Human Rights Day: fighting poverty as a matter of obligation, not of charity says UN
This year Human Rights Day focuses on fighting poverty as a matter of obligation, not of charity. Poverty is a cause and a product of human rights violations. It is this double edge that makes poverty probably the gravest human rights challenge in the world. The links between human rights and poverty should be obvious: People whose rights are denied -- victims of discrimination or persecution, for example -- are more likely to be poor. Generally they find it harder or impossible to participate in the labour market and have little or no access to basic services and resources. Meanwhile, 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: for example, low income can prevent people from accessing education -- an "economic and social" right -- which in turn inhibits their participation in public life -- a "civil and political" right -- and their ability to influence policies affecting them.
Governments and those in a position of authority can, indeed are obliged to, do something about poverty. They have committed to it by overwhelmingly accepting a number of human rights treaties and by signing on to the international consensus to make poverty history, through the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, as well as most recently the 2005 World Summit Outcome. The realization of human rights - including the fight against poverty -- is a duty, not a mere aspiration.