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DPI/NGO Briefing
Summary This week’s briefing addressed “Linking Human Rights to Extreme Poverty”. Four expert panellists expounded on the problem of poverty and the connection between poverty and human rights. Ms. Elizabeth Gibbons, Chief of Global Policy, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) New York, Ms. Catherine Barnett, Vice-President, Project Enterprise, Ms. Nina Lim Yuson, President, International Movement ATD Fourth World and Mr. Adonis Salas, Community Activist and Member of International Movement ATD Fourth discussed how the individual, organizations and humanitarian agencies could help the United Nations achieve its first Millennium Development Goal - the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. Ms. Elizabeth Gibbons began by citing the
working definition of ‘extreme poverty’. She argued
that human rights violations were already taking place in childhood,
explaining that child poverty meant the depravation of health, water,
sanitation, shelter, food and lack of education. One billion children
suffered from some sort of deprivation; 40% under the age of 5 had
suffered from the loss of potential development due to malnutrition.
Ms. Gibbons reiterated the fact that potential development loss
at childhood could not be fully regained. According to Ms. Gibbons,
children felt poverty more deeply than adults; they felt strong
feelings of shame from living in poverty. This deprivation went
beyond the monetary concept of poverty. Studies conducted across
17 countries in Africa highlighted that 20% of the children from
the ‘richest’ families were not in school. The low number
of children attending school could also be attributed to the premature
death of children (although the numbers have been falling below
9.7 millions per year compared to 13 millions 10 years ago), girls
forced into early marriage and children who had to work to support
the family. Among some of the suggestions put forward by Ms. Gibbons
were social protection programmes, improved preventive care; and
new partnerships between the Ministry of Finance, key power brokers,
the private sector and civil society. According to her, before one
could discuss ways to eradicate poverty in the next generation,
one must start discussing the problem of poverty of children first.
Ms. Catherine Barnett talked about Project Enterprise (PE), the only Grameen-style provider of micro-business loans in New York City. Inspired by the success of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, PE’s mission was to support and develop entrepreneurs and small businesses in under-resourced communities around New York City by providing access to business loans, business development services and networking opportunities. PE believed that it was possible to help people out of poverty by offering them different financial products. PE did not require prior business experience, credit history or collateral to provide market-rate financing for small businesses. Ms Barnett mentioned how poverty was a global phenomenon and that New York City, despite being one of the centres of capitalism, was no exception. According to her, there were many people struggling to bring in extra income for their families and PE offered micro credit loans to those low-income people wishing to start home-based businesses such as childcare, baking or even becoming a street vendor. Some of them were not eligible for normal bank loans due to lack of collateral or past criminal records. However, PE made it possible for them to receive a loan. Past statistics showed a 40% increase in revenue of the business owners who had taken 1 loan with PE. PE also encouraged these entrepreneurs to participate in business training activities such as basic bookkeeping, tax issues and marketing strategies. Ms. Bartnett stated that these successful entrepreneurs were PE’s best advertisements for empowering the poor. Ms. Nina Lim Yuson talked about ATD Fourth World’s history and the movement’s focus on the eradication of extreme poverty. She concentrated her speech on the “Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights”, a document recently put forward to the Human Rights Council. She highlighted some of the resolutions of the draft, and on the hopes and aspirations of the poor as reflected in the document. Among the rights that could be afforded to the poor were the rights to have official citizenship documents, food, health, education, and to be able to live as a family. The poor also hoped that respect building on the country’s moral values would be taught in primary schools and that ample information would be given to children to protect them from human trafficking. Another point highlighted was how civil society should be given greater monitoring responsibilities to fight human rights violations and how governments should be made more accountable for the policies that might discriminate the poor and shun them from receiving the assistance they needed. Mr. Adonis Salas was introduced by Ms. Yuson
as a member of ATD Fourth World who resides in a cemetery.
She mentioned how Mr. Salas who had been involved with ATD Fourth
World’s Street Library project since he was 9 years old was
an example of how the poor managed to obtain a college education
despite growing up in a disadvantaged situation. Mr. Salas started
by saying that he now lived “in a spirit of volunteerism”,
and used his past experiences to help the poor. He talked about
the baranguay (a small local authority) system in Manila where residents
needed to belong to before they could gain access to the basic necessities,
such as medical assistance, welfare services and even admission
to schools. Since North Cemetery (NC) was not part of a baranguay,
its residents were not certified as registered voters and hence
were unidentifiable. Mr. Salas reiterated the importance of identity
to the poor. A sense of identity would give them dignity and it
was the lack of identity of the poor of NC that made it difficult
for them to reach out for the welfare services they were entitled
to. The perceived notoriety of the NC residents who were stereotyped
as criminals added to the prejudice they faced. He summed up the
plight of the poor by saying that it was only through solidarity
and the spirit of volunteerism that poverty could be combated. During the question-and-answer period, the panellists fielded a diverse array of questions regarding the subject of poverty and raising awareness among the individual and civil society on the rights of the poor. The depth of knowledge, passion and understanding for the subject on the part of the panellists was evident as each question was answered. The need to get the “stories of the poor” out to mainstream media and the dissemination of adequate information to the poor were highlighted as key points in eradicating poverty. One example mentioned about empowering the poor was Project Enterprise (PE)’s “Peer Lending Program” which provided basic business training coupled with a support system of entrepreneurs to help newer entrepreneurs succeed. A video titled “Ending Extreme Poverty, a Road to Peace” produced by ATD Fourth World, highlighting on extreme poverty as a violation of human rights and the necessity to respect the dignity of the poor was screened at 10:00 a.m. The briefing was attended by approximately 140
people including NGO representatives and affiliates.
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