INTRODUCTION
If someone asks us who has to be considered as poor in our country, suddenly we will reply that those who are getting income less than a prescribed amount will be considered as poor. We will not try to think beyond that point of view. But the truth is poverty is not merely the lack of adequate income. It goes beyond that; it can be the deprivation of free and dignified life, basic human rights, basic necessities, fundamental needs, opportunities etc.
Global poverty is a serious threat to the society. It will create various problems in our world for instance; armed conflicts are one of the after effects of poverty. When the people living in a society get caught in the web of poverty, they will be having some grievances and when those grievances are not met by the respected authorities it will lead to conflicts. Prolonged conflicts will deepen poverty. The best example for this is Africa. Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world and out of 54 countries in Africa, 30 countries are facing conflicts in one or the other way.
Therefore the need for eradication of poverty and controlling armed conflicts has arisen. It’s now became a global goal rather than a national goal. A lot of international mechanisms emerged for this purpose. UN is the best example for it. Various NGO’s also plays a vital role in controlling armed conflicts.
GLOBAL POVERTY
Usually poverty means deprivation of basic necessities in life such as food, shelter, clothes etc. Now various other ways have been introduced to measure the poverty rate other than these basic necessities. The various measures are;
a) Absolute poverty
b) Relative poverty
Absolute poverty means that the poverty rate is measured solely on the basis of income. If the people have adequate amount of income to meet their basic necessities then they are not poor. Relative poverty means that the poverty rate is measured by the economic status of the other members of the society. If a person falls below the prevailing standard of the people living in that particular society then they are considered to be poor.
But the above mentioned two ways are not the accurate way to measure poverty. Poverty is not merely the lack of adequate income. It goes beyond it. The one who are living in poverty are deprived of fundamental needs, opportunities, and their basic human rights. They are deprived of their economic, social, political and cultural rights. For instance the right to work and have an adequate income is an economic right, right to access to health care and education is social right, right to freedom of thought, expression and association is political right, right to maintain one’s cultural identity and be involved in a community’s cultural life is cultural right and those who are living in poverty are deprived of these rights.
Moreover, it’s the violation of the principles of social justice because social justice includes principles of equality and non-discrimination. But poor people are deprived of that also. They have to be given the minimum standards of life. Those who are poor have to get assistance from the authorities then only principles of social justice can be fulfilled.
Poverty is the total absence of opportunities. It has various manifestations. It includes the concept of lack of adequate income, productive resources sufficient for livelihood, hunger and malnutrition, ill health, illiteracy, homelessness, unsafe environment, social discrimination and social exclusion, lack of participation in decision making , physical as well as mental ailments, emotional as well as social instability, unhappiness, sorrow and hopelessness for the future . It means that not only income that matters, every other aspect can also be included while calculating poverty rate.
Therefore the importance was given to the other approaches i.e. to measure poverty not solely with income but with according to the other aspects also. Some of the approaches are;
a) Sen’s Capability approach
b) Bentham’s Utilitarianism approach
c) Dworkin’s equality of resources approach
d) Rawlsian primary goods approach
e) Basic needs approach
Capability approach
It was introduced by Amartya Sen in 1980. It means that poverty can be measured according to the ability of the individuals. He identified this approach on the basis of human development. He has defined basic capabilities as, ‘the ability to satisfy certain elementary and crucially important functioning up to certain levels’ . It means that if they have the ability to do some basic things which are necessary for their survival and can avoid poverty or other deprivations then they are not considered as poor. Therefore capabilities mean the various opportunities which help an individual to have a dignified life.
Amartya Sen always uses the term freedom in connection with capabilities. According to him freedom is necessary for survival and to eradicate poverty. But he fails to specify what kind of freedom he is referring to capabilities. As per him, freedoms will different from one person to another.
He also mentioned about the functioning’s. According to him, ‘functioning’s and capabilities are conceptualizations of wellbeing achievements and freedoms.’ It means that the capability approach measures the poverty in relation with wellbeing and freedom of the individuals. He concentrated more on the functioning’s which the human beings are able to achieve.
Sen also supports Adam Smith ‘s view as economic growth and the expansion of goods and services are necessary for human development
But the critics argued that his theory is not complete. His theory doesn’t ensure full theory of social justice. He failed to distinguish the capabilities which are necessary.
Later on Martha Nussbaum modified capability approach. She was influenced by Aristotle the Greek philosopher. Aristotle gave importance to the character formation for creating an environment in which person can live well . She had made specified list of capabilities such as life- live peacefully to the end; not premature death, good health, bodily integrity-able to move freely, etc. But critic argues that her theory is also not complete. She concentrated more on human dignity.
