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Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Costs are particularly burdensome in criminal cases, where defendants must often put up large sums of money to be granted bail, or risk long periods of pretrial detention, during which they may have to pay for food or telephone use. Those fees can have the effect of prolonging an individual's detention and exacerbating the conditions in which he or she is detained. Moreover, they result in a situation in which criminal defendants with financial means are in a much more favourable position than those without.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The quality of legal services available to persons living in poverty is significantly undermined by the inadequate allocation by States of human and financial resources to legal aid services. In many instances, the fees legal aid lawyers are paid are far from commensurate with the amount of time and effort required to effectively litigate a criminal or civil case. Legal aid lawyers are often in short supply and overstretched. Legal aid providers therefore have to turn down a large proportion of deserving applications. In many countries, the number of applications for civil legal aid has risen, while resources allocated to legal aid have decreased. The lack of funding also dramatically impedes the quality of free legal services, as legal aid lawyers may be very inexperienced.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Owing to lack of adequate resources and qualified staff, limited budgets and inadequate infrastructure and logistical support, there are often unnecessary delays in adjudicating cases and enforcing judgements. In some jurisdictions, millions of legal cases are pending and civil and criminal cases take up to a decade to be completed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:]
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Provide free interpreters in civil and criminal cases for those who require but cannot afford them
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Allow and support collective litigation when structural or systemic issues affect the rights of persons living in poverty
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Enhance legal skills and knowledge within local communities by, for example, funding and training quality paralegals at the local level
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Put measures in place to ensure that legal, administrative and procedural fees relating to access to justice are waived for those who cannot afford them, including in small claims cases
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Support mechanisms for alternative dispute resolution, where appropriate and in line with international human rights standards, ensuring that such mechanisms do not pose an obstacle to accessing the formal justice system for those that need or prefer it
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that informal justice systems operate in a manner consistent with human rights standards and that there are regulatory mechanisms to prevent and sanction abuses of power and corruption
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Take measures to reduce the complexity of legal processes and minimize and streamline rules and procedures to make them more accessible for those unfamiliar with the traditions and rules of those processes
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Allow class action suits, or alternative mechanisms for bundling claims, and in relevant areas permit socially relevant litigation to have erga omnes effects, to ensure that those who do not have access to courts can benefit from judicial decisions
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Continue to extend and expand equal access to the formal justice system for persons living in poverty, even in areas where non-State legal orders operate
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Review or abolish legislation that directly or indirectly discriminates against the rights, interests and livelihoods of persons living in poverty
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Establish mechanisms to oversee the legality and reasonableness of administrative and policy decisions that have an impact on the enjoyment by the poor of their rights
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Expand the geographical reach of the justice system (police, prosecutors, courts, legal aid, etc.) in particular in rural and remote areas, by: Creating incentives for police officers and other officials to take postings in rural and remote areas, and attracting well-trained legal professionals to those areas
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure the possibility of strategic (public interest) litigation to challenge national laws or policies, to demand enforcement of existing laws or to strike down discriminatory laws that affect the poor
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that legal aid lawyers are independent, adequately trained and remunerated, and meet the highest standards of the legal profession
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that lawyers and paralegals have access to people living in poverty who require their services in police stations, pretrial detention and prison facilities
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that cases where the rights of persons living in poverty are at stake are not subject to long delays which might exacerbate their situation
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Ensure that, in linguistically plural societies, court processes operate in languages used by the poorest communities where necessary and can adapt to intercultural communication
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- One indicator that gives a detailed overview of income inequalities, at least for most countries in the global North, is the World Top Incomes Database (http://topincomes.parisschoolofeconomics.eu). In the United States, in 2012, the top 1 per cent of earners received almost 20 per cent of the national income. The top 10 per cent of earners received almost half of the national income. These figures contrast sharply with those of previous decades in the United States or with figures in other developed countries. In 1973, the top 1 per cent in the United States earned approximately 8 per cent of the national income and the top 10 per cent earned about 32 per cent. In Sweden, in 2012, the top 1 per cent earned around 7 per cent of the national income, from a low of around 4 per cent in 1981, and the top 10 per cent earned around 28 per cent of the national income, from a low of around 22 per cent in 1984. Income inequality in the United States in 2012 is comparable to income inequality in Colombia in 2010, where the top 1 per cent of earners also received about 20 per cent of the national income.