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This year’s theme calls for universal access to decent work and social protection as a means to uphold human dignity for all people, and to emphasize that decent work must empower people, provide fair wages and safe working conditions, and fundamentally recognize the inherent value and humanity of all workers.

It draws on first-hand testimonials showing that those trapped in extreme poverty often work long, grueling hours in dangerous, unregulated conditions but still cannot earn enough income to adequately support themselves and their families.

Similarly, universal social protection is urgently needed to guarantee income security for everyone, prioritizing society’s most vulnerable members.

The theme is also a call to political leaders and policymakers to use human dignity as the guiding compass in all decision-making processes, to ensure the advancement of fundamental human rights and social justice over the pursuit of corporate profits.

Strong global partnerships between governments, businesses, and civil society organizations are vital to achieving equitable development and ensuring no one is excluded or left behind.

Therefore, this year’s observance is a chance to stand in solidarity with people living in poverty, truly listen to their daily struggles, and renew commitments to create a just economy focused on protecting human and environmental wellbeing over maximizing financial gains. The ultimate goal is to eliminate poverty entirely by creating the conditions for everyone to live with dignity.

In a world characterized by an unprecedented level of economic development, technological means, and financial resources, millions of persons 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.

National document on removing poverty

A comprehensive document on the eradication of poverty is being drafted, Mohammad-Mehdi Zahedi-Vafa, an official with the Planning and Budget Organization, has said.

“A center for monitoring poverty will be set up by integrating data bases from around the country,” he added, IRNA reported.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has tasked heads of the three branches of the government to take serious measures toward poverty eradication, Zahedi-Vafa stressed.

In April 2022, Ayatollah Khamenei outlined policies for materializing goals of social security in line with the objectives of the Constitution.

The policies aim to improve social welfare, remove poverty, and support vulnerable strata of society, mainly the elderly, the disabled, and people without caretakers.

Reaching the goals entails an efficient, justice-based, and comprehensive administrative system consistent with Islamic-Iranian patterns and powered by public participation that will expand services to underprivileged people living in urban and rural areas.

President Ebrahim Raisi has also said no one should be denied the opportunity for education due to poverty.

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NASA had delayed the launch of the initial phase of its new space mission dubbed Artemis I for several years. In September this year, the allegedly independent space agency of the U.S. federal government said it would no longer attempt to launch the mission. There have been a number of technical issues that have prolonged a decision on the timing of the next launch attempt.

[NASA is a part of the federal government. It is not independent in the sense that a private company is independent. However, the NASA administrator alleges it doesn’t report to any other federal agency]

The space rocket mission finally blasted off from Florida for a three-week test journey without a crew, which inaugurated the U.S. space agency’s program, 50 years after Washington’s last moon mission.

Even the official launch on Wednesday faced problems, with the technical team scrambling out to the launch pad in the final hours of the countdown to avoid a potential fuel leak.

More than a decade in development with budget overruns, a recent audit found that $40 billion of American taxpayer’s money has already been spent on the program, including design, construction, testing, and ground facilities.

NASA’s Office of Inspector General has said the total costs will cost at least $93 billion of American taxpayer’s money by 2025.

Critics have slammed the price tag for a space program to try and eventually reach the moon during extremely difficult economic times for Americans with record inflation levels.

This is while the U.S. poverty rate climbed for a second straight year in 2021, rising to 11.6% from 11.5% in the prior year. That’s according to annual data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Last year, almost 40 million Americans were living in poverty, about 3.9 million more than in 2019. Complete data for 2022 has yet to be released but amid a rising cost of living crisis, the rate is expected to rise even further.

There has been a continuing spike in monthly poverty rates since December 2021’s monthly poverty rate of 12.5 percent. In January 2022, the monthly poverty rate remained elevated at 14.7 percent.

In January this year, child poverty stood at 17 percent. That represented a continuation of the sharp increase in child poverty from December 2021, when the monthly child poverty rate was 12.1 percent.

In 2020, more than 37 million Americans lived in poverty according to data from the U.S Census Bureau. That’s 3.3 million more than in 2019, which means the rates are rising on an annual basis and so expected to expand by 2025 when NASA’s total costs for its space program will reach at least $93 billion.

