“We have a global collective responsibility to uphold the precept of human dignity, equality and equity at the universal level. As leaders we have a responsibility therefore to the entire world’s people, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children of the world, to whom the future belongs.”
United Nations Millennium Declaration, Paragraph 2, 2000
“Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger” (unicef.org, 2015), happened to be the first objective of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) out of the eight objectives (unicef.org, 2015). This was signed in September 2000 by all 189 UN Member States that agreed to try to achieve before year 2015 (who.int, 2016). Though, it was later changed into United Nation‘s seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals, now to be completed by 2030. In the meantime, poverty is strongly related to the destabilisation of a variety of important human features, which includes health (who.int, 2016). The less privilege are becoming more prone to a lot of health related problem and issues that has to do with the environment such as pollution because they have no adequate information and are greatly deprived of standard health care system to meet their basic health needs. Equally, health challenges can cripple ones finances, isolate someone from learning, cutting down the rate of productivity, and opening up a doorway to a standard of living that is very poor which in consequence keeps high and in existence what is known as abject poverty. According to World Health Organization (WHO), poverty is frequently operationalized in outright terms of low income i.e. less than US$2 a day, for instance but in actuality, the results of poverty occur on a virtual scale (www.bemylightministry.com). This brings us to the fact that the poorest of the poor are wallowing in a health condition that is generally pitiable (www.buildify.com). In some countries, there are proves which shows that there is a direct relationship between socioeconomic position of the populace and their health. There is a social relationship in health that connects both the peak to the bottom of the socioeconomic order. This is a well-known occurrence that is observed in low, middle and high income countries (www.bemylightministry.com).
Inequality can be conceptualised in various ways and the generic term “inequality” actually reflects a range of distinct inequalities. One important difference is known to be between horizontal and vertical inequality. Horizontal inequality refers to inequality between culturally defined or socially constructed groups. Inequalities with respect to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, caste, and sexuality are all instances of horizontal inequalities. Vertical inequality implies inequality between individuals or groups. The overall income or wealth dispersion of an economy muses vertical inequality, as do commonly used measurements of inequality, such as the Gini coefficient. The difference between horizontal and vertical inequality is particularly salient when conceiving the human rights model, since the issues around horizontal inequality are much more developed in discussions of economic and social rights than are issues around vertical inequality.
POVERTY AND GLOBAL INIQUITIES
Poverty is a not a self-defining concept (Bellu & Liberati, 2005). It is the lack of material well-being, insecurity, social isolation, psychological distress, and lack of freedom of choice and action (Narayan, 2000). In the simplest definition of poverty, it refers to “a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society; it means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit; it means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities; it means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation” (Gordon, 2005). There are a great many more household surveys available for measuring living standards (Ravallion, 2010). The World Bank measures income (or consumption) poverty using a poverty line of $1.25 per day (unsdsn.org, 2014). According to the United Nation Children’s Fund, Number of children living in poverty: 1 billion – every second child (unicef.org, 2016) using the prior identified World Bank dimension. Further, for the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), about 400 million have no access to safe water, and approximately (Shah, 2010), 270 million have no access to health services (Bellamy, 2004). In addition, 10.6 million died in 2003 before they get to the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day (Bellamy, 2004). From the statistics presented, it displays glaringly, the damage poverty is causing in the immediate society.
Regarding inequity, this often refers to as an unequal distribution of income of wealth. However, it is a point to note that people experience inequalities across a number of dimensions. There are inequalities virtually all ramifications from educational attainment to distribution of power. The allotted leisure time for both male and female at work is unequally distributed, considering the fact that they both work in various offices (paid) and also involve in unpaid work at home. Inequalities in income and wealth are associated with other dispersions. For instance, low income households have the worse health outcomes on average over the years. Furthermore, inequalities can be measured with respect to different units of society, between individuals, between households, social groups, and even between countries. Studies using longer time series conclude that income inequality has been consistently increasing since the early 19th century (unicef.org, 2016; Ortiz & Cummins, 2011:11). For instance Gini index evaluates the level to which the distribution of income or, in some cases, consumption expenditure, among individuals or households within an economy moves from a perfectly equal distribution) () over time and finds that global income inequality rose steadily from 1820 to 2002, with a significant rise from 1980 onwards (see table 1 below). To further inform the more recent flight, Cornia (2003) made a conclusion that inequality heightened globally between the early 1980s and 1990s following a review of different studies. While the analysis shows some reversal of this trend, there is a significant and major likelihood that income inequality is being aggravated in the ongoing global economic crisis.
