Her Majesty visited on February 2nd the local section of Etterbeek of the ATD Fourth World Movement.

All dressed in black, Queen Mathilde visited this Thursday February 2nd 2017 at the Maison Quart Monde in Etterbeek, a commune near to the City of Brussels. The Queen consort met with active people in this international movement "fighting for human rights, with the aim of ensuring access of the poor to exercise their rights and Progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty ". Most of them had experience of poverty themselves.

During the visit, Queen Mathilde listened to seven witnesses. "A young Flemish man described his resumption of studies in computer science. A facilitator described the functioning of the street library that he runs in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. A permanent from ATD Fourth World explained the importance of fighting prejudices about the poor and poverty, "reports the Belgian media. And to add that a couple spoke about his life in an area originally intended for vacationers, lack of social housing, explaining the solidarities that are organized there. "The Queen asked questions, notably about the stress felt because of the harshness of certain experiments or about the solidarities established with the young people," says the "RTBF".

Founded in 1957 in Noisy-le-Grand in Paris suburbs by French priest Joseph Wresinski, ATD Fourth World has seen its Belgian declination officially created in 1971 . The structure of the movement in Belgium is based on four non-profit-making associations, each with its own specificity, but sharing common objectives.
Photo Credits: PAris Match