The UN has called upon the UK voluntary sector to join the MakePovertyHistory coalition, saying that it doesn’t matter whether organisations have involvement in overseas aid or not, they should still offer their support.

Speaking at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’s (NCVO) annual conference yesterday, Salil Shetty, director of the UN Millennium Development Goals, said that as long as inequality grows, people will seek every opportunity to change their lives, often by migration, civil war or terrorism, and that if the world doesn’t act now, it will “move into more dangerous waters”. Shetty called on the sector to use the UK chair the G8 and EU presidency as the chance to really make a difference.

“The government will only act when there is pressure from citizens to do,” he said. “Let us grasp this opportunity and join the global campaign to make poverty history. It is vital that the UK voluntary sector gets behind this worldwide mobilisation.”

His sentiments were echoed by Kofi Annan, secretary general of the UN, who addressed delegates via a video address to ask for their support.

The NCVO is an official member of the MakePovertyHistory Assembly and is encouraging its members to get involved. They can do so by sending action postcards to the Prime Minister, attending mobilisation events such as the one taking place in Edinburgh on the eve of the G8 summit on July 2, and by encouraging their stakeholders to participate where appropriate. For more information, visit www.makepovertyhistory.org