Over 100 million Stand Up and Take Action

A total of 116,993,629 people - almost 2% of the world's population - took part in Stand Up and Take Action last weekend. It's a new world record!

The United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) today announced that a Guinness World Record breaking 116.9 million people – nearly two percent of world population – took a stand against poverty at events in 131 countries on 17-19 October.

Jubilee Debt Campaign joined grassroots groups, churches, schools, universities and development NGOs to help organize more than 50,000 people to participate in 300 solidarity events in the UK for Stand up and Take Action 2008.

Both Jubilee Debt Campaigns events: the premiere of a new film ‘The End of Poverty?’, directed by Phillippe Diaz (see www.theendofpoverty.com) and the 'End Poverty Now' campaigners' forum enjoyed great success, mobilising people from across the greater London area and UK to stand up against poverty.

Stand Up and Take Action was the finale to the Global Call to Action Against Poverty's 50 Global Days of Action Against Poverty and Inequality when tens of thousands of people in the UK joined with millions across the world to take action against poverty, from lobbying at High Level Meetings to signing online petitions

In addition to the Jubilee Debt Campaign efforts, other UK events included:

• Over 100 prayer vigils
• Public meetings in major cities including London, Oxford, Newcastle and Manchester
• Assemblies and debates in schools and colleges across the country
• Letter writing campaigns calling for action on aid, trade, debt and climate change

And internationally:
• A summit in Jigawa, Nigeria calling on the government to empower women and other marginalised groups through skill acquisition programs, empowerment schemes and access to micro-financing
• A clean up exercise in a slum area of Uganda by members of Parliament
• A gathering of some of the richest and poorest families in India, on the perimeter of the Indian Parliament
• Protests in 54 cities in Spain against proposed cuts in the aid budget
• A mass tree planting with 30, 000 participants in Western Kenya

For a map of global events, visit www.standagainstpoverty.org


The 116.9 million Stand Up participation numbers by country:
• Africa: 24,496,151
• Arab region: 17,847,870
• Asia: 73,151,847
• Europe: 951,788
• Latin America: 211,250
• North America: 123,920
• Oceania: 210,803