Human Rights Day, 2006-People Get Ready; A Librarian at the Kitchen Table. No. 417.

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, 2006.

Poverty is a cause and a product of human rights violations. It is this double edge that makes poverty probably the gravest human rights challenge in the world. The links between human rights and poverty should be obvious : People whose rights are denied -- victims of discrimination or persecution, for example -- are more likely to be poor. Generally they find it harder or impossible to participate in the labour market and have little or no access to basic services and resources. Meanwhile, the poor in many societies cannot enjoy their rights to education, health and housing simply because they cannot afford them. And poverty affects all human rights: for example, low income can prevent people from accessing education -- an “economic and social” right -- which in turn inhibits their participation in public life -- a “civil and political” right -- and their ability to influence policies affecting them.

POVERTY is probably the gravest human rights challenge in the world. Yet, poverty is still rarely seen through the lens of human rights. Many ingredients go into making poverty, but factors like discrimination, unequal access to resources, and social and cultural stigmatization have always characterized it. These “factors” have another name: the denial of human rights and human dignity.


People Get Ready

Beck/Stewart
Alicia Keyes
U2

Could not find the classic original online. But here is "We Gotta Have Peace." Curtis Mayfield