But the poverty data above does not include those who are above the poverty line and struggling to make a living. According to the Poor People’s Campaign, once low-income families are accounted for, the number of Americans struggling to make ends meet is closer to 140 million U.S. citizens.

According to Feeding America (a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people), there are 34 million people in the U.S., including 9 million children, who are facing food insecurity.

Other estimates suggest that more than 46 million Americans, including 13 million children and 7 million seniors rely on food pantries and meal programs to feed themselves.

The organization’s network of food banks is reporting a 90% increase or sustained need over the last month. The food banks themselves are facing mounting challenges with food donations on the decline and costs rising for freight, food purchase, and every other aspect of operations to feed the hungry. There has been a spike in online searches for food support, but more than ever before, Americans are making searches around “food” and “prices” in 2022, with searches rising 45% since last year.

A recent survey from Feeding America, a nonprofit network of 200 food banks, found that 155 food pantries reported a jump in families coming to their door.

“People coming through and they’re not just getting for their family, but they might have a sister or a brother they’re getting a little bit extra for,” Tehma Smith Wilson, who runs a food pantry in Baltimore, told CBS News.

The increase in people seeking help from food banks is also taxing pantries’ own resources. In the past, Wilson said her pantry typically received 700 boxes of food to donate; that number is now around 100

Grocery store prices have also jumped, along with the high cost of gas and other staples, which are forcing households to change the way they shop for food.

In 2020 it was estimated that around 12 million children in America were living in poverty, a burden that has disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic children, as well as those living in rural areas. Then COVID and a global economic crisis as a result of the Ukraine war forced even more parents out of work. Today, the number of children living in poverty in America is believed to be closer to 13 million.

However, poverty in America disproportionately affects black and Hispanic kids. In Maryland, Hispanic and Black families are almost 4 times as likely to face hunger compared to white families. Below are just some of the statistics.

Hispanic families are disadvantaged in New York, where 38% do not have enough food, compared to 11% of white families.

In Washington, D.C., Black families are 6 times as likely to struggle to pay bills as white families.

Nationwide, 28% of Black households, and 24% of Hispanic households that rent, are behind on their payments, compared to 12% of white households.

Also across the U.S., the country’s poorer families are worse off in comparison with the group of other high-economy countries such as poorer families residing in the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia, and so on. In comparing poverty in the U.S. to these countries, American poverty is both more prevalent and more extreme.

The increase in food insecurity is linked to inflation with higher prices for housing, gas, and especially food. According to the last report on consumer prices, the cost of food increased 10.4 percent from a year earlier, the largest 12-month increase since 1981.

Data from the Census Bureau this year also shows that 25 million adults sometimes had not had enough to eat over the previous seven days. That was the greatest number since just before Christmas in 2020 when the pandemic continued to take a high economic toll and the unemployment rate was nearly twice what it is today.

While NASA describes its new mission as historic and a majestic launch that will see a new era of human deep space exploration and eventually put a man on the moon, critics argue otherwise.

After keeping silent on the costs for a long time, in January this year, a senior NASA official said the space agency would like to get its operational costs for a single mission a year down to $2 billion or less. Another source at the time said the internal goal was $1.5 billion. That has now reached a total of $93 billion and may rise further or fail to achieve its operational targets.

NASA is using taxpayer’s money to buy technology and also collaborate with several companies; leading them is Lockheed Martin, America’s top arms manufacturer. The program will see lucrative profits for a limited number of individuals in the U.S., at the expense of $93 billion of hardworking American taxpayer’s money.

A quick search online suggests Americans would rather see their tax being used for other initiatives such as helping the growing number of households facing financial hardship or improving the country’s crippling infrastructure.

There is also speculation that the costly mission is not entirely peaceful in nature and may well have a secret military aspect attached to it.

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In a reflection of how dire the economic situation has become, the Bank of England has once again hiked the base rate of interest by 0.75 percentage points to 3%, warning that a long recession is on the way. The latest hike is the single biggest increase in more than three decades.

At a news conference, the bank’s governor Andrew Bailey warned that “from where we stand now, we think inflation will begin to fall back from the middle of next year, probably quite sharply. To make sure that happens, Bank rate may have to go up further in the coming months.”

