On February 1, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, gave a statement during the 56th Session of the Commission for Social Development on Agenda Item 3(a) dedicated to “Strategies for Eradicating Poverty to Achieve Sustainable Development for All.”

In his intervention, Archbishop Auza said that eradicating poverty is the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the center of all the efforts of the Commission for Social Development. Sustainable Development, he said, cannot refer chiefly to long-term maintenance of benefits for developed nations but must be directed primarily toward including the poor in receiving and growing those fruits. Exclusion and inequality, he stated, are among the foremost causes of poverty and therefore social participation — through employment, health, social protection — is one of the greatest remedies. The elimination of the exclusion that leads to poverty is also an important part of the solution to the challenges of war and conflict, environmental degradation, the refugee and migration crisis, and the phenomenon of human trafficking.

The statement can be found here.