COMPILATION OF INTERNATIONAL NORMS
AND STANDARDS RELATING TO DISABILITY
Part V. Rights of Vulnerable Groups. 10/11   
9. Rights of the Poor
Poverty can greatly increase the chance of a person becoming disabled, and a disabled
person has a greater chance of experiencing poverty. There are many reasons why
those who are living in poverty experience more disabilities than those who are not poor.
Among these are:
- Poor people may not have adequate food;
- They may live in unhealthy environments;
- They may have low-paying or dangerous jobs, if any at all; they may be victims of
violence;
- They have less access to medical treatment;
- They are less educated and, therefore, may not learn about treatment.
Poor people lack access to information, influence and resources, which may cause them
to live in poor living conditions and without proper medical care.
The United Nations has a major role to play in the area of eradicating poverty. The
United Nations System, including the World Bank, as well as the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the donor countries are very involved in this
issue. Addressing poverty issues has been the major them at many United Nations
International Conferences such as:
- The World Summit for Children [70]
- The Earth Summit[71]
- The World Conference on Human Rights[72]
- The International Conference on Population and Development[73]
- The Social Summit[74]
- The Fourth World Conference on Women[75] and
- The United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)[76]
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supports programmes that assist
governments and organizations of civil society in developing economic and social policies
and programmes to address the whole range of factors that contribute to poverty. These
programmes seek to increase food security, improve the availability and quality of shelter
and basic services, and generate opportunities and sustainable livelihoods. In over 80
countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, UNDP is funding works aimed at ensuring
compliance with the goals of the Social Summit. UNDP assistance supports efforts to
identify and prioritise poverty eradication needs at the country level, targeting current
gaps and weaknesses in the capacity of government and civil society institutions to
address poverty issues.
In 1992, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming October 17 as the International
Day for the Eradication of Poverty, recognising that certain non-governmental
organizations have in many states observed 17 October as the World Day for Overcoming
Extreme Poverty[77].The United Nations proclaimed the
year of 1996 as the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty[78]. The General Assembly recognised that "...poverty is
a complex and multi-dimensional problem with origins in both the national and
international dimensions, and that its eradication in all countries, in particular in
developing countries, has become one of the priority development objectives for the 1990's
in order to promote sustainable development." The United Nations then proclaimed the
period from 1997 to 2006 as the First United Nations International Decade for the
Eradication of Poverty[79]. The General Assembly
decided by resolution that in 1996 that the theme would be the eradication of poverty as
an "...ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind."[80] The resolution also declared Poverty, environment, and
development as the theme for 1997 and Poverty, human rights and development as
the theme for 1998. The objective for the decade is to eradicate absolute poverty, and
reduce overall global poverty through decisive national action and international
co-operation in implementing fully and effectively all relevant agreements, commitments
and recommendations of major United Nations conferences since 1990. The General Assembly
recommended that the causes of poverty be addressed through action in the areas of
environment, food security, population, migration, health, shelter, human resources
development including clean water and sanitation, rural development and productive
development, and by addressing the needs of vulnerable groups.
In order to help eradicate this problem of poverty and its endless cycle, Governments
may turn to several instruments for assistance and guidance.
Commitment 2 of The Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action provides
that States commit themselves to eradicate poverty. In this context, the States must take
efforts to provide for the basic needs of all. Moreover, pursuant to commitment 2, at the
national level States must ensure that people living in poverty have access to productive
resources, including credit, land, education and training, technology, knowledge and
information, as well as public services. At the international level, states must
"...strive to ensure that the international community and international
organizations, in particular, the multilateral financial institutions, assist developing
countries in need in their efforts to achieve our overall goal of eradicating poverty
and ensuring basic social protection." (emphasis added).
Article 15 (h) states that "...one of the world's largest minorities, more than
one in 10, are people with disabilities, who are too often forced into poverty,
unemployment and social isolation." (emphasis added). In the Declaration, the
participating governments commit to eradicate poverty.
Paragraph 23 provides that "...poverty has various causes, including structural
ones. Poverty is a complex multi-dimensional problem with origins in both the
national and international domains. No uniform solution can be found to tackle poverty and
international efforts supporting national efforts, as well as the parallel process of
creating a supportive international environment, are crucial for a solution to this
problem (...). The eradication of poverty cannot be accomplished through
anti-poverty programmes alone, but will require democratic participation and changes
in economic structures in order to ensure access for all to resources and
opportunities." (emphasis added).
Paragraph 27 states that "The international community, the United Nations, the
multilateral financial institutions, all regional organizations and local authorities, and
all actors of civil society need to positively contribute their own share of efforts and
resources in order to reduce inequalities among people."
Paragraph 82 states: "Nothing short of renewed and massive political will at
the national and international levels to invest in people and their well-being will
achieve the objectives of social development."
Paragraph 96 talks about the need for inter-agency collaboration and states that
"The United Nations system, including technical and sectoral agencies and the Bretton
Woods institutions, should expand and improve their co-operation in the field of social
development to ensure that their efforts are complementary and, where possible, should
combine resources in joint initiatives for social development built around common
objectives of the Summit."
As articulated by the World Summit for Social Development, the eradication of poverty
requires political commitment and action among all sectors of society.
Articles 5-6 of the Beijing Declaration recognise that the unequal
status of men and women is due in large part to the increasing poverty that is affecting
the lives of the majority of the world's people, including women and children. Article 26
focuses on measures to address poverty.
The United Nations Report of the World Social Situation 1997 sets forth national
strategies for dealing with the eradication of poverty:
- Promoting the high and sustained rates of economic expansion and employment creation
through policies designed to create an enabling environment for poverty reduction;
- Increasing incomes and participation in the economy by the unemployed and working poor
through targeted measures to improve their skills and training and upgrade their health
status and living conditions;
- Expanding opportunities for the poor to engage in gainful economic activity by widening
their access to land, credit and other productive factors;
- Targeting those localities and intervening in those areas where the poor reside and
where needs are greatest in terms of priorities for poverty reduction;
- Addressing the pressing economic and social problems of the aged, the disabled, the
infirm and those otherwise unable to engage in productive activity through programmes of
public assistance and income maintenance.
- Channelling the benefits from increased participation in the world economy towards the
poorest segments of the population through policies promoting an expansion of
labour-intensive exports and a reduction of trade restriction on consumer goods.
Article 4 of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers provides that
"...special attention should be given to assisting the poor so as to enable them to
assert their rights and where necessary call upon the assistance of lawyers."
70. Held in New York, 1991.
71. Held in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.
72. Held in Vienna, 1993.
73. Held in Cairