PHM-Exch> THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

[Claudio Schuftan]

LA LUCHA CONTRA LA POBREZA Y LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS
LA LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETE ET LES DROITS HUMAINES

*From:  "CETIM" <cetim at bluewin.ch>,
*


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 *THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS*
If one refers to the data of the World Bank, there are currently almost a
billion and a half persons liv­ing in extreme poverty throughout the world,
living on less than US$ 1.25 per day, and another billion persons living on
less than US$ 2 per day – which corresponds to almost half of the human
race. Al­though the World Bank's method of measuring poverty is
questionable, (v. Chapter III), the fact non­etheless remains that,
according to the United Nations specialized agencies, today, some one
billion persons suffer from famine and malnutrition; just as many lack
drinking water, and 2.5 billion have no access to sewerage systems and
sanitation; scores of millions of persons lack housing, and more than a
billion are inadequately housed; there are some 200 million unemployed and
900 million working poor; nearly 800 million adults are illiterate; each
year 6 million children under five die of illnesses that could be
prevented...
For nearly a quarter of a century, the theme of poverty has occupied a
prominent place on the interna­tional community's political agenda, and the
fight against poverty has become the official priority of cooperation and
development programs. It has also become a priority for the European Union
and several governments. Such focus and effort are reassuring, yes,
obviously, because poverty ought not exist in our world, a world that is so
rich. At the same time, one must ask why poverty suddenly emerged as a
priority theme. Why was it absent from the political agenda before 1990?
And why are we still waiting to see any success for the strategies adopted
in the fight against poverty?

Although there is a consensus on the need for poverty reduction, poverty
definitions vary according to time, actors and place. This is why it has
seemed useful for us, in the present critical report, to analyze the
concept of poverty according to periods of history and the powers in place
(Chapters I and II) as well as the strategies planned and developed to
fight poverty (Chapters III and IV). It will be seen that the
quantification of poverty (in figures sometimes) mask many realities
(Chapter III). This is also the case for contemporary strategies of the
fight against poverty that not only disregard inequality (Chapter III.E)
but are bound to fail (Chapter V). The treatment of the subject from the
angle of human rights opens un­explored perspectives and constitutes
certainly the best strategy in the fight not only against poverty, but also
against inequality, and a movement toward universal social protection
(Chapter IV).

*Contents**: *

Introduction
*I. What is Poverty?*
A. The Semantic Fog
B. A Multidisciplinary Field of Research
C. What is Lacking in the Research
D. Multidimensional Poverty
*II. The Lessons of History: Ideology and Poverty
III. Quantifying Poverty*
A. Measuring Monetary Poverty
B. Measuring Non-monetary Poverty
C. Figures Relative to Poverty
D. How do These Figures Help Us?
E. And Inequality
*IV. Strategies in the Fight against Poverty*
A. From Francis of Assisi to the Great Confinement
B. From Mandeville and Marx to Social Citizenship
C. From the ILO to the U.N. and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
*V. The Break with Neo-liberalism and its Repercussion within the U.N.*
A. Debt, Structural Adjustment Programs, the World Bank and Its Claim to
Fight Poverty
B. The Millennium Development Goals: A Story of a Preordained Failure


 *CONCLUSION*


 One must face the facts: such as it is conceived now, poverty reduction
policies cannot succeed, and this in spite of the well-intentioned efforts
of thousands of social workers and volunteers.

 How can one claim to fight poverty if, at the same time, one is carrying
out policies that create poverty? By privatizing public services and
charging those who use them, by laying off workers and reducing
unemployment compensation, by maintaining social assistance below the
poverty level, by privatizing pensions... one can only increase the number
of poor. By the same token, in the Third World, by selling huge tracts of
land and chasing small-holders from their lands, by leaving the way open to
huge transnational corporations that are not obliged to respect any social,
environmental, fiscal, human rights policies, by underpaying the workers,
one can only make poverty permanent.

 But, perhaps, the purpose of these strategies is it not to eliminate
poverty? Perhaps, one might be satisfied just to avoid conflicts, to
maintain a certain social cohesion and to help the poor to better formulate
their social demands? In that case, the poor are certainly helped and will
be better able to evaluate their situation themselves and to present their
demands; as for their poverty, it will not be diminished for all that.

 The only real solution to poverty is to end the process of impoverishment.
That means setting up an economic and social system subject to democratic
control, which will correct the inequalities and rectify the injustices, an
economic system respectful of decent work standards, of the environment,
and of

human rights. That will also mean creating a system of social protection
and public services. The “pursuit of growth” is a dead-end.

 That means above all that poverty must be viewed not as a problem of the
poor but as a problem of society overall. If one wants to fight effectively
against poverty, the crying inequalities of our society must be fought. In
1992, the 20% richest persons in the world had 82.7% of the overall income.

Today, 1% of them controls 50% of the world's wealth. In 20 years, there
has been a concentration of wealth (and power) in the hands of a tiny
minority. It is one more proof – if any more were needed –

that poverty cannot be eliminated without an equitable sharing of wealth,
without a fair tax system, without income redistribution. The fight against
poverty and against inequality is not possible through

charity. It will never succeed without radical changes: it is the current
system that produces ever greater inequality.

  Poverty is a denial of human rights (civil, political, economic, social
and cultural), as the United Nations human rights bodies affirm. Treating
the question of poverty from the perspective of human

rights makes it possible to take the fight against poverty out of the realm
of charity where it is presently situated. Moreover, poverty cannot
disappear without the respect of all human rights, which

implies the elimination of all discrimination, the right to an adequate
standard of living allowing for health, education, housing etc. These last
elements are listed in the International Covenant on Eco-

nomic, Social and Political Rights, and governments are under obligation to
respect them, to see that they are respected by others (financial and
international trade institutions as well as transnational corporations, for
example) and to implement them, at both the national and the international
level.
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