History of October 17

Father Joseph Wresinski
October 17, 1987 - Trocadéro - Paris (extract)

On October 17, 1987, in reply to Father Joseph Wresinski's appeal, 100,000 defenders of human rights gathered together on the Trocadero Plaza in Paris to honor victims of hunger, violence, and ignorance, to express their refusal of extreme poverty, and to call on mankind to unite to ensure the respect of human rights. A Commemorative Stone in Honor of the Victims of Extreme Poverty, proclaiming this message, was inaugurated on this occasion on the Plaza of Human Rights and Liberties (formerly Trocadero Plaza), at the place where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948.

The 100,000 people attending were citizens from all walks of life and all creeds. Some represented high-level international, national, or local governing bodies. Others were individuals and families living in chronic poverty themselves and struggling against it daily.

Since then, on the 17th of October each year, the poorest and all those who reject extreme poverty and exclusion gather throughout the world to express their solidarity and their commitment to ensure that everyone's dignity and freedom are respected. This is the origin of the World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty.

On October 17, 1992, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, former Secretary General of the UN, on behalf of a group of prominent international figures assembled in the Committee for the World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty, called for the recognition of October 17. On December 22, 1992, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared October 17 the "International Day for the Eradication of Poverty". Ever since, initiatives to observe this day have been constantly increasing. In many places, gatherings are also held on the 17th of each month.

Since 1987, thirteen replicas of the Commemorative Stone have been inaugurated at:

• Champ Fleury in Saint Denis, Reunion Island (1989);
• The foot of the former Berlin Wall in Germany (1992);
• La Flèche, France (1992)
• The Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France (1993);
• Rizal Park in Manila, Philippines (1993);
• A park in Rouyn-Noranda, Canada (1993);
• Gent, Belgium (1994);
• Roubaix, France (1994);
• Davao Vity, Philippines (1994);
• The foot of the Arch of Triumph in Lisbon, Portugal (1994);
• Manega, Burkina Faso (1996);
• The United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA (1996).
• Thetford Mines, Canada (1997)