“Investing in children and securing their rights is one of the surest ways to ending poverty,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told 1,500 students at the United Nations International School in New York City Friday as part of the Stand Up Take Action Campaign organised by the U.N. Millennium Campaign.

Over the weekend of Oct. 16 to 18, millions of people around the globe used the occasions of World Food Day and World Anti-Poverty Day to push their leaders harder to meet longstanding pledges for every human being to have the essentials of a decent life, such as housing and clean drinking water.

In a bitter irony, World Food Day should be called ‘No Food Day’ for almost one of every six people in the world this year, said World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

With just six years left until the deadline by which heads of state have pledged to reduce extreme poverty by half, Salil Shetty, director of the U.N. Millennium Campaign, says that Stand Up is a stark reminder that citizens “do not accept excuses for governments breaking promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens”.

Last year, more than 116 million people participated in the Stand Up action, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilisation of human beings in recorded history.

Facilitated by Skype and Ustream to connect global citizens in the campaign, this year organisers aimed to exceed that number.

In India, campaigners took the streets to demand functional health centres in every village, town and county; in Nigeria, thousands of people at music concerts by Sarah Mitaru and Femi Kuti signed a petition demanding accountability and transparency from their government in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In South Korea, thousands demonstrated calling on their government to increase overseas aid; in Egypt, worshipers in more than 5,000 mosques and churches stood up during Friday sermons and Sunday Masses.

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