Born into poverty, Fr. Joseph Wresinski (1917-1988) established major landmarks throughout his life in the fight against the worst forms of poverty, in collaboration with the very poor themselves and other partners. He also developed a blueprint for a civilisation without exclusion based on his work in the field of human activity, a civilisation with the contributions of all people, and for the benefit of all.

He founded the International Movement ATD Fourth World The International Movement ATD Fourth World is a non-governmental organization founded in 1957 in France by Father Joseph Wresinski. Its aim is to help families to understand how they became poor and to build projects to leave poverty in 1957. He authored the report Grande pauvreté et précarité économique et sociale (Chronic Poverty and Lack of Basic Security), which was commissioned by the French Economic and Social Council The Economic and Social Council of France is a consultative assembly. It does not play a role in the adoption of statutes and regulations, but advises the lawmaking bodies on questions of social and economic policies, and later adopted by this Council, of which he was a member. This report paved the way for substantial work undertaken by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the UN Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and was also assisted in its work by the Office of the United Nations High, the European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities. With over 500 million citizens, the EU combined generates an estimated 30% share (US$ 18.4, and the Council of Europe The Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens. It also pav