Implementation of the 1st United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006)

A/RES/58/222No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 98Implementation of the 1st United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006), published in 2004.

What other versions does this mandate have?

14 versions · 2003–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/153

2025A/RES/80/153Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)LatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/221Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)Compare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/164Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)Compare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/179Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)Compare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/218Implementation of the 3rd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018-2027)Compare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2004.

2004A/59/326Implementation of the 1st United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006) and preparations for the International Year of Microcredit, 2005 report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

39 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Reiterates that eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in particular for developing countries, that each country has the primary responsibility for its own sustainable development and poverty eradication, that the role of national policies and development strategies cannot be overemphasized and that concerted and concrete measures are required at all levels to enable developing countries to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development;

Recognizes that, in order for developing countries to reach the targets set in the context of national development strategies for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration,1 in particular the goal of the eradication of poverty, and for such poverty eradication strategies to be effective, it is imperative that they be integrated into the world economy and share equitably in the benefits of globalization;

Reaffirms that, within the context of overall action for the eradication of poverty, special attention should be given to the multidimensional nature of poverty and the national and international conditions and policies that are conducive to its eradication, fostering, inter alia, the social and economic integration of people living in poverty and the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, including the right to development;

Global response for the eradication of poverty

Stresses the importance of the follow-up to the outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development, and calls for the full and effective implementation of the Monterrey Consensus;2

Reaffirms that good governance at the international level is fundamental for achieving poverty eradication and sustainable development; in order to ensure a dynamic and enabling international economic environment, it is important to promote global economic governance by addressing the international finance, trade, technology and investment patterns that have an impact on the development prospects of developing countries; to that end, the international community should take all necessary and appropriate measures, including ensuring support to structural and macroeconomic reform, a comprehensive solution to the external debt problem and increasing market access for developing countries; efforts to reform the international financial architecture need to be sustained with greater transparency and with the effective participation of developing countries in decision-making processes; and that a universal, rule-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system, as well as meaningful trade liberalization, can substantially stimulate development worldwide, benefiting countries at all stages of development;

Also reaffirms that good governance at the national level is essential for poverty eradication and sustainable development, that sound economic policies, solid democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people and improved infrastructure are the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication and employment creation, and that freedom, peace and security, domestic stability, respect for human rights, including the right to development, the rule of law, gender equality, market-oriented policies and an overall commitment to just and democratic societies are also essential and mutually reinforcing;

Recognizes the major role that trade can play as an engine of growth and development and in eradicating poverty, regrets that the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, held in Cancún, Mexico, from 10 to 14 September 2003, failed to produce an agreement, and calls for the resumption of the negotiations and the implementation of the Doha agenda, adopted at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, held at Doha from 9 to 14 November 2001;

Also recognizes the responsibility of all Governments to adopt policies aimed at preventing and combating corrupt practices at the national and international levels, and welcomes in this regard the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption;

Underlines that, together with coherent and consistent domestic policies, international cooperation is essential in supplementing and supporting the efforts of developing countries to utilize their domestic resources for development and poverty eradication and in ensuring that they will be able to achieve the development goals as envisioned in the Millennium Declaration;

Reiterates that a substantial increase in official development assistance and other resources will be required if developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, are to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, and that, to build support for official development assistance, cooperation is necessary to further improve policies and development strategies to enhance aid effectiveness, both nationally and internationally, requests, in that regard, those countries that made announcements of increased official development assistance at the International Conference on Financing for Development to make those resources available as soon as possible, and notes in this context the recent upward trend in official development assistance;

Urges developed countries that have not done so to make concrete efforts to reach the targets of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product as official development assistance to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of their gross national product to least developed countries, as reconfirmed at the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Brussels from 14 to 20 May 2001, encourages developing countries to build on progress achieved in ensuring that official development assistance is used effectively to help achieve development goals and targets, acknowledges the efforts of all donors, commends those donors whose official development assistance contributions exceed, reach or are increasing towards the targets, and underlines the importance of undertaking to examine the means and time frames for achieving the targets and goals;

Recognizes that an enabling domestic environment is vital for mobilizing domestic resources, increasing productivity, reducing capital flight, encouraging the private sector and attracting and making effective use of international investment and assistance, and that efforts to create such an environment should be supported by the international community;

Also recognizes that creditors and debtors must share the responsibility for preventing and resolving unsustainable debt situations and that debt relief can play a key role in liberating resources that should be directed towards activities consistent with attaining poverty eradication, sustainable economic growth, sustainable development and the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, and in that regard urges countries to direct those resources freed through debt relief, in particular through debt cancellation and reduction, towards these objectives;

Calls upon the developed countries, by means of intensified and effective cooperation with developing countries, to promote capacity-building and facilitate access to and transfer of technologies and corresponding knowledge, in particular to developing countries, on favourable terms, including concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed, taking into account the need to protect intellectual property rights as well as the special needs of developing countries;

Recognizes the crucial role that microcredit and microfinance could play in the eradication of poverty, the promotion of gender equality, the empowerment of vulnerable groups and the development of rural communities, encourages Governments to adopt policies that support access to microcredit as well as the development of microfinance institutions and their capacities, and calls upon the international community to support those efforts;

