A/HRC/56/61
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
1 May 2024
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Fifty-sixth session
18 June–12 July 2024
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Eradicating poverty beyond growth
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human
rights, Olivier De Schutter
Summary
The dominant approach to the fight against poverty relies on increasing the aggregate
output of the economy (measured as the gross domestic product), combined with post-market
redistribution through taxes and transfers. The Special Rapporteur argues, however, that the
current focus on increasing the gross domestic product is misguided. An increase in gross
domestic product is not a precondition for the realization of human rights or for combating
poverty and inequalities. The ideology of “growthism” should not become a distraction from
the urgent need both to provide more of the goods and services that enhance well-being and
to reduce the production of what is unnecessary or even toxic. As long as the economy is
driven mainly by profit maximization, it will respond to the demand expressed by the richest
groups of society, leading to extractive forms of production that worsen social exclusion in
the name of creating more wealth, and it will fail to fulfil the rights of those in poverty.
Moving from an economy driven by the search for maximizing profits to a human rights
economy is possible and, to remain within planetary boundaries, necessary. In the present
report, the Special Rapporteur explains why this shift is needed and what it could look like.
GE.24-07068 (E)
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