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The poorest of the poor, partners for a more equitable society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Régis De Muylder
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Extract

During the century now nearing its end, the human race has undoubtedly fostered the notions of peace, solidarity and human rights. For this purpose, it has established bodies transcending national borders and creating awareness that everyone is a citizen of the world. Paradoxically, this century has also attained extremes of violence and horror. Yet the paradox is only apparent, since the awareness came about precisely because conflicts grew to world proportions.

Type
II. Humanitarian agencies and vulnerable groups
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 34 , Special Issue 301: On the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies , August 1994 , pp. 374 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1994

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References

1 Aide à Toute Détresse Quart Monde (Aid to all distress in the Fourth World).

2 Wresinski, Joseph (1917–1988)Google Scholar, a priest, founded the ATD Quart Monde movement in 1957.

3 Wresinski, J., Ecrits et Paroles (Writings and sayings), p. 161, Editions StMonde, Paul-Quart, Paris, 1992.Google Scholar

4 Wresinski, J., Les Pauvres sont l'Eglise (The poor are the church), p. 149 Google Scholar, Editions Le Centurion, Paris, 1983.Google Scholar

5 J. Wresinski, ibid., p. 152.

6 Wresinski, J., Ecrits et Paroles, p. 171.Google Scholar

7 This account is given in detail in the journal Igloo-Quart Monde, No. 110, Pour une politique de la responsabilité collective (“Towards a policy of collective responsibility”), published by Quart Monde. We here use the fictitious name given to the family in the journal.

8 In the report “Grande pauvreté et précarité économique et sociale” (Extreme poverty and economic and social insecurity), presented by J. Wresinski to the French economic and social council, the following definition of extreme poverty is given: “Insecurity is the absence of one or more of the assured conditions enabling individuals or families to assume their occupational, family and social obligations and to enjoy their fundamental rights. The resulting lack of confidence may be more or less extensive and may have more or less serious and permanent consequences. It leads to extreme poverty when it affects a number of areas of existence, when it is long-lasting, when it jeopardizes the likelihood of reassuming responsibilities and repossessing rights for the foreseeable future”. See Journal officiel de la République française, 28 09 1987, p. 6.Google Scholar

9 UNDP, Report on human development (1993), p. ??Google Scholar

10 Wresinski, J., Les Pauvres sont l'Eglise, p. 152.Google Scholar