise of sustainable living.
That spirit of cooperation remains a vital source of inspiration as we confront today’s urgent challenges.
May I commend all those who today, in recognition of our shared vulnerabilities and our shared responsibilities, raise their voices in solidarity with impoverished families and children across the world, for your determined pursuit of human rights for all our fellow global citizens.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.