The bank also warned that the country faces the risk of a protracted contraction in the coming years, with high inflation and the unemployment rate climbing to 6.5%. That is the highest since the 2008 financial crisis.

The length of the forecasted recession – eight successive quarters in which gross domestic product shrinks – would make this the most protracted since records began.

The unwelcome news and future economic uncertainty have piled further pressure on the weakening British pound, which has again slumped against the dollar.

The economic forecast does not include any of the expected spending cuts and tax rises the Treasury is expected to impose on November 17, which would worsen the outlook.

Households now face higher repayments on their mortgages and bank loans on top of skyrocketing energy prices and the unprecedented rising cost of living crisis. The bank’s decision is the single biggest increase in interest rates since 1989.

Reacting to the bank’s move, economic experts say the higher interest rates will leave the average household £3,000 more to pay over the next year for their mortgage costs, more than outweighing any government help with energy bills.

The recession is mainly because of the finance minister’s decision to cut back on the length of the energy price guarantee (which limits the amount households can be charged per unit), and partly a consequence of the rising cost of borrowing.

While the Bank of England is trying to soften the blow of a recession in the short term, critics say it will backfire with grim consequences in the long term.

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has admitted that families and businesses are facing a worrying and difficult period in the country’s history.

The Bank of England is also set to release long-term inflation forecasts, which are expected to show that the cost of living next year will be much higher than its target of 2%.

Official figures released in September showed inflation hit 10.1% – matching a 40-year high seen in July – with much of this increase driven by rising energy and food costs as a result of the global food supply problem. Both a consequence of the Ukraine war.

The statistics reveal that more than a third of people found it difficult to pay their energy bills over the past three months. Yet the UK, like many countries in Europe, appear to have little desire in any peace initiative to end the Ukraine conflict.

Food banks have sounded the alarm with one food charity saying it has launched its first-ever emergency appeal to meet a “devastating rise in need” as it warns of its “hardest winter yet” as people struggle with inflation.

The Trussell Trust said food banks are “struggling” to meet “a tsunami” of demand which was now outstripping donations. It is calling on Downing Street for help.

Through its support of 1,300 food bank centers, the charity has warned it has already used up its reserve stock of food items, which it says normally help maintain supplies over the winter months.

According to the office of national statistics, some food products have increased by more than the 17% since last year. Cooking oil has risen by 65% in price, pasta rose 60% and tea 46%. Over the past year other “budget” food items have also increased.such as tea by 46%, bread by 38% and biscuits by 34%.

Emma Revie, CEO of The Trussell Trust, says “we never wanted to run an appeal like this, we would rather there was no need for food banks at all. But right now, they are on the frontline of this cost of living emergency – we have no other option.”

“Faced with the perfect storm of rising energy prices, inflation and a potential recession that is pushing people deeper into poverty, the soaring cost of living is driving a tsunami of need to food banks.

“Through this emergency appeal we hope to raise the vital funds required to ensure that food banks can meet this devastating rise in need and continue to support people who are experiencing hardship.”

She added that “as well as raising vital funds, we hope our emergency appeal is a stark reminder of how reliant we have become as a society on the kindness of volunteers.

“No one should need to turn to charity for something as essential as food and the situation we are facing is too great for food banks to solve alone.”

She also called on the government “to do what’s right and provide a package of support directly targeted at people on the lowest incomes”.

The dire warning comes as new research has revealed that millions of families are skipping meals or changing shopping and eating habits as they struggle with household finances.

The consumer research magazine Which? says among those who were struggling the most, 50% admitted their household was skipping meals. Its research also revealed 46% of consumers were finding it harder to eat healthily compared to before the cost of living crisis.

Critics say the ruling Conservative party is doing very little to help the growing poorer class of society despite the fact that inflation is hitting 40-year highs.

Studies show an unprecedented number of people don’t want to go to work because they are unable to afford basic hygiene products, according to one charity. A report by the Hygiene Bank, which conducted the research with YouGov, suggests 3.2 million of adults in Britain are in hygiene poverty and many are ashamed to go to work because they cannot afford basic items such as shaving products or soap.

The report says “the truth is by the time you’re not switching on your heating or you’re going to a food bank for food essentials, you’ve stopped buying essential hygiene products weeks before.”

Rising fuel prices have exacerbated the problem and new figures show almost half of UK adults are struggling to make ends meet. Data from the Office for National Statistics released on Tuesday showed that 45% of adults who pay energy bills were finding it very, or somewhat, hard to afford them, up from 40% in June.

New figures show almost half of UK adults are struggling to afford their energy bills, rent, or mortgage payments. The data from the Office for National Statistics show a rising percentage of the population is experiencing financial hardship amid the cost of living crisis.

Reports say that many households simply cannot afford to turn the heating on. In September, 45% of adults who paid energy bills were finding it very, or somewhat, difficult to afford them – up from 40% in June.

Those who are renting homes are reported to be finding it more difficult to survive and those who don’t own homes also found it harder to pay energy costs, with 60% in need of dire help.

Figures from a new poll carried out by Ipsos, show more than a quarter of people have started taking out loans from banks or family and relatives to buy food and a fifth have borrowed money to adapt to rising prices this year.

Gideon Skinner, head of politics research in public affairs at Ipsos, says “the levels of concern peaked in August and have slipped back to figures we were seeing earlier in the year. But it’s important to say that the absolute level is still pretty high.

“We are also seeing that people are now concerned about the whole of the economy more generally, rather than specifically cost of living and inflation. It’s not that people suddenly think everything is going to be fine.”

There is a extreme concern about how the rising cost of living crisis is affecting the more vulnerable groups in society, including the disabled and minority groups.

However, this is a recession that will be felt in most households both through the rise in energy prices and food prices as well as the soaring cost of borrowing.

Analysts says it is a recession that is certainly expected to bring the government down in the next general election.

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“No one should be deprived of education due to poverty,” Raisi said at the official opening ceremony of the 2021-2022 school year.

He said investment in education is a great asset.

“Spending on education is the largest investment and the country’s progress happens through education and training,” Raisi noted.

Insisting that all institutions must help and serve education, Raisi called school a “pillar of social solidarity.”

He also said that all Iranians appreciated school better during the COVID-19 conditions and realized how important school is as a point of connection between the house and other aspects of society.

The President added, “I must also sincerely thank all the women and mothers of the society who played the role of teachers in homes for the children during the closure of schools.”

This experience showed what important capacities the family and mothers have that should be considered and promoted in the growth of society, he noted.

“The pivotal position and fundamental role of schools requires that all institutions of the country in various fields of media, economy, culture, etc. help education and all institutions are obliged to serve the school,” Raisi continued.

The president added that spending resources on education is not a cost but the largest and most productive investment that can guarantee the future of the country.

He noted that if the education reform document is not implemented, the schools and education system in the country will not be reformed.
“The school must be transformation-seeking and the transformation of the school depends on the work being in the hands of those seeking transformation.”

He said should it should be specified why the remaining parts of the reform document have not been implemented so far.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the president said since about two-third of the Iranian population have been vaccinated against the Covid-19 Pandemic preparations should be made to open schools.

“According to the plans, we will soon reach the goal of 70% vaccination of the society, and my request to the education officials is to make efforts towards the expansion of face-to-face education with strict observance of health protocols,” he stated.

The health ministry plans to vaccinate schoolchildren aged between 12-18.

Iran is one of the countries in the world greatly affected by the Coronavirus. Until Saturday (September 25) 119,72 people have lost their lives due to the pandemic.

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The UN chief said in a video message launching a policy report on “The Impact of COVID-19 in Africa” that countries on the continent have responded swiftly to the crisis, and as of now reported cases are lower than feared with more than 2,500 deaths.

The virus is present in all African countries with most recording fewer than 1,000 cases, the 28-page UN report said, AP reported.

The relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases confirmed thus far “have raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic,” the report said. “Caution is warranted, however, as these are early days in the life cycle of a disease that is still not fully understood and where we have seen repeated patterns of first slow, then exponential growth in the number of cases.”

The UN said the low numbers could be linked to minimal testing and reporting, pointing to a World Health Organization warning that the pandemic “could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in 47 African countries in the first year, mostly depending on governments’ responses.”

And WHO also warned that “the socioeconomic impacts could `smolder’ for several years,” the report said.

Guterres said, “much hangs in the balance.”

He called for international action to strengthen Africa’s health systems, maintain food supplies, avoid a financial crisis, support education, protect jobs, keep households and businesses afloat, and cushion the continent against lost income and export earnings.

To help address the devastating economic and social consequences of the pandemic, Guterres said Africa needs more than $200 billion and “an across-the-board debt standstill for African countries” unable to service their debt, “followed by targeted debt relief and a comprehensive approach to structural issues in the international debt architecture to prevent defaults.”

In recent years, Guterres said economic growth in Africa has been strong, the digital revolution has taken hold, and agreement has been reached on a free trade area.

But he said “already, demand for Africa’s commodities, tourism and remittances are declining” and the opening of the trade zone has been pushed back.

The secretary-general said the pandemic “will aggravate long-standing inequalities and heighten hunger, malnutrition, and vulnerability to disease.”

The UN urged that agriculture be declared a critical sector that should not be interrupted by COVID-19 related measures.

Guterres commended what countries and the African Union have done to tackle the pandemic, saying most have deepened regional coordination, deployed health workers, and enforced quarantines, lockdown, and border closures.

“They are also drawing on the experience of HIV/AIDS and Ebola to debunk rumors and overcome mistrust of government, security forces, and health workers,” Guterres said.

He said the United Nations has delivered millions of test kits, respirators, and other supplies, reaching almost the entire continent.

While dealing with the pandemic, the UN report said: “maintaining peace and security in Africa remains paramount.”

Guterres has appealed for global cease-fires to tackle COVID-19 and he said it is “essential for African countries to sustain their efforts to silence the guns and address violent extremism.”

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Official data shows that more than 14 million people in the UK are classed as living in poverty, or nearly one-quarter of the population.

Some 4.2 million children are poor, or around 30 % of the total, government figures show.

The situation is worsening with Britons losing jobs en masse as the UK experiences lockdown.

“The risk of poverty is particularly high for workers in sectors like hospitality and retail where people are more likely to be on low wages and in insecure work,” said Dave Innes, head of economics at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an organization for social change.

Over the past fortnight, almost one million adults in the UK have applied for Universal Credit, the government’s main form of state aid.

That is nearly 10 times the level in an average two-week period.

“If families who were earning decent wages before the pandemic move on to the Universal Credit, they will very suddenly find themselves living in poverty,” said Louisa McGeehan, a director at Child Poverty Action Group UK.

As for families who were already classed as living in poverty prior to the outbreak and whose children are stuck at home owing to schools being shut the demands of online education add to the problem, she said.

McGeehan noted that “a lot of schools are putting lessons on the Internet for children to do at home.

“If those children are in households who don’t have Internet or don’t have a computer, they are not able to do that learning.”

McGeehan told AFP: “We have a nation where a child poverty crisis has been amplified by the impact of coronavirus.”

But unlike the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when the government slashed public spending, COVID-19 has sparked huge state stimulus, including a boost to Universal Credit.

An adult receiving the benefit who is aged over 25 will receive £1,000 ($1,239, 1,137 euros) extra per year.

However, an increase in the monthly amount to £400 remains far below the level of £600 considered sufficient for a single-person household to avoid “poverty” in the UK.

“Economically we know there is very likely to be a big recession and it’s difficult to recover quickly from a big recession,“ said Innes.

“We know that recessions tend to hit people in poverty or in risk of poverty hardest,“ he told AFP.

Meanwhile, food banks, which help feed the most vulnerable people including the homeless, are seeing fewer donations amid fallout from the coronavirus.

The Trussell Trust, which has a national network of 1,200 food banks, said it faced an “unprecedented challenge”.

The government is however still providing children who ordinarily received free school meals with lunches.

“In my own school, we provide packed lunch that kids can come and pick up,“ said teacher Amanda Martin, who is also president of the National Education Union.

But she added: “In the short term, there is a real worry that some of these people that would be in school, that would be warm and safe and being fed, aren’t.”

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