A/RES/61/157 4. Reaffirms that the existence of widespread absolute poverty inhibits the full and effective enjoyment of human rights and renders democracy and popular participation fragile; Recognizes the need to promote respect for human rights and 5. fundamental freedoms in order to address the most pressing social needs of people living in poverty, including through the design and development of appropriate mechanisms to strengthen and consolidate democratic institutions and governance; Reaffirms the commitments contained in the United Nations Millennium 6. Declaration, 9 in particular the commitments to spare no effort to fight against extreme poverty and to achieve development and poverty eradication, including the commitment to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one United States dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger; Reaffirms also the commitment made at the 2005 World Summit to 7. eradicate poverty and promote sustained economic growth, sustainable development and global prosperity for all, including women and girls; 10 8. Reaffirms further the critical role of both formal and informal education in the achievement of poverty eradication and other development goals as envisaged in the Millennium Declaration, in particular basic education and training for eradicating illiteracy, and efforts towards expanded secondary and higher education as well as vocational education and technical training, especially for girls and women, the creation of human resources and infrastructure capabilities and the empowerment of those living in poverty, and in this context reaffirms the Dakar Framework for Action adopted at the World Education Forum in 2000 11 and recognizes the importance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization strategy for the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty, in supporting the Education for All programmes as a tool to achieve the millennium development goal of universal primary education by 2015; Invites the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to 9. continue to give high priority to the question of the relationship between extreme poverty and human rights, and also invites her to further pursue the work in this area; 10. Calls upon States, United Nations bodies, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Programme, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations to continue to give appropriate attention to the links between human rights and extreme poverty, and encourages the private sector and the international financial institutions to proceed likewise; 11. Welcomes the efforts of entities throughout the United Nations system to incorporate the Millennium Declaration and the internationally agreed development goals set out therein into their work; _______________ 9 See resolution 55/2. See resolution 60/1. 11 See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Final Report of the World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal, 26–28 April 2000 (Paris, 2000). 10 3