Even though this capability approach has many criticisms, it has led to the development of HDI . In that health, education and income are the important factors in determining poverty and not GDP.
Utlilitarianism approach
Bentham had given the prime importance to the utility of the individuals. According to him the best state is a state which provides maximum happiness to the maximum number of people. Amartya Sen opposed Bentham’s utilitarianism approach also, because he neglected the rights and freedoms of the individuals who are living in that particular society. Utility is not the sole basis to consider a state as a best state.
According to Sen the relationship between commodity, capability, functioning and utility is;
Commodity
Capability (to function)
Functioning
Utility (happiness)
Equality of Resource approach
According to Dworkin , poverty can be measured by the rate of resources which they get. According to him Sen’s Approach is ambiguous. So he formed the concept of hypothetical auction by which the people can accumulate resources equally. So that, one person will not have jealousy towards the other. But Amartya Sen criticised Dworkinian equality of resources approach also. Because in a society there may be enough resources, but the people may not have the ability to use it. So that it cannot be measured solely on the basis of resources also.
Primary goods approach
Rawlsian theory more focussed on primary goods approach. According to him primary goods means ;
a) Basic liberties (freedom of thought and conscience)
b) Freedom of movement and choice of occupation
c) Income and wealth
d) Self respect
He concentrated more on political justice rather than social justice. He was concerned about the wellbeing of the least advanced segment of the society. Amartya Sen criticised John Rawls theory also, because if people are similar in a society then this approach is useful. But the truth is in a society there will be different people. He neglected about the diversity of human beings such as disabled person.
Basic needs approach
It doesn’t mean only physical needs. It means all physical, mental and social needs which are necessary for the development of an individual. To provide opportunities to those who are not getting enough resources to satisfy their basic needs. It focuses more on mobilizing particular resources to particular groups. Sen criticised this approach because according to him, this approach concentrated on pocession of commodities as basic needs. In reality, this approach provides opportunities for development of the people particularly the poor and deprived. But Sen’s capability approach is regarded as more appropriate than basic needs approach because Sen tries to bring together many of the concerns of the basic needs approach in his approach and Sen’s approach goes beyond the poor and deprived section to the general wellbeing .
In short from the above theories we can understand that capability approach is better than the other theories because its acts as a general metric of wellbeing, the rest of the theories are concentrated in one particular segments of the society.
According to the Global finance magazine in 2015 based on the GDP, the poorest country in the world is Africa and India is the 61st. Now eradication of poverty is a global goal. In a discussion of eradication of poverty, Thomas pogge said that the rich people have an obligation to eradicate the poverty because they have violated the social justice by harming the poor by causing them poverty . But they are not the only one who is responsible for that. The eradication of poverty is the responsibility of the governments, inter-governmental organisations, NGOs etc.
The charter of UN was the first international treaty which was based on human rights. In that they had mentioned one of its goals as to promote higher standards of living, full employment, conditions of economic and social progress and development through international cooperation.
To empower these objectives they empowered ECOSOC to study about the problems and to report and make recommendations about Economic, social, health, educational related matters. To live a life free from poverty and hunger is one of the human rights and fundamental freedoms which is given in UDHR.it states that everyone has the right to have a standard of living, adequate health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services. Later on, these rights were reaffirmed in ICESCR and ICCPR.
The world summit for social development stated that poverty eradication is one of their main goals and it is one of the main pillars of social development. UN millennium summit in September 2000 had set a goal to half the poverty by 2015. Though the poverty rate is decreasing as per the World Bank estimates in 1998, but it has only limited change. UN on 25th September 2015 adopted 2030 Agenda for sustainable development to eradicate poverty and hunger by 2030.
Therefore we can understand that though poverty is still prevailing in many of the countries, though different people measured the poverty rate differently, the international mechanisms are trying hard to eradicate poverty through various means.
ARMED CONFLICT
Conflict means a serious disagreement or argument, in simple words it means clash between two or more people. When a conflict turns into an open combat which means fighting with armed forces then it will be called as an armed conflict if such act leads to death of at least 25 people in a year.
There are mainly two types of armed conflicts. They are;
a) International armed conflict
b) Non-international armed conflict
Armed conflicts occurs between the government forces i.e. interstate conflict and between government forces and organised armed groups or between two such groups within the state i.e. intra state conflicts. Non-international armed conflicts are same as intra state conflicts. International conflicts are same as interstate conflict.
