On October 17 of every year, throughout the world, people observe the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty. 100,000 people gathered on the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza at the Trocadéro in Paris, France, to commemorate the first “World Day to Overcome Poverty” in 1987, when Joseph Wresinski, the founder of the international movement ATD Fourth World, unveiled a memorial stone in honor of those who had died from hunger, poverty, violence, and fear. Four years after Wresinski’s passing, in 1992, the UN formally declared October 17 to be the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty.
