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Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Often, there is no mechanism in place to review social policies or administrative decisions that have a major impact on the enjoyment of their rights by persons living in poverty. The lack of remedies for the negative impacts of social policy in the areas of health, housing, education and social security, or for administrative decisions relating to welfare benefits or asylum proceedings, often results in inability to seek redress in cases of violations of key human rights, such as the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to social security. This is a major obstacle to accessing justice for persons living in poverty, who are disproportionately affected by those policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Access to justice for people living in poverty 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Such factors often act as a persuasive deterrent against seeking redress from judicial or adjudicatory mechanisms, or may indeed represent an insurmountable obstacle for the poorest and most marginalized. This is especially so for those who have limited mobility, such as older persons or persons with disabilities, or those for whom travel is more difficult or dangerous, including women and children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Movement
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- When analysing inequalities, there are many other dimensions of well-being that can be taken into account apart from income and wealth. Economic inequalities can be distinguished from what can be termed "social inequalities". Social inequalities may refer to the distribution of, for instance, political power, health, education or housing among individuals in a society. In theory, a society may have health equality, for instance, when every individual has access to the same quality and quantity of health care. Social inequalities and economic inequalities may, and often do, interact with, and reinforce, one another, for instance when individuals with higher incomes or their family members have more political power or access to better education than those with lower incomes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has developed several indicators that measure social and horizontal inequalities. An inequality-adjusted human development index, calculated for 145 countries, indicates how achievements in the areas of health, education and income are distributed among a population. UNDP also publishes the coefficient of human inequality, which is a calculation of average inequality across the three dimensions mentioned above. UNDP further measures gender inequality in its gender inequality index. Looking at these different indices, which are not always as intuitive as the income indices described above, it becomes clear that many countries do not even come close to the levels of equality in terms of health, education and gender that exist in the more egalitarian countries. Where Norway had an inequality-adjusted human development index value of 0.891 in 2013, indicating a high level of equality in comparison with other countries, the figures in countries such as the United States (0.755), the Russian Federation (0.685), Chile (0.661), India (0.418) and the Central African Republic (0.203) are much lower. The gender-related development index (female to male ratio of the human development index) ranges from very high levels of equality between men and women in Norway (0.997) to a very high level of gender inequality in Afghanistan (0.602).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Economic inequalities not only impair civil and political rights but also negatively affect the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. A good example is the right to health. According to the World Bank, "infants from poorer families and children from rural areas are more likely to die than their peers from richer families and urban areas" and the poor are "considerably less likely than the non-poor to have access to high-impact health services, such as skilled delivery care, antenatal care, and complementary feeding." The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission found that "people from lower occupational classes who have less education and income tend to die at younger ages and to suffer, within their shorter lifetimes, a higher prevalence of various health problems" and that "these differences in health conditions do not merely reflect worse outcomes for people at the very bottom of the socio-economic scale but extend to people throughout the socio-economic hierarchy, i.e. they display a 'social gradient'". The World Health Assembly, in its resolution WHA62.14, has also affirmed the recommendation of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health on the need "to tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money and resources".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme inequality and human rights 2015, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Mr. Bengoa also recommended the creation of a social forum to facilitate the participation of States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and corporations in discussing how to take economic, social and cultural rights into account in their policies. The Social Forum was set up in 2002 and recent sessions have focused on the rights of older persons (2014) and on the rights of access to medicines in the context of the right to health (2015).