WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com  

Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights 

PRINCIPLES & GUIDELINES

FOR A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH

TO POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES

29.              The right to equality and the principle of non-discrimination are among the most fundamental elements of international human rights law. The right to equality guarantees, first and foremost, that all persons are equal before the law, which means that the law shall be formulated in general terms applicable to every individual and shall be enforced in an equal manner. Secondly, all persons are entitled to equal protection under the law against arbitrary and discriminatory treatment by private actors. In this regard, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability and health status, including HIV/AIDS, age, sexual orientation or other status.

30.              People living in poverty are typically victims of discrimination on grounds such as birth, property, national and social origin, race, colour, gender and religion. Depending on the particular circumstances of each society, poverty may affect members of certain socially disadvantaged classes, or of certain ethnic or religious groups, women, elderly people or indigenous persons, but in most cases poverty is aggravated by some sort of discrimination. If Governments are responsible for such discrimination, they are under an obligation immediately to prohibit and cease all discriminatory laws and practices. If discriminatory attitudes are caused by traditions among the population (that are usually deeply rooted), Governments shall adopt and enforce laws prohibiting any discrimination by private actors. In both cases, Governments must take special additional measures to afford effective protection to their most disadvantaged, discriminated and socially excluded groups, including the poor, against discrimination by governmental authorities as well as by private actors.

31.              Inequalities and discrimination may assume various forms, including explicit legal inequalities in status and entitlements, deeply rooted social distinctions and exclusions, and forms of indirect discrimination. For instance, even laws and policies that do not use categories of men and women may discriminate against women in practice, e.g., while there might be no intention to discriminate against women when the term “breadwinner” is included in social security law, if the practical application of this term disadvantages women, it may constitute indirect discrimination on the grounds of sex. It is therefore important to look at the effects, and not only the intentions, of measures and laws.

32.              Not every distinction constitutes discrimination since it might be based on reasonable and objective criteria. Whereas poverty might have been regarded in earlier times as a kind of "natural phenomenon”, today it is looked upon as a social phenomenon aggravated by discrimination, which in turn requires corresponding anti-discrimination or even affirmative action by Governments. A human rights approach to poverty provides the necessary tools for identifying the roots of poverty that lie in discriminatory practices and for developing appropriate strategies to deal with them.

33.              As discrimination may cause poverty, poverty also causes discrimination. In addition to bias towards their race, colour, gender and social origin, the poor are also subject to discriminatory attitudes by governmental authorities and private actors simply because they are poor. The twin principles of equality and non-discrimination require States to take special measures to prohibit discrimination against the poor and to provide the poor with equal and effective protection against discrimination. As the poor are among the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups in every society, a poverty reduction strategy must start by addressing their special needs as well as their right not to be discriminated against, according to the particular circumstances of the society concerned. Given that the most common discriminatory practices deny the poor equal access to fundamental services and human rights such as the rights to food, education, health and justice, the respective State obligations, targets, indicators and strategies will be dealt with in guideline 8 below.