Statement of Principles

Others documents

Español

The International Movement’s Statement of Principles The original Statement of Principles was written in 1965 at Schoenried (Switzerland) by Father Joseph Wresinski and six of the first members of the Volunteer Corps. This first text was then worked on during the General Assembly of the Volunteer Corps in 1974 to produce the text presented above.

Others documents

In the World

ATD Fourth World Is at the Heart of Volunteering

European Parliament resolution on the United Nations World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty

All people have a fundamental value which constitutes their human dignity. Regardless of his or her way of life, thought, social group, or economic means, racial or ethnic origin, each person retains this essential value, the basis of human equality. It should give to all people the same inalienable right to act freely for their own well-being and for the well-being of others.

In all societies there is a Fourth World - persons, families, or groups - whose poverty and exclusion deny them recongition of their value as human beings. This shows that not everyone receives the same means to demonstrate this value and to assert their human rights as a basis for development.

The presence of this Fourth World should provoke a transformation of any society. This requires a revision of society’s priorities, a readjustement of its resources so that the people of the Fourth World have the same chances as everyone else of developing their autonomy and participating actively in society.

This transformation requires the involvement of those who are willing to join in solidarity with the Fourth World. It relies on a core group of men and women fully committed to the Fourth World. By sharing the lives and hopes of this population, they enable the Fourth World people to develop their potential and in turn to defend the rights of the most excluded among them.