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The income is “basic” in the sense that it is designed to guarantee a “floor” on which every recipient can stand. Because people’s needs are highly individualized and context-dependent, the amount that any specific individual requires will depend on factors such as local housing and living costs, the person’s health status, and whether there is any form of support network in place. But in its pure form, basic income would generally be assumed to be a uniform amount, which does not reflect those differentials. There are, however, different versions of the concept that envisage adjusting the amount over time, providing less money for children and more for the elderly, or adjusting for geography. The basis on which the floor is calculated and the amount to be paid will, of course, vary greatly from one country to another. Thus, while a national referendum on basic income in Switzerland proposed a payment of SwF 2,500 per month per adult, a South African initiative envisages a grant of US$15 per person per month, indexed to inflation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Basic income is intended as a cash grant; not as in-kind support such as food, vouchers or shelter. This means that individuals must have a means by which to receive the income, such as a bank account, or a cell phone capable of managing electronic payments. This might be problematic where neither banking infrastructure nor cell phone coverage are strong, and will also be difficult for groups such as the homeless, people fleeing domestic violence, and persons with psychosocial disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Another famous example is the Bolsa Família in Brazil — Latin America’s largest conditional cash transfer programme — which was introduced in 2004, building on earlier, smaller, cash transfer programmes. Indigent and poor families wanting to receive the cash benefit are required to visit health clinics regularly and/or to meet minimum school attendance requirements. Brazil also has unconditional cash transfer programmes, such as the Benefício de Prestação Continuada, which is disbursed to the elderly and to individuals with disabilities living in low-income households. The Bolsa Família was enacted the day after another law that established a citizen’s income for every Brazilian citizen or foreigner residing in the country for more than five years, regardless of their socioeconomic condition. But the latter law was never implemented and is often confused by the public with other existing minimum income programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Under the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), States should establish and maintain social protection floors ensuring that, at a minimum, “over the life cycle, all in need have access to essential health care and to basic income security which together secure effective access to goods and services defined as necessary at the national level”. This comprises essential health care, including maternity care, and basic income security for children, for active-age adults in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity and disability, and for older persons. These goals may be achieved through any of the following schemes: universal benefit, social insurance, social assistance, negative income tax, public employment and employment support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Between 1974 and 1979, a negative income tax experiment ran in the Canadian city of Dauphin. Subsequent analysis of the data confirmed various positive effects, including a drop in hospitalization rates, especially for mental health and accident admissions, as well as an increase in year 12 school registrations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Extreme poverty and human rights on universal basic income 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The Economist, relying upon the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s “universal basic income calculator”, concludes that the United States could pay every citizen $6,300 per year if it scrapped all its non-health transfer payments. In other words, if it paid its citizens 25 per cent of GDP per capita ($13,956 per year) as Van Parijs and Vanderborght propose, it would need to raise taxes to cover the difference between $13,956 and $6,300. The Cato Institute calculated that paying 296 million United States citizens the poverty-line amount of $12,316 per year would cost $4.4 trillion. Even if all federal and state social assistance spending for the poor (around $1 trillion) and all “middle-class social welfare programmes such as Social Security and Medicare” (depending on the calculations, costing between $2.13 and $2.5 trillion) were eliminated, there would still be a funding gap of roughly $1 trillion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In the context of recovery from successive crises, this principle obliges States to ensure that any programmes or policies that are integral to delivering essential services (for example, primary education, basic health care and social assistance programmes) are protected, to the greatest extent possible, from reduced expenditure. The duty of the State to prioritize the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable people does not imply that the State may adopt a very narrow approach. States continue to have responsibilities to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the widest possible enjoyment of rights by all, which means maintaining services beyond a basic level.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- There is a strong presumption that deliberately retrogressive measures that affect the level of enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights are in violation of human rights standards. Examples of retrogressive measures might include the adoption of policy or legislation with a direct or collateral negative effect on the enjoyment of rights by individuals, or unjustified reductions in expenditures devoted to implementing public services that are critical for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, such as those which guarantee basic health care, ensure access to primary education, or make available assistance for food and shelter.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Reductions in public expenditure are likely to take the form of decreased spending on social services, which has the potential to significantly undermine the effective and efficient functioning of basic health and education services and social protection systems. These services are crucial for providing minimum essential levels of enjoyment of human rights and to protect the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. While the human rights framework does not exclude the possibility of States adopting austerity measures, it is clear that, in many instances, these reductions in expenditure could have grave consequences for the enjoyment of human rights, particularly for those living in poverty who continue to suffer from the cumulative effects of the crises.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Reductions in the public wage bill will severely impede the delivery of social services. If remuneration to the providers of basic education and health care is reduced, this could have a potentially drastic impact on individuals' ability to easily and effectively have access such services. Limited or decreased staff numbers may hamper the ability of social services to respond to public demand, and the removal of allowances or incentive schemes might have an adverse impact on the efficiency of employees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The above measures will have a disproportionate impact on people living in poverty, particularly those in rural areas and the most disadvantaged, who already face numerous barriers in gaining access to health care and education services. By adopting policies that threaten to reduce the wages of those essential to the provision of such services, States would also jeopardize their ability to provide for the widest possible enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. These measures run a real risk of constituting unjustified retrogressive measures if they impede the State's ability to maintain minimum essential levels of enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights based approach to recovery from the global economic and financial crises, with a focus on those living in poverty 2011, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Human rights standards relating to working conditions require States to ensure just and favourable conditions of work, including safe and healthy working conditions, reasonably limited working hours and paid annual leave. The right to form and join trade union organizations and engage in collective bargaining must be ensured. Workers must have access to a social security system that provides for the broadest possible coverage (such as health care, sickness compensation, old age pensions and compensation for employment-related injuries).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In addition to highlighting the intrinsic linkages among all rights, the principal significance of this bold assertion was to signal that economic, social and cultural rights are as important as civil and political rights and must be accorded equal attention. And the past quarter of a century has indeed seen a great number of important initiatives, especially in sectoral areas such as the right to housing, the right to food, the right to health and the right to water, and more consistent tribute being rendered to the principle of indivisibility. But acceptance in law and in practice of the idea that economic and social rights are actually human rights, with the set of clear legal consequences that this entails, rather than a set of concerns synonymous with development or social progress, remains marginal. This marginality manifests itself in the work of United Nations human rights bodies, in both the theory and practice of the great majority of States, in the work of many of the most prominent civil society groups focusing on human rights, in the interests and priorities of scholars and commentators and, perhaps most counter-intuitively, even in the work of most international agencies promoting poverty alleviation and social development. As a result, the principal of indivisibility continues to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- In considering which institutions are most likely to be best placed to promote knowledge and understanding of economic and social rights at the domestic level, two types of actors seem most relevant. The first being the government agencies that are responsible for making and implementing policy in the relevant sectors. Thus, government ministries dealing with education, social protection, health, nutrition and so on might be expected to take the lead in promoting a rights-based understanding. This is not to argue, as is sometimes suggested in the literature on rights-based approaches to development, that everything these ministries do should be guided by and seen through the lens of human rights. Nonetheless, one might expect the ministry of education, for example, to acknowledge that there is a right to education and to spell out what that means in specific policy terms. While it is well beyond the scope of this report to explore how common such an approach is among sectoral ministries in most countries, it can be said by way of generalization that the phenomenon is not common. There are some indications that the health sector might be moving more in that direction under the impetus of the movement for universal health coverage. Similarly, social security is increasingly seen in terms of the right to social security as a result of the Social Protection Floor Initiative.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- First, constitutional recognition on its own means relatively little in practical terms. Hence the distinction drawn by Katharine Young between constitutionalizing and constituting economic and social rights, according to which the latter goes well beyond constitutional recognition, to require that the rights are actually effective within the legal system. For example, a study on the right to health in Africa begins by celebrating the fact that "from Africa to Asia, Europe and even South America, cases relating to the violation of the right to health are constantly being brought before the courts". Yet, in the study it is shown that, in the African context, South Africa is the only country in which there has been systematic litigation of this sort. Malcolm Langford was correct when he observed that, "the scope for formal judicial review of ESC rights is rather limited outside the use of civil rights or international mechanisms".