October 15 2025

The theme for the 2025 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is ending social and institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families. The theme recognizes that, along with the difficulty obtaining the necessities for survival, people in poverty often face a loss of dignity and belonging.

Institutions and services need to be supporting people in poverty, not punishing them

To ensure respect and effective support for families, institutions and services need to be focused on providing the support needed to help families stay together, thrive, and shape their own futures. Too often that doesn’t happen.

There are numerous examples of institutions and services that were intended to support people in poverty, but where the approach is punitive, and the focus is on monitoring or surveillance. One of the first uses of artificial intelligence (AI) by governments was for monitoring people on social assistance—and in many cases unfairly cutting off their benefits. Single mothers, Indigenous families, and others from groups that have historically faced discrimination have been disproportionately affected.

What’s missing from the UN statement is the role of adequate funding

There is a significant omission from the United Nations statement on International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and that is the role of adequate funding in ensuring institutions and services are providing respectful and effective support for people in poverty. Often the problems that the United Nations identifies—a focus on control monitoring and removal or top-down solutions—are a product of underfunding. It is also far harder for workers in social services to provide the support people need when they are struggling with impossible caseloads and inadequate resources.

The United Nations’ solutions such as income support, quality childcare, or mental health care cost more in the short-term, although the long-term benefits are considerable. That means the changes needed to end the social and institutional maltreatment of people in poverty require a meaningful increase in spending.