According to UCDP ; ‘An armed conflict is a contested incompatibility which concerns government or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is government of a state, results in at least 25 battle related deaths’. During 1989 to 2000 there were 111 conflicts existed in our world. In the year 2009, UCDP recorded 36 active armed conflicts, in 2010, 31 and in 2011, 37 conflicts. As per their report though the rate of armed conflicts are decreased compared to 1990, but it has increased as compared to early years of this decade. Among the conflicts, six of the conflicts turned into war. No interstate conflict was happened during these years. Only intra state conflicts are occurring. A new type of conflict was emerged, it is Internationalised conflict. It means that the conflict parties will get support from an external state .
According to Galtung , ‘conflict arises where the parties come to have incompatible interests, values or goals’. It means that if two person’s goals or interest are incompatible then in such situations the conflict arises.
ICRC also explains two types of armed conflicts, they are; international armed conflicts which are opposing two or more states and non-international armed conflicts which are between governmental forces and non-governmental armed groups or between such groups.
ICRC is formed by the state parties of Geneva Conventions to work for the understanding and to spread the knowledge of international humanitarian law applicable to armed conflicts and to prepare for its development.
The Geneva conventions and their additional protocols also deal with conflicts. They concentrated more on the international humanitarian law. International humanitarian law regulates the conduct of the armed conflicts and tries to limit its effects.
The ICTY stated that, ‘an armed conflict exists whenever there is a resort to armed conflict between states or protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organised armed groups or between governmental authorities and organised armed groups or between such groups within a state.’
Therefore from the above definitions we can understand that there exists two types of armed conflicts and those are trying to be controlled by the international mechanisms. A new type of armed conflict is also recognised. That is internationalised armed conflict. The best example for internationalised armed conflict is the conflict which was happened in the democratic republic of Congo in 1998. The forces from Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe and Uganda intervened to support the various groups in Congo.
From the above types of armed conflict, in case of any, the international humanitarian law applies to all. It’s a body of law which aims to limit the warfare and to protect the people who are not taking part in the hostilities.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POVERTY AND ARMED CONFLICTS
Even though poverty and armed conflicts are entire two different phenomena but they are related to each other in some or the other way in the society.
World Bank once stated that , ‘one of the biggest drivers of poverty in the developing world is violent conflict.one of the biggest risks for developing countries is hat of being caught in a conflict trap, a vicious circle whereby poverty stokes conflict, and conflict in turn increases poverty’. From the above statement we can understand that there is some connection between poverty and armed conflicts exists in our society.
According to karlmarx the social stratification divides the society into two classes; the ruling class and the subject class. The unequal distribution of wealth leads to revolution in the society. The ruling class tries to exploit the subject class and the conflict arises between them.
C W Mills also believes in the social structures which are created because of conflicts in interests and resources. There are limited resources in our world. People will compete between one another to grab those resources. Such conflict will leads to creation of two classes such as elite and others. And conflict occurs between them.
According to Aristotle, ‘poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.’ From this statement we can understand that even Aristotle agrees that there is a connection between poverty and conflicts.
In many countries we can see widespread poverty, increasing inequalities, social exclusion etc. in those countries we can see a lot of conflicts also. Poverty is one of the major causes for conflict. Eradication of the poverty is only way to control armed conflicts in our society.
A recent study showed that a country which has $250 GDP per capita has 15 percent risk of internal conflict. While a country which have $5000 per capita has only a risk of 1 percent .
The relationship between poverty and armed conflicts can be studied under two different heads. They are;
a) poverty causes conflict
b) conflict deepens poverty
In our society because of unequal distribution of wealth there will be imbalance of political, social, cultural opportunities among the persons, there will be absence of good governance, inequalities arises in every sphere of life, social exclusion, unemployment increases, lack of education etc. in these circumstances the people in that particular society may have certain grievances. When those grievances are not met by the authorities it will lead to arguments between them. Poor people will start riots because they don’t have any other choice. They will start to question the prevailing government about their present situation and will join rebel groups. When they use arms and started to kill others, it will lead to armed conflicts. Armed conflicts will lead to war. So that poverty is the starting point of the armed conflicts.
Because of this prolonged armed conflicts there will be mass destruction and violence, both physical and material losses, many child soldiers will be compelled to join in these conflicts, their life will be also in danger. Because of the mass attack there will be loss of life of many human beings, it will affect the women who is there in the households, and they starts to face lot of problems. All these will lead to vulnerable health problems; they won’t get legal protection, so that it will deepen the poverty which is existent in that society.
But by the recent researches the political economists argues that greed (opportunity to exploit others) rather than grievances (generated by poverty) tends to cause violent conflict.
