What will you do to Make Indigenous Poverty History?

 'I know you think you should make a trip to Calcutta, but I strongly advise you to save your airfare and spend it on the poor in your own country.  Its easy to love people far away.  Its not always easy to love those who live right next to us.'  Mother Theresa

The Make Indigenous Poverty History campaign aims to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) do not overlook the poverty suffered by Indigenous Peoples around the world, especially in Australia.

The MDGs do not specifically target Indigenous Peoples yet, worldwide, they are most affected by extreme poverty and usually rank at the bottom of most social and economic indicators. THis is certainly true in Australia where statistics show that Australian Indigenous peoples are living in poverty: our children are twice as likely to die in infancy; we suffer from more preventable diseases, higher unemployment, lower house ownership, lower engagement with education and, in some places, we are six times as likely to be murdered.

Poverty is a very real and debilitating experience for many of our people.

We believe that the MDGs must be aligned with poverty reduction strategies that address the particular needs of Indigenous peoples. Without the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples our marginalisation and exclusion will continue. In particular we are calling on the State and Federal governments to make a commitment to adapting the MDGs to ensure that by 2015 the living standards and levels of health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are comparable to those of the rest of Australia – not to the poorest of the world’s poor.

To find out more about the MDGs and Indigenous Poverty click here

Make Indigenous Poverty History - sign a Poverty Pole - click here to find out how.

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