Certain mechanisms and standards in the international legal framework, namely those related to human rights, are already equipped to address many of the predominant inequalities. International human rights standards, as developed in the International Bill of Human Rights and other human rights treaties, set ambition for the world we want: one where the inherent value, dignity and equality of every individual is highly and generally respected, where all people are able to enjoy an adequate standard of living (including food, clothing and housing), education and the highest attainable standard of health, where all can benefit from physical and social security and also get involved equally and free of violence and war in economic, social and political life without discrimination. They not only set ambitions but establish binding international law and specific duties on states on ensuring that people’s underlying, dignity is equally respected. Therefore, there is urge for a human rights based approach as paramount to the establishment framework for addressing inequalities and advancing humanitarian progress.
The human rights system, through various treaties, protects marginalized groups such as women, minorities, children, persons with disabilities, and it places approbatory duties on states to offer many of remedies to inequalities such as voting rights, water, food, health care, education, etc. Not only does the system already give protection, the whole system, which, if properly applied, can provide the means for individuals to obtain redress. Human rights standards set a guideline for how to achieve the world we want by placing legal obligations on governments to promote, protect and realize a full range of civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights through the allotment and enforcement of appropriate laws and policies, as well as through the allocation of resources and provision of services.
Existing human rights mechanisms also provide a monitoring and accountability system that could aid analysis of discrimination, inequalities and countries’ responses to them. At the universal level, these include the UN treaty bodies, the Universal Periodic Review and special rapporteurs. At the regional level, these include and not limited to regional courts and human rights commissions. In most countries, international human rights treaties are binding law, which, in turn, assists domestic mechanisms to protect and promote human rights at the national level.
CAUSES OF EXTREME POVERTY
According to Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a Global initiatives for the United Nations, there are several basic causes of extreme poverty. These includes and not limited to:
(1) Adverse geographical condition:
Physical isolation of the region (landlocked, small island, mountainous) and thinness of the population
Extremely poor climate (hyper arid, flood prone)
Poor agricultural activities (poor soils, land degradation, adverse climate)
Lack of adequate energy resources (no fossil fuels, no hydro power)
Frequent disease attack and showcases (hyper-endemic vector-borne diseases such as malaria)
Major exposure to hazards such as floods, droughts, typhoons, earthquakes and other hazards.
The Horn of Africa and the Sahel are vivid examples of regions with highly negative and extreme geographical conditions: landlocked, generally devoid of fossil fuels, hyper-arid and drought prone, and endemic to tropical diseases, including malaria and meningitis majorly. Many small-island states are geographically detached. Within large middle-income countries extreme poverty is often highest in remote interior states (e.g. the West of China and the North-East of India).
(2) Sustained violent conflict and international sanctions.
The incidence of extreme poverty is highly related with conflict and frequent instability. Afghanistan has been cut down to wretchedness through thirty years of nearly continuous conflict. Likewise, Haiti’s economy was depredated by consistent episodes of international sanctions.
(3) Autocratic government and poor governance.
Poor governance, including high levels of corruption and the systematic wrong allotment of a country’s resources away from the needs of the poor, are an important epitome of uttermost poverty. North Korea is the quintessential case of despotic rule leading to extreme poverty despite otherwise prosperous economic potential. The failure by some of the resource-rich countries in Africa to use their relative wealth to overcome the disadvantages of unfavourable geography is another significant example of poor governance.
