This episode will focus on economic and social rights,
living standards and poverty.
Recent years have seen a growing understanding
of the relationship
between poverty and human rights.
And increasingly links have been made between
human rights, living standards, and poverty
in the development context.
An important example of this
is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and
the Sustainable Development Goals.
Poverty is, of course, not just a violation of
economic and social rights -
in its 2001 statement on poverty,
the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
defined poverty as 'a human condition, characterised
by sustained, or chronic deprivation of the resources,
capabilities, choices, security, and power necessary
for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living
and other civil, cultural, economic, political,
and social rights'.
That said, the very strong connection between economic
and social rights and human survival, development,
and flourishing means that these rights are particularly
important when considering poverty from
a human rights perspective.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights does not include a specific right
to be free from poverty.
However, many of its provisions clearly correspond
to different aspects of poverty and the lived
experiences of poor people.
One of the key rights from this perspective is a right
to an adequate standard of living, including adequate
food, clothing, housing, and water, and to the
continuous improvement of living conditions.
Where a government is failing to take the necessary
measures to give effect to the right to an adequate
standard of living, it is clearly also going to be
failing in terms of eradicating poverty.
Other Covenant rights are strongly focused on state efforts
to address the problems faced by poor people.
These include the right to social security, which
is discussed in episode eight, and the right to protection
and assistance for the family, which is set out
in article 10 of the Covenant.
Poverty also has an important equality dimension.
Globally, women, disabled people, indigenous persons,
migrants and members of ethnic minorities are
frequently more likely to experience poverty
than other social groups.
In many instances, people are poor because they are
the subject of legal, political,
and societal discrimination -
discrimination that is prohibited by Article 2(2)
of the Covenant.
According to the Committee, 'discrimination constitutes
any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference,
or other differential treatment that is directly
or indirectly based on the prohibitive grounds of
discrimination, and which has the intention or effect
of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment,
or exercise on an equal footing of human rights'.
It's important to note here that for lower policy
to constitute discrimination, it just has to have
a discriminatory effect.
It doesn't have to be intended to do so.
So if a policy maker has adopted a measure
which is neutral on its face, but puts one group
at a disadvantage in practice, that will be discrimination.
An example of this would be where cuts to social
protection programmes have a disproportionate impact
on specific social sectors.
For example, single mothers with children.
In international human rights law, this may constitute
indirect discrimination on the basis of sex,
and/or family status in the context of the
right to social security.
Poverty is defined in many different ways, and there is
debate internationally about how to measure it.
Reflecting this, the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights doesn't specify
a particular definition or measure of poverty.
However, in its guidelines for state preparing reports
on their implementation of the Covenant,
the Committee asks governments to indicate
whether they have defined a national poverty line
and on what basis it is calculated.
Where a state hasn't done so, it's asked to provide
detail on the mechanisms used for measuring and monitoring
the incidence and depth of poverty.
This is done in the context of seeking information
on the right to the continuous improvement of living
conditions in terms of Article 11(1) of the Covenant.
As is clear from the Committee's definition of poverty
that I cited earlier, a human rights understanding
of poverty is not just about considering it in terms
of poor people having sufficient income to buy
a minimum basket of goods and services.
Rather, it encompasses an understanding of poverty
as the lack of basic capabilities to live in dignity,
as well as of poverty's broader features, such as
hunger, poor education, discrimination, vulnerability
and social exclusion.
However, just as income can't be the whole story
in rights-based anti-poverty work, it still
has a very important role to play in terms of
internationally accepted definitions of poverty
and assessments of poverty levels.
Thus, the rejection of income poverty related targets
as a means to address child poverty, as has occurred
in the UK for example, is inconsistent with
best international practice.
Indeed, in its 2016 concluding observations on
the UK state report, the Committee urged the government
to reinstate income based child poverty targets
and expressed concern that the UK did not have
a specific definition of poverty.
Just as with measurement of poverty, the Committee
does not prescribe one way to address poverty.
Rather, it recognises that solutions need to be targeted
to specific national contexts.
In terms of actions to address poverty, the Committee
asked states for information about whether they have
adopted a national action plan or strategy
to combat poverty that fully integrates economic,
social and cultural rights.
It also asks whether mechanisms and procedures
are in place to monitor the implementation of the plan
or strategy, and to evaluate the progress achieved
in terms of effectively combating poverty.
The Committee also asked about targeted policies and
programmes to combat both poverty and the economic
and social exclusion of people belonging to disadvantaged
and marginalised groups.
This series has looked in-depth at a number of obligations
that are strongly linked with combating poverty.
These include the prohibition on retrogressive measures,
discussed in episode five.
That episode outlined the strict criteria that
economic and social rights-related budget or programme
cuts, or rollbacks must satisfy.
This includes reductions in spending and other support
for social security, health and social care services
that play a key role in reducing poverty.
It is not enough for a government to say
these cuts are unavoidable.
It must prove that that is the case.
Nor can such cuts be justified solely on the assertion
that they will ensure the sustainability of economic
and social rights-related service provision in the future.
This is particularly the case when they impact
on the enjoyment of minimum essential levels of rights
or result in discrimination.
This needs to be born in mind when considering the extensive
'reforms' made to social protection systems
in many countries
following the recent global financial and economic crisis -
reforms that in many instances
have had a very negative impact
on enjoyment of the right to an adequate
standard of living - and on the enjoyment of that right by
the poorest and most socially vulnerable in particular.