Extreme poverty makes virtually every aspect of life for the worse: education, health, family stability, and more. And the United Nations considers extreme poverty to be a violation of human rights.
The Franciscans International, joined with ATD Fourth World, recently published a handbook to help ensure that the extreme poor are not deprived of their fundamental rights.
FRANCESCA RESTIFO
International Advocacy Director, Franciscans International
'The elimination of extreme poverty is not only a moral issue. But, above all, it is a judicial imperative. It is a legal obligation.â?
Officials present for a Vatican press conference on the issue also insisted that all of society has an interest in protecting the most vulnerable. They said when the weakest are threatened, it ultimately endangers the entire social order.
FRIAR MICHAEL A. PERRY
Minister General, Order of Friars Minor
'Societies that fail to respect the fundamental dignity of their citizens, and those who sojourn within their borders, not only do harm to the persons most affected - principally those who live in extreme poverty and are deprived of all rights, marginalized and excluded - but it is also undermines the very foundations from which human societies are constructed.â?
While poverty rates have decreased in recent decades, the numbers remain stark. According to the United Nations, 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. It's those people who the authors of this new handbook hope to help.
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