Policies for the eradication of poverty

Reaffirms that the eradication of poverty should be addressed in an integrated way, as set out in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg Plan of Implementation”), taking into account the importance of the need for the empowerment of women and sectoral strategies in such areas as education, development of human resources, health, human settlements, rural, local and community development, productive employment, population, environment and natural resources, water and sanitation, agriculture, food security, energy and migration, and the specific needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, in such a way as to increase opportunities and choices for people living in poverty and to enable them to build and strengthen their assets so as to achieve development, security and stability, and in that regard encourages countries to develop their national poverty reduction policies in accordance with their national priorities, including, where appropriate, through poverty reduction strategy papers;

Underlines, in this context, the importance of further integration of the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, in the national development strategies and plans, including the poverty reduction strategy papers where they exist, and calls upon the international community to continue to support developing countries in the implementation of those development strategies and plans;

Recognizes the importance of disseminating best practices for the reduction of poverty in its various dimensions, taking into account the need to adapt those best practices to suit the social, economic, cultural and historical conditions of each country;

Reaffirms that all Governments and the United Nations system should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes aimed at the eradication of poverty, at both the national and the international levels, and encourages the use of gender analysis as a tool for the integration of a gender dimension into planning the implementation of policies, strategies and programmes for the eradication of poverty;

Also reaffirms that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for, sustainable development;

Emphasizes the critical role of both formal and non-formal education, in particular basic education and training, especially for girls, in empowering those living in poverty, reaffirms in that context the Dakar Framework for Action adopted at the World Education Forum, and recognizes the importance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization strategy for the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty, in supporting the Education For All programmes as a tool to achieve the millennium development goal on universal primary education by 2015;

Recognizes the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious, contagious diseases on human development, economic growth and poverty reduction efforts in all regions, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa, urges Governments and the international community to give urgent priority to combating those diseases, takes note of the convening of the fifteenth International Conference on HIV/AIDS, to be held in Thailand from 11 to 16 July 2004, and in that regard welcomes the recent decision adopted by members of the World Trade Organization on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health;

Emphasizes the link between poverty eradication and improving access to safe drinking water, and stresses in this regard the objective to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water and the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation, as reaffirmed in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;

Recognizes that the lack of adequate housing remains a pressing challenge in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty, particularly in the urban areas in developing countries, expresses its concern at the rapid growth in the number of slum dwellers in the urban areas of developing countries, particularly in Africa, stresses that, unless urgent and effective measures and actions are taken at the national and international levels, the number of slum dwellers, who constitute one third of the world’s urban population, will continue to increase, and emphasizes the need for increased efforts, with a view to significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020;

Specific initiatives in the fight against poverty

Also recognizes the important potential contribution of the World Solidarity Fund to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the objective to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day and the proportion of the people who suffer from hunger;

Reiterates its endorsement of the decision of the World Summit on Sustainable Development to establish the World Solidarity Fund to eradicate poverty and to promote social and human development in the developing countries, while stressing the voluntary nature of the contributions and the need to avoid duplication of existing United Nations funds and encouraging the role of the private sector and individual citizens relative to Governments in funding the endeavours, as set out in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;

Encourages Member States, international organizations, the private sector, relevant institutions, foundations and individuals to contribute to the World Solidarity Fund;

Requests the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, in that regard, to take further measures to operationalize the World Solidarity Fund by establishing, on an urgent basis, the high-level committee whose task it is to define the strategy of the Fund and to mobilize resources to enable it to start its activities in the field of poverty alleviation;

Acknowledges the significance of greater involvement of developing countries in joint efforts, including those among developing countries, to overcome extreme poverty, and in this context takes note of the initiatives undertaken by the developing countries, including those announced at the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly;

Welcomes the initiatives undertaken by regional and subregional organizations for overcoming extreme poverty;

Africa, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States

Stresses the importance, as recognized in the Millennium Declaration, of meeting the special needs of Africa, where poverty remains a major challenge and where most countries have not benefited fully from the opportunities of globalization, which has further exacerbated the continent’s marginalization;

Reaffirms its support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, encourages further efforts in the implementation of the commitments contained therein in the political, economic and social fields, and calls upon the developed countries and the United Nations system to continue to support the Partnership, the primary objective of which is to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development on the basis of African ownership and leadership and enhanced partnerships with the international community, in accordance with the principles, objectives and priorities of the Partnership;

Calls upon the Governments of the least developed countries and their development partners to implement fully the commitments contained in the Brussels Declaration and the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, adopted at the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries;

Stresses the significant challenge to poverty reduction posed by the geographical disadvantages of landlocked developing countries and the vulnerabilities of small island developing States, and in this context welcomes the adoption of the Almaty Programme of Action, at the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and Donor Countries and International Financial and Development Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation, held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 28 and 29 August 2003, and supports the comprehensive review of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, to be held in Mauritius from 30 August to 3 September 2004;

The United Nations and the fight against poverty

Calls for the full implementation of its resolution 57/270 B of 23 June 2003 on the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields, which provides a comprehensive basis for the follow-up to the outcomes of those conferences and summits and contributes to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, in particular the goal of the eradication of poverty and hunger, and notes in this context the decision to review in 2005 the progress achieved in implementing all commitments made in the Millennium Declaration and that there is scope for a major event;

Reaffirms the role of United Nations funds and programmes, in particular the United Nations Development Programme and its associated funds, in assisting the national efforts of developing countries, inter alia, in the eradication of poverty, and the need for their funding in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-ninth session the item entitled “Implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006)”.

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