THE PROTECTION OF THE EXTREMELY POOR THROUGH THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Freedom from poverty is one of the most important human interests. In 2015, 735 million people were still living below the extreme poverty line, established at $1.90 per day. Extremely poor people are unable to meet their basic needs for survival. They suffer from undernutrition, famine, illiteracy and death from poverty-related and preventable diseases. This thesis aims to establish the role of the human rights framework when tackling extreme poverty. In order to do this, four research questions are proposed: (i) In which ways can the international human rights framework be a resourceful tool for mitigating extreme poverty? (ii) Which human rights can be invoked in protecting the extremely poor? (iii) What are the obligations of states towards the extremely poor? (iv) How has extreme poverty been addressed by national and international courts when finding violations of human rights? In order to answer these questions, key international documents are analysed using the legal dogmatic method. Hard law documents do not prescribe poverty as a human rights violation, however, they prescribe the rights which have a constitutive relevance to poverty. Therefore, in order to establish a straightforward connection to extreme poverty, hard law provisions are complemented by soft law instruments.

It is argued that there are four human rights which have a constitutive relevance to poverty: (i) the right to life, (ii) the right to adequate standards of living, including the right to adequate housing, the right to food and the right to water, (iii) the right to health and (iv) the right to education. Considering the minimum core content of these rights, it is possible to establish a straightforward connection to extreme poverty and invoke an immediate state obligation towards the extremely poor. Rather than presenting the content of each of these rights in a comprehensive way, it is proposed to discuss their most relevant features in connection to poverty. Furthermore, this thesis shows how national and international courts have addressed adjudication made by the extremely poor in relation to these rights, showing how poverty was considered as an important factor to asset the violation of human rights. This thesis focuses on the protection systems and jurisprudence developed in Africa and Latin America as extreme poverty as a social phenomenon is only found in developing countries. It is argued that, although there are obstacles that affect poor people disproportionally regarding access to justice, litigation is an important tool to empower and protect the poor.