However we can say that, still there is a connection between poverty and armed conflicts. Even though the concept is changing form the grievances to greed but still there is an indirect connection between poverty and conflict.
EXAMPLES
The global poverty level has changed in china and East Asia. It is very evident. To some extent in India also it has changed. But it has not changed at all in Africa. The Central African Republic ranks first in the list of the poorest countries in the world and India is 61st . There are 54 countries in Africa and in that 30 countries are experiencing armed conflicts in some form.
Some of the examples of armed conflicts are;
a) Mali civil war, which is happened from 2012 to 2015. It prevailed for almost 3 years. The reason for such conflict is that the groups in that state started to fight against the Malian government for independence.
b) Syrian civil war, which is still happening, it started from 2011. The main reason for this conflict is that the groups in this state started to protest against Assad’s Government.
c) Korean War, which is happened in 1950 to 1953. The conflict aroused when North Korea invaded South Korea.
d) In 2009 the conflict between Sri-lankan Government and LTTE caused the highest number of deaths in the world. It leads to death of 7400-9000 people.
e) Conflict in Democratic Republic Congo in 1998, forces from Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe and Uganda given support to the various groups in Congo.
The above mentioned conflicts are some of the major conflicts which are occurred in our world which resulted in mass destruction.
ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL MECHANISMS TO CONTROL ARMED CONFLICTS
The armed conflicts which are occurring today are mostly non-international armed conflicts . But for all types of armed conflicts international humanitarian law applies. The international humanitarian law and human rights laws main goal is to preserve human dignity. The armed conflicts have taken millions of lives in the recent decades. In most of the armed conflicts we can see that there is a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights laws. Some of them will leads to wars and genocide also.
The international organisations can only make the participants in armed conflicts to have a respect on humanitarian laws. The ICRC has been working for the application of humanitarian law in armed conflicts. The UN general assembly, UN commission on human rights, International Court of Justice and several other organisations are trying hard to control armed conflicts. They all are trying to help the UN Security Council which deals with armed conflicts.
The UN has many peace keeping missions and it didn’t forget to include the human rights components in it. One of the main goals of UN charter is to maintain or restore international peace and security. The General Assembly is the main organ of UN and it includes all of its members. The main function of general assembly is to discuss matters which arise under the UN charter and make recommendations.
The next organ of UN, the Security Council’s primary responsibility is to maintain peace and security. The council has 15 members and all its member states are obliged to carry out its decisions. When a situation arises which is a threat to the society and it’s reported to the Council. First the council will asks the parties to make an agreement. If such an agreement is not successful and it leads to conflicts then council tries to make a cease fire that is a temporary suspension of fighting. Then the council will send peace keeping missions to those areas to solve it or call for the economic sanctions to restore the position by peaceful means.
The International Court of Justice is also an important organ in the UN if a country doesn’t wish to be a party in the proceedings of ICJ then it does not have to obey it. If there is a special treaty then they have to. Once a state accepts the court’s jurisdiction then later they cannot deny it.
The role of NGOs is also inevitable in controlling Armed Conflicts. For e.g. the Amnesty international, international commission of jurists, international league of human rights, etc. these organisations also recognised that during armed conflicts there will be human rights violations.
These NGOs relies mostly on UDHR, ICCPR and also to the Geneva conventions and its additional protocols. But they also play a vital role in combating armed conflicts. Conventions also emerged to regulate armed conflicts and Geneva Convention is one such convention which is a body of international law that regulates the activities of armed conflict and tries to limit its effects.
Hence these are some of the International mechanisms which are trying to regulate armed conflicts and to restore peace and security in our society.
CONCLUSION
In short we can say that poverty is the main cause of increasing armed conflicts and continuing conflicts will deepens the poverty. The poverty rate in our world is decreased but it’s not eradicated completely. Many international mechanisms are trying hard to eradicate poverty from the world. The United Nations on 25 September 2015 adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda comprises 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or Global Goals and of their goal is to end poverty.
Among the various types of armed conflicts, non-international armed conflicts are increasing in our world. By the example of Africa we can determine that poverty is one of the causes for increasing armed conflicts. Depending on the GDP rate, the Central African Republic is the poorest country in the world. There are 54 countries in Africa in that approximately 30 countries are facing some conflicts.
UN is trying to control armed conflicts. The General Assembly, Security Council and International Court of Justice are trying to promote international peace and security. International humanitarian law is applicable to both non-international and international armed conflicts.
In short we can say that if poverty rate is reduced then there may be a reduction in the rate of armed conflicts also. We can hope for that day in the future.
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