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Mr. Piketty shows that in 1970 the wealthiest 10 per cent in Europe owned about 60 per cent of all wealth, while in the United States the figure was about 65 per cent. Today, that share has increased by 5 percentage points in both places. In January 2015, Oxfam International presented figures showing that the richest 1 per cent of the world have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44 per cent in 2009 to 48 per cent in 2014, with a prediction that it will exceed 50 per cent by 2016. Of the remaining wealth, only 5.5 per cent goes to those outside the top quintile.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- A major problem in both developing and developed countries is the capture of the political process by powerful groups, and the exclusion of others, leading to laws, regulations and institutions that favour the powerful. Economic inequality is often accompanied by political inequality, meaning that not all citizens are able to equally exercise their democratic rights. According to Oxfam, many people around the world believe that laws and regulations are designed to benefit the rich. According to Mr. Stiglitz, in the context of the United States, government plays a double role in current economic inequality: "It is partly responsible for the inequality in before-tax-distribution of income, and it has taken a diminished role in 'correcting' this inequality through progressive tax and expenditure policies."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The protection of core labour rights, such as the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, is also essential for a more equal division of power and the reduction of economic inequalities. While it is very difficult to measure the causal relationship between the fulfilment of those core labour rights and economic inequalities, various studies point to a relationship between the lack of protection of core labour rights and deunionization and between deunionization and growing wage inequality. The authors of a recent study note: "The neoliberal paradigm in the early 1980s created an extremely negative environment for unions with the abandonment of full-employment policies. Since that time, labor laws across the world have become much less union friendly, and unionizing new establishments has become harder."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Economic inequalities, especially when extreme, can also be closely linked to social unrest and conflict. The Secretary-General has noted that when people perceive inequality to be unfair and excessive, protests and social unrest can result, such as those seen around the world in recent years (see A/67/394, para. 26). A study on poverty and inequality found that "high levels of interlocking inequalities may undermine the realization of civil, political and social rights; they may raise the level of crime and plunge societies into conflict". ILO, in its World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2015, stated that "rising inequalities have undermined trust in government, with a few exceptions" and that significant falls in trust "in particular if they accompany stagnant or declining incomes, can contribute to social unrest, as several countries in the Middle East have demonstrated, with knock-on effects on social conditions, growth and employment dynamics". Even in ancient times, Plato argued that "if a state is to avoid … civil disintegration … extreme poverty and wealth must not be allowed to rise in any section of the citizen-body, because both lead to disasters".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- In 1999, the authors of a major study concluded that while global inequality was a major problem, it had been largely neglected by traditional investigations into world order. They argued that processes of globalization were exacerbating inequalities both within and among States and eroding the capacity of traditional institutions to manage the resulting threats. But it took well over another decade for the challenge of inequalities to appear high on the list of the international community's priority concerns. In the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled "The future we want", world leaders reaffirmed the need to achieve sustainable development by reducing inequalities. They considered that it was essential to generate decent jobs and incomes that decreased disparities in standards of living (see General Assembly resolution 66/288, annex, paras. 4 and 30).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Although one of the Open Working Group's proposed goals is aimed at reducing inequalities, the Special Rapporteur has observed that human rights norms are almost absent from the proposal (see A/69/297, paras. 45-49). In his synthesis report the Secretary-General attributed far greater importance to them, although he did not explicitly discuss the relationship between inequalities and human rights. The link was however acknowledged in statements calling for a future free from poverty and built on human rights, equality and sustainability, a post-2015 agenda built on the principles of human rights and the rule of law, equality and sustainability, and again in the linking of the challenges of reinforcing human rights, equality and sustainability (see A/69/700, paras. 18, 49 and 82). More generally, the Secretary-General underscored the need to continue to remedy the policy incoherence between current modes of international governance in matters of trade, finance and investment on the one hand, and the norms and standards for labour, the environment, human rights, equality and sustainability on the other (ibid., para. 95). He also acknowledged an indirect link between human rights and inequality by juxtaposing the value of dignity with deepening inequality, thus implying that inequality undermined human dignity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations has not been alone in recognizing the threat posed by the dramatic growth in inequalities. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned consistently of the seriousness of the problem. At the Fund's annual meeting in 2014 she said: "There has been a staggering rise in inequality - 7 out of 10 people in the world today live in countries where inequality has increased over the last three decades. And yet, we know that excessive inequality saps growth, inhibits inclusion, and undermines trust and social capital." In February 2014, the Executive Board of IMF discussed a staff paper on fiscal policy as the primary tool for Governments to affect income distribution, including "options for reform of expenditure and tax policies to help achieve distributive objectives efficiently in a manner consistent with fiscal sustainability and recent evidence on how fiscal policy measures can be designed to mitigate the impact of fiscal consolidation on inequality".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- It seems clear, however, that the deeply expressed concerns about the consequences of inequality are not in fact bringing the sort of deep changes that would be required in the policies of such institutions. For the most part, the response seems to involve the tweaking of traditional policies rather than any change in the fundamental priorities underlying the work of those institutions. This makes it all the more important to inquire into the role that could or should be played by human rights bodies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph