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A group of children sit together. One is wearing a veil.
9 out of 10 Syrian refugee families in Lebanon are now living in extreme poverty. WFP is responding to the needs of Lebanon’s most vulnerable via unrestricted multi-purpose cash assistance, allowing them to meet their basic needs including food and medicine ©WFP/Edmond Khoury. Poverty is a cause and a product of human rights violations. Let's work to end the vicious circle!

People Living in Poverty

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Background

What is poverty?

Poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, as well as the lack of participation in decision-making.

In-depth reading on the Global Issue: Ending Poverty

Poverty — a cause and a product of human rights violations

Many people who live in extreme poverty are often also victims of racial discrimination.

Poverty is both a cause and a product of human rights violations.

In 2001 the World Conference against Racism in Durban emphasized that poverty, underdevelopment, marginalization, social exclusion and economic disparities are closely associated with racism, and contribute to the persistence of racist attitudes and practices, which in turn, generate more poverty.

A vicious circle

The UN often refers to poverty as a ’vicious circle,’ made up of a wide range of factors, which are interlinked and hard to overcome. Deprivation of resources, capability and opportunities makes it impossible for anyone to satisfy the most basic human needs or to enjoy human rights.

Spotlight: Multidimensional poverty and COVID-19

A feature story from UNDP on the latest Multidimensional Poverty Index report, which includes analysis on the impacts of COVID-19, as well as the correlations between multidimensional poverty and ethnicity, caste and gender.



Illustration collage incorporating photos of various people The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder that poverty isn’t just about income.
Understanding the different facets of poverty will help us build forward better, with equity.
©UNDP
 

Compounded discrimination

In many societies, people are prevented from enjoying their rights not just because they cannot afford to do so, but simply because of who they are.

Discrimination is often a barrier to essential services for certain groups of people, for example, migrants, ethnic and racial minorities, refugees and internally displaced persons, women, persons living with HIV/AIDS, stateless persons and persons with disabilities.

Discriminatory laws, policies and practices may mean that these groups are also denied the right to work, the right to adequate housing and the right to a high standard of health.

Racial discrimination and other types of discrimination can have a multiplier effect, compounding social exclusion and, in the worst cases, fueling violent conflict.

Spotlight: Tanitoluwa Adewumi

From a homeless shelter in New York to a chess master at the age of 10

Tani and his family fled their native Nigeria in 2017, after Boko Haram ordered his father, Kayode, to produce posters for their network at his print shop. Kayode refused and knew the family would be in danger if they stayed.

UNHCR

At 10-years-old, Tani became one of the youngest chess masters in the US. pic.twitter.com/ibHNiBkFLC

— UNHCR United States (@UNHCRUSA) August 1, 2021

UN Action

Resolution

In the early 1990’s the UN General Assembly decided that extreme poverty and exclusion from society constituted a violation of human dignity (A/RES/47/134). The years that followed saw a number of initiatives adopted which developed further the idea of the nexus between the rights of individuals and extreme poverty.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has as one of its fundamental tenets that no social phenomenon is as comprehensive in its assault on human rights as poverty.

The Human Rights Commission, now the Council, acted early to appoint an independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, charged with evaluating the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights and extreme poverty.

Conferences and summits – Millennium Declaration

icon for MDG-1The historic United Nations conference and summits held in the 1990s generated an unprecedented global consensus on a shared vision of development, which culminated in the Millennium Declaration adopted at the Millennium Summit in 2000.

This vision is based upon the premise that the human rights framework, including the right to development, provides the crucial foundation for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which placed eradication of extreme poverty and hunger as first of its eight goals.

Sustainable Development Goals

icon for SDG-1 In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all UN Member States.

Ending poverty in all its forms is the first of the 17 goals.

 

Durban Declaration and Programme of Action

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action urges States to adopt and implement social development policies with a view to closing significantly the existing gaps in living conditions faced by victims of racism. In this context, it is clear that measures to eliminate poverty and all forms of discrimination must be understood as mutually reinforcing and complementary.

Where are we?

COVID-19 Pandemic

While pre-pandemic global poverty rates had been cut by more than half since 2000, the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global poverty by as much as half a billion people, or 8% of the total human population.

In April 2020, the United Nations issued a framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19 and created the Secretary-General's UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund. Before the pandemic, significant progress had been made in alleviating poverty in many countries within Eastern and Southeastern Asia, but up to 42 per cent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa continued to live below the poverty line.

Millions of people have been thrown into extreme poverty during the #COVID19 pandemic. UN expert Olivier De Schutter calls for social protection to be strengthened before the next crisis. He suggests creating a Global Fund for Social Protection : https://t.co/SSBJKv6TOi pic.twitter.com/lOuSMVPut2

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) July 29, 2021

Links

  • Human rights
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Human Rights Council
  • Independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty
  • Global Issue: Ending Poverty

Sustainable Development Goals

  • Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
  • MDG-1: Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • SDG-1: Ending poverty in all its forms

Documents

  • 2021 Multidimensional Poverty Index report - UNDP
  • 2020 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index - UNDP (MPI)
  • General Assembly Resolution A/RES/47/134 - extreme poverty and exclusion from society constituted a violation of human dignity
  • General Assembly Resolution A/RES/55/2 - Millennium Declaration
  • Durban Declaration

Related observances and conferences

  • UN Conferences on Racism
  • International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
  • International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
  • World Day against Trafficking in Persons
  • Human Rights Day
  • Other observances
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