NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR ERADICATION OF POVERTY

Press Release

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR ERADICATION OF POVERTY

TO BE OBSERVED AT UNITED NATIONS NEXT WEEK

Tuesday Ceremony in New York Will Focus on Plight of World's Poor People

The plight of the world's poor will be marked in the observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty at the United Nations on Tuesday, 17 October. From 1 to 2 p.m. on the United Nations Visitors' Plaza there will be a commemoration honouring victims of extreme poverty and those who work alongside them, co-sponsored by the International Movement/Fourth World and the United Nations. It takes place in accordance with a 1992 General Assembly resolution.

Present at the commemoration will be families from New York's disadvantaged neighbourhoods, officials from the international community and from New York State, and representatives of local and international non- governmental organizations. The observance is designed to bear witness to the valour and hope of families living in extreme poverty and of those men and women who stand by them.

Central to the commemoration will be the "Patchwork of Lives", completed for last year's celebration, which is made of pieces of cloth given by poor families around the world, and is symbolic of the realities of their lives and their desire for a more just future.

Embroidered on the patchwork are words engraved on the commemorative stone in the Human Rights and Liberties Plaza in Paris honouring the victims of extreme poverty. Father Joseph Wresinski organized the inauguration of that monument on 17 October 1987, and the annual observance of that date was officially recognized by the United Nations four years later. The message reads, "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. Father Joseph Wresinski."

- 2 - Note No. 5307 13 October 1995

Leading Tuesday's commemoration will be Francis Dubois, Senior Programme Advisor, Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A message from Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali of the United Nations will be received. The programme will also include a gospel choir, and there will be statements from Assistant Secretary- General Alvaro de Soto; Gordon Klopf of the Non-Governmental Organization/ Department of Public Information Executive Committee; Elissavet Stamatopoulou- Robbins, Chief, New York office of the Centre for Human Rights; the Reverend Earl Kooperkamp from the Episcopal Church which serves Harlem and Washington Heights in New York City; Benzner Grimes, on behalf of families living in poverty; and Huguette Redegeld, Vice President of the International Movement/Fourth World.

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