¬¬(4) Gender and ethnic or social secernment
Indigenous peoples (roughly 400 million around the world) and other excluded groups have faced centuries of extreme discrimination and social exclusion. As a result they tend to live in the most remote parts of countries and constitute a particularly high share of the extreme poor, especially in Asia. Girls and women continue to face extreme discrimination in social practices and legal rights (e.g. the right to land title) in many parts of the world, which raises the risk of extreme poverty for households.
(5) Extreme almost-total fertility rates (6 or higher)
Rural areas in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia, and Central Asia have total fertility rates of 6 or higher. These higher TFRs result from culture (religious tenets, gender discrimination), the lack of girls’ schooling, high child mortality (leading to high fertility choices of households), and the non-availability of contraceptives and family planning services. High TFRs are one of the most important predictors of extreme poverty since they reduce a household’s per capita investment in the health and education of its children as well as a government’s per capita investments in infrastructure and social services that can ameliorate poverty.
(6) Lack of access to land
While most of the rural poor in Africa own (too little) land and landed properties, many extremely poor individuals in South Asia have no land title. The lack of access to land and a lack of gainful employment opportunities can appoint an important driver of extreme poverty.
RATE AT WHICH COUNTRIES DIFFERS IN POVERTY LEVEL
Out of the 23 poorest countries in the world, 19 are located in Africa, according to an analysis carried out by the Global Finance Magazine. Based on data from the IMF, the magazine ranked the world's countries according to their GDP per capita and determined the poorest and richest ones. The analysis as well made use of a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis, which takes into account the living cost and inflation rates, in order to compare living standards between the different nations. Some small territories, such as Liechtenstein, Nauru, Vatican City, Monaco, San Marino and Andorra were not included in the study. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ranks in as the poorest country in the world based on its GDP per capita over the period of 2009-2013. With DRC citizens earning on average $394.25 a year, the country stands in a sharp demarcation with Qatar where people earn an average of $105,091.42 a year. Following the Democratic Republic of Congo are Zimbabwe, where in 2013 people earned $589.25 on average, Burundi, where people earn on average $648.58 a year, and Liberia, where people earn on average $716.04. The first non-African country on the list is Afghanistan, which is sighted at the 10th place. It is also the first country where the average annual income passes the $1,000 threshold with $1072.19 annually. The other non-African countries on the list of the poorest 23 countries in the world includes and not limited to Nepal, Haiti, and Myanmar.
SOURCE: The Global Finance Magazine 2015. Data from International Monatry Fund (IMF).
BETWEEN HUMAN RIGHT AND GLOBAL INEQUITIES
The realization of human rights cannot be separated from broader questions of economic and social justice. Global financial and economic crises, armed conflict and militarism, dangers to public health, gender based and other forms of violence, food insecurity and climate change have intensified vulnerabilities and have threatened the realization of rights. Within this constellation of factors affecting the realization of rights, inequality in income and wealth has emerged globally as an area of growing concern. The human rights framework has started to engage with the question of inequalities in income and wealth, offering partial guidance on the implications of increasingly polarized societies and what obligations governments have to address this issue. Given the rise in inequality it is critical to more fully understand the connections between realization of human rights and inequality. Current levels of inequality are extreme and, in many countries around the world, there has been an upward trend in income and wealth inequality since the 1980s. A 2014 study found that nearly half of the world’s wealth was owned by just one Percent of the population and the wealth of the richest one percent amounted to $110 trillion, or about 65 times that of the bottom half. One measure of inequality is the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient is a number between zero and one that would take on a value of one if all income were held by a single person and a value of zero if income were shared equally. A larger Gini coefficient therefore indicates greater inequality.
Income and wealth inequality have a broad impact on the consciousness of certain rights. That is, inequality often is significantly related with poorer outcomes with regard to health, education, and other economic and social rights. It is not surprising that household with good income enjoy better outcomes than the poorer households. However, inequality itself can lead to worse outcomes – even managing for the level of income. In another way, low-income households in a very unequal society may do worse than households with the identical income in a more equal society.
