By Zofia Javed

Semester VI

A child dies every three seconds; 1.3 million people are directly affected; and every year
there are 25 million more victims. We are not talking about war or natural disasters here!
This terrifying phenomenon is extreme poverty – living on less than a dollar a day – the
daily struggle for one in every five people in the world. The world has never been as rich
as it is today, yet it is poverty which is growing and not technology. Poverty enables
individuals not to develop their full potential and prevents them from realizing their
plans.

One fails to understand the fact that when humanity is on the verge of discovering the
secrets of life, then how is it that there is complete incapacity to ensure the well-being of
people around us. We are living in a ruthless world where everyone is running after the
one and only thing which is “money”. We make money but don’t know where to spend it.
Hence, the wealth is only being stored in the banks. We lack the awareness about the
systems around us. We make ourselves clothes, jewelry, houses, educate ourselves from
high level institutions and feed ourselves on food which is fit for a king!!! But to
understand the condition of a family living in poverty is beyond our minds. We do not
think or maybe we don’t want to think that 1 out of every 3 people living in the sub-
Saharan desert remains hungry. That, 8 million children die each year due to poverty
related diseases every year. We have shut our minds tightly to the fact that the term
“poverty” is part of our society.

Poverty began to be defined as the lack of income, but by the late 90s it was very clear
that poverty was not just about lack of resources; it was about increased vulnerability to
violence and other kinds of violations of human rights. Poverty is a cause and a product
of human rights violations.

Most human right activists feel that poverty creates circumstances which lead to human
rights violation. For instance, poor people are usually discriminated against. When an
armed conflict breaks out, it is the poor who are affected the most. When it comes to
paying bribes, the poor bear the burden disproportionately. These people often live in
economies of illegality, spending most of their disposable income on buying protection
either from the police or the local gangster, in order to retain their shelter or protect their
physical integrity. Generally they find it harder or impossible to participate in the labor
market and have little or no access to basic services and resources.
On the other hand, some Human right Activists feel that human rights violations may
cause poverty. For instance, in a case where a person is illegally detained, victims of
discrimination or persecution, thereby infringing his freedom of movement, and right to a
fair trial, his family may be driven into destitution if he is the sole bread-winner for the
family. In Kashmir, Pakistan, a father, son and brother who was earning just sustain his
family was taken into prison on the suspicion that he was a terrorist by the Indian army.
The whole family suffered because of that and till now he has not been freed yet.

It is very depressing to know that poverty is rarely seen or thought through the lens of
human rights. Rather, it is often perceived as tragic and sometimes even as the
responsibility of those who suffer it. At best those living in poverty -- countries and
individuals -- are portrayed as unfortunate or most of the time as lazy and undeserving.

In Pakistan, the rich are

getting richer and the poor A Few Facts
are getting poorer. Talking  3 billion people receive 1.2% of the world’s global
to one of the house maids, revenue while one billion people living in rich countries
it was discovered that the receive 80%.
whole family had not had  150 million children suffer from aggravated
an egg since the last malnutrition.
Ramadan. Another one  100 million children live in the street.
said that due to less  20% of the world’s population consume 90% of the
income they were not able world’s resources
to afford to send their  22% of the world’s population do not have access to
children to school. Thus safe drinking water
the poor in many societies
cannot enjoy their rights to education, health and housing simply because they cannot
afford them. And poverty affects all human rights.

It is necessary to keep in mind that the poor people also possess the rights to livelihood,
food, shelter, health and employment. But they are unlikely to be granted these if their
voices are unheard, if they are discriminated against and if the governments and
institutions are not accountable for perpetuating violations.

It is seen that poverty is part of the development right which every individual has and
which has been confirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and most
recently in the Declaration for the Right to Development. The status of poverty has
increased the approach towards it. Such an empowering approach is needed given the
disparity between those who possess resources and the 1.3 million who live in absolute
poverty.

Human development makes the full realization of human rights possible. And without
human rights, human development to its full extent is not possible.

Many organizations like the UNESCO, Millennium Declaration and the Millennium
development Goals, United Nations Development Programs etc are working together to
make poverty history. These various organizations have been working in Africa, India
and other parts of the world to fight poverty. The realization of human rights – including
the fight against poverty -- is a duty, not a mere aspiration.

Bibliography:
 http://www.udhr.org/UDHR/default.htm
 http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/human_rights_quarterly/
 http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
 http://www.unhchr.ch/development/right.html
 http://www.pdhre.org/rights/development.html
 http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/fxbcenter/FXBC_WP7--Sengupta.pdf
 http://www.pdhre.org/rights/women_and_poverty.html

Background Reading:
 German Federal Ministry for economic cooperation and development by BMZ
Concepts
 Right to development as human right by Arjun Sengupta

Reference:
 UNESCO, Social and Human Sciences Sector Magazine. Page 8, 9, 10 and 11
 Poverty and human rights by Peter Townsend (preliminary report)
 UNESCO, Bureau of public Information. Eradicating Povery, page # 1 and 2
 UNDP, Poverty Reduction and Human Rights