- ATD Fourth World

"What answer can I give to young people from my country who want to risk their lives to look for a future elsewhere?"

This heartbreak expressed by a woman whom young people were asking about their future pinpoints serious and painful situations. In all countries, young people and adults are faced with impossible choices: to remain forever trapped in unemployment and uselessness, or to seek exile in a distant location, often for a long time, in order to meet the needs of their family and community. The prolonged absence of parents eventually breaks down the family bonds. What sort of future can the children look forward to? In a constantly changing world, what sort of prospects are open to young people deprived of education, training and support?

Because of their extreme poverty, millions of men and women find themselves relegated to an existence where they have no rights and no respect, gradually cut off from any sense of equality with the rest of society. Our societies assign very little importance, protection or recognition to these people who are contributing to our economic, social and cultural development, and also to environmental protection. The lack of any bond with these men and women is eventually seen as a normal and inevitable consequence of the development of our societies. By excluding these millions of people living in extreme poverty from our lives and ambitions, are we not agreeing to live in the present and to plan for the future without them? This is tantamount to creating organised exclusions that are extremely violent.

Building peace beginning with the poorest people means constantly seeking to create bonds between each other, with respect for dignity and the refusal of abandonment and exclusion. This is one reason why 167,000 people from 152 countries signed the Call to Action, a mobilisation tool for the campaign entitled "Ending Extreme Poverty, a Road to Peace" conducted in 2006-2007.

This edition of the Letter to Friends reports back on this campaign, telling us about the bonds fostered between people from every kind of background and environment, in the remotest villages, huge cities, mayor’s offices, cultural centres, associations, universities and even international bodies. On 17th October 2007, from one continent to another, men and women came together as they have done ever since 1987, to enable people living in extreme poverty to have their say and to proclaim together the urgent need to build peace beginning with them.

Let’s now strengthen this social movement. Let’s encourage others to join it. One meaningful way of expressing our desire to join with the victims of extreme poverty will be to sign and constantly encourage others to sign the message that is at the origin of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: "Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty. Joseph Wresinski".

Huguette Redegeld Vice President