For instance, the Universal Promulgation of Human Rights states that everyone has the equal right to education and that education should be free at least at the elementary level. Studies have however shown that greater inequality is related with lower educational achievement. One significant factor determining access to education and unequal educational outcomes is the intermittent allocation of publics funding. Income inequality partly dictates inequality in access to education, but access also depends on how public resources for education are distributed. Poorer communities can have strong and better schools if there is public support for quality education. Unequal educational access and outcomes potentially have a long-term effect on the realization of other rights in that there may be ‘opportunity seizing.’ Opportunity seizing refers to “the process through which disparities become stagnant. This occurs when certain defined groups take full or partial control of valuable resources and assets for their advantage and ‘seek to secure rewards from cloistered resources’. And this might be distinct types of resources such as public expenditure, access to quality education, or profitable jobs”.
Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights recognizes “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest come-at-stable standard of physical and mental health”. Countries with higher levels of income inequality have worse health outcomes – in terms of key indices, such as and not limited to life expectancy – compared to other countries with the same levels of GDP.
CONCLUSION
Poverty is multifaceted, evidenced by conditions that include malnutrition, inadequate shelter, unsanitary living conditions, unsatisfactory and insufficient supplies of clean water, poor solid waste disposal, low educational achievement and the absence of quality schooling resources, chronic ill health, and widespread common crime. Through the signing of the Millennium Development Declaration in 2000, 191 UN member states nem con committed to reducing poverty. However, because it is not easy to define or measure, monitoring poverty in its broad manifestations is a complex task operationally and objectively. The provision of benchmark data needed for supervising global targets rests on national statistical offices, and meeting the current demands for poverty statistics is still beyond the arm’s length of most poor countries. The current status of reporting on the indices of the major UN global conferences – and more recently – the follow up of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, raises concerns about the readiness of national statistical offices to respond to this demand.
A human rights advance to poverty is about empowerment of the poor. One of the most clear and persistent subject matters in the World Bank series Voices of the Poor is powerlessness. Crying Out for Change investigates the "ten interlocking proportion of powerlessness and ill-being that egress from poor people's perspective." It concludes: "The problem for development professionals, and for policy and practice, is to find ways to undermine the web of powerlessness and to aid the capacities of poor women and men so that they can take more control of their lives." Empowerment occurs through the introduction of the concept of rights. It is assumed that when human rights are introduced in policy making, the principle of poverty reduction no longer deduce only from the fact that the poor have needs but is based on the rights of poor people – entitlements that give rise to obligations and responsibilities on the part of others that are shrine in law. The different features of a human rights prescriptive framework can offer to the empowerment of the poor. The most important components are; the concept of accountability, the principles of non-discrimination, equity, and participation, and the due recognition of the interdependence of rights on each other.
Also, by introducing the dimension of international legal responsibilities, such as the standards on equality and non- -discrimination, a human rights view adds legitimacy to poverty obliteration as a basal goal of policy-making. The right to equality and the principle of non-discrimination is the foundation of international human rights law. The poor are usually victims of discrimination based on various and often times, multiple grounds, such as birth, property, national or social origin, ethnic origin, colour, gender and religion. As discrimination causes poverty, equally, so also poverty causes discrimination. Furthermore to other grounds of unequal treatment, the poor often times suffer most discrimination because they are poor. Where governments are creditworthy for any form of discrimination, they are also under an obligation inflicted by international law, to end it instantaneously through the removal of all discriminatory laws and practices. Where discriminatory attitudes result from highly deeply rooted attitudes of the population, governments should take the lead in introducing change through education and should adopt and enforce laws going against any discrimination by private citizens or groups. Governments must also take special measures in order to offer to their most prone, discriminated and socially excluded groups, including the poor, efficacious protection against discrimination by governmental authorities as well as by private actors.