- ATD Fourth World

On September 22 President Obama proclaimed, in his speech to the United Nations, the importance of food security, the right of human beings to live in dignity, and the need to "eradicate extreme poverty in our time." On October 15 the United Nations will commemorate World Food Day as the World will be asked to focus on the problem of "food security in times of crisis." And on October 17 the annual "World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty" will be observed with events at the UN in honor of this day taking place the following Monday.

We call attention to these three related actions as a way to help raise the nation’s consciousness about the burgeoning effort to eradicate extreme poverty, which, in our opinion, ought to be one of the most urgent and important goals of the 21st century. We are especially concerned about creating greater awareness of the importance of October 17, a date that has typically received little recognition in the United States. Father Joseph Wresinski, founder of the Fourth World Movement, inspired the UN in 1992 to recognize October 17 as "The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty." In his speech to thousands on October 17, 1987 at the Trocadero Human Rights Plaza in Paris, France, he stated: "Wherever men and women are condemned to live in poverty, human rights are violated."

Indeed, extreme poverty breeds disease and shortens life expectancy. It reduces the aspirations and severely limits the potential of children, many of whom cannot and do not envision a future free of deprivation. As Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organization, puts it, people living in extreme poverty not only lack material resources, but, more important, they lack control over their own lives.

In today’s modern world there is no reason why hundreds of millions of people and families have to experience extreme poverty, why hundreds of millions of children have to grow up with little reason to hope for a brighter future. Given the impact of modern technology, the unlimited growth in material resources and surplus wealth, it is now possible to ensure that every man, woman, and child experience a modicum of economic welfare.

However, the most immediate and pressing dimension of poverty is hunger. And given the abundance of food in many places in the world and the major advances in agricultural technology, it is also the symptom of poverty that is perhaps the easiest to eradicate. But, eliminating hunger is only the first step. As Nobel Laureat economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen emphasized in a recent report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, the quality of human lives is not simply measured by the material resources individuals have access to, including adequate supplies of food. Rather as Obama, Wresinski, and Khan remind us, eradicating extreme poverty is also about providing human rights, recognition, voice, dignity and respect; in short, for those in extreme poverty what is required is their social inclusion, as opposed to exclusion, as full citizens of society with the concomitant rights and responsibilities.

Speeches and commemorations are important for focusing the world and the United States on the pressing problem of extreme poverty. The key question, however, is whether effective action will be taken. Today’s fiscal crisis creates opposing pressures. There is considerably less wealth in the world and United States today than two years ago. However, because of the economic collapse, the needs of those in extreme poverty have never been greater. As we work to confront this crisis we should maintain our focus on the worthy goal of enhancing the employment, economic security, education and health of all extremely impoverished peoples so they can live according to the standards of a civilized society.

William Julius Wilson and Christopher Winship are professors in the Department of Sociology and the Kennedy School at Harvard University.