General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

17 December 1991

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                   A/RES/46/121
                                                   75th plenary meeting
                                                   17 December 1991
 
                 Human rights and extreme poverty
 
  The General Assembly,
 
  Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other international instruments
concerning human rights adopted by the United Nations,
 
  Recalling its resolutions 44/148 of 15 December 1989 and 44/212 of 22
December 1989 and other relevant resolutions,
 
  Bearing in mind Commission on Human Rights resolution 1991/14 of 22 February
1991, in which the Commission drew the attention of the General Assembly to
the contradiction between the existence of situations of extreme poverty and
exclusion from society, which must be overcome, and the duty to guarantee full
enjoyment of human rights,
 
  Recalling its resolution 45/199 of 21 December 1990, in which it proclaimed
the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, one of the main characteristics
of which is the search for a significant reduction in extreme poverty and a
shared responsibility of all countries,
 
  Recognizing that extreme poverty is a violation of human dignity and could
constitute a threat to the right to life,
 
  Deeply concerned at the steady increase in extreme poverty in the world and
at its effect on the most vulnerable groups of society, which are thus
prevented from exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms,
 
  Aware of the need for a better understanding of the causes of extreme
poverty, 
 
  Recognizing that the elimination of widespread poverty and the full
enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights are interrelated goals,
 
  Recognizing that the grave suffering of the great majority of human beings
who live in conditions of extreme poverty demands the immediate attention of
the international community and the adoption of concrete measures for the
elimination of extreme poverty and social exclusion,
 
  1.  Affirms that extreme poverty and exclusion from society constitute a
violation of human dignity and that urgent national and international measures
are therefore required to eliminate them;
 
  2.  Stresses the need for an in-depth and complete study of the nature of
the phenomenon of extreme poverty which affects mankind;
 
  3.  Requests the Commission on Human Rights to give appropriate
consideration, in directing its studies of extreme poverty, to the conditions
in which the poorest themselves can convey their experience and so contribute
to a better understanding of their situation of social exclusion;
 
  4.  Again requests States, the specialized agencies and United Nations
bodies and other international organizations, including intergovernmental
organizations, to give the necessary attention to this problem;
 
  5.  Notes with appreciation the concrete measures taken by the United
Nations Children's Fund to lessen the effects of extreme poverty on children
and the efforts of the United Nations Development Programme to give priority
to the search for a means of alleviating poverty within the framework of the
relevant resolutions;
 
  6.  Decides to continue the consideration of this question at its
forty-seventh session under the sub-item entitled "Human rights questions,
including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of
human rights and fundamental freedoms".