Two more slabs can be found on the Human Rights Esplanade, the first one dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and the other one to missing journalists and freedom of the press.
On October 17th, 1987, a second slab was sealed at the end of the Esplanade of Freedoms and Human Rights at the initiative of Father Joseph Wresinski (1917-1988), founder of the international movement ATD-Quart Monde. 100 000 Human Rights activists attended this event. The slab pays tribute to victims of hunger, ignorance and violence, and to those who fight all over the world to put an end to destitution and to ensure that Human Rights are respected. The slab is engraved with these words by Wresinski: “Anywhere people are condemned to live in extreme poverty, Human Rights are violated. To unite in order to ensure that they are respected is a sacred duty”. Joseph Wresinski, the son of immigrants, experienced extreme poverty in his childhood. He founded his movement in the slum of Noisy-le-Grand, in the Parisian suburbs, where he arrived in 1956.
In March 1993, referring to the inauguration of this slab, the UN General Assembly declared that October 17th the International Day to eliminate poverty. In 2012, the theme of this day was: “Put an end to the violence of poverty by favouring autonomy and building peace”. The ATD-Quart Monde logo, which is on the slab, shows a dove, a symbol of peace, flying off. ATD-Quart Monde keeps working in many countries.
In July 2004, the Minister of Culture inaugurated the third slab of the Human Rights Esplanade, dedicated to missing journalists or those who were killed while carrying out their work. A passage from article XI of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is written on the slab: “The free communication of thought and opinion is one of the most precious rights of man”.
The international NGO Reporters without Borders, created in Montpellier in 1985 and now located in Paris, is committed to defend journalists’ rights and the right of information all over the world. In particular, the organisation stands for imprisonned or threatened journalists in various countries. They remind that the freedom of information is the foundation for democracy, and yet, nearly half of the world population does not have access to free information.
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