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Third, the literature does not pay much attention to the existence of implementing legislation designed to promote realization of a specific right as a human right, whether or not there is constitutional recognition. In countries like South Africa, there is very extensive legislation (such as the Water Services Act, 1997) designed to promote or implement economic and social rights and this often plays a key role in constitutional litigation. But in most other countries, such legislation seems to be rare, certainly outside of the education and health sectors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Marginality of economic and social rights 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- One of the most encouraging developments in recent years in relation to economic and social rights has been the growth of specialist NGOs at the international, national and, especially, local levels working to promote either economic and social rights in general or specific rights such as those relating to health, housing, education, water, gender equality, disability and ageing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Human rights law permits States to limit some rights, on the basis that such limitations are justified in the interests of public security, safety or order; public health; or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. In order for a limitation to be legitimate under human rights law, it must comply with numerous safeguards: it must be "determined by law", "compatible with the nature of these rights", "solely for the purposes of promoting general welfare" and "necessary in a democratic society". Permissible limitations must also comply with general principles of human rights law, and must thus be non-discriminatory, reasonable and proportionate. Compliance with these principles requires, for example, that any restrictive measures must be appropriate means of achieving the aims pursued, and that limitations must not be more severe than is necessary for the attainment of the aim sought.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- These measures not only undermine beneficiaries' autonomy and prevent them from making their own choices, they also threaten their enjoyment of a number of human rights, including the right to participate in the decisions that directly affect them and to be free from arbitrary or unlawful State interference in their privacy, family, home or correspondence. Considering that non-compliance with excessive conditions and requirements results in exclusion from social benefits, those entitled to benefits live in constant anxiety and fear that their benefits will be withdrawn and, with them, their primary means of survival. The cumulative impact of living in such circumstances threatens the beneficiaries' right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- To ensure that beneficiaries comply with conditions and requirements, States often subject them to intensive examinations and intrusive investigations. Social benefit administrators are empowered to interrogate beneficiaries about a wide range of personal issues and to search their homes for evidence of fraudulent activity. Beneficiaries are required to report regularly and disclose excessive amounts of information whenever it is demanded of them. In some countries, they must even submit to mandatory screening for drug use. They must also give their consent to authorities to scrutinize every aspect of their lives and to question their friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Beneficiaries are encouraged to watch each other and report abuses to programme administrators through anonymous channels. These intrusive measures undermine beneficiaries' personal independence, seriously interfere in their right to privacy and family life, make them vulnerable to abuse and harassment, and weaken community solidarity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Violence
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The introduction of biometrics to social benefits systems means that in some States, beneficiaries must submit to facial recognition technology, finger imaging and iris scans. These mechanisms give States extensive power and discretion to monitor and interfere in the lives of beneficiaries. The information obtained is frequently made accessible to other authorities for purposes other than those for which it was given, without beneficiaries' consent. Such practices seriously threaten the protection of personal data and the right to access and control one's personal information.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The inability to access competent, comprehensive legal assistance presents a serious threat to the human rights of persons living in poverty. Without adequate representation or advice individuals are more likely to be convicted. While in detention they have no accessible means of protesting infringements of their rights, such as unsafe or unsanitary conditions, physical or mental abuse or lengthy delays, and there is a higher likelihood that they will be requested to pay bribes, which they will experience difficulties in paying.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Detention and incarceration can also have serious health implications for the poorest and most vulnerable, who are likely to be subject to the worst treatment and conditions, including overcrowded cells, inadequate hygiene facilities, rampant disease transmission and inadequate health care. In some cases, overcrowding in prisons can have such a severe effect on detainees that the conditions may even amount to a form of cruel and inhuman treatment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Penalization of people living in poverty 2011, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Often, States invoke grounds of public safety, health or security in an attempt to justify the restriction of human rights through penalization measures. However, human rights law establishes strict requirements for the imposition of limitations on individual rights. Any restriction on the enjoyment of human rights by those living in poverty must comply with several safeguards, including requirements that they be legally established, non discriminatory and proportionate, and have a legitimate aim. The burden falls upon States to prove that a limitation imposed upon the enjoyment of rights by those living in poverty is in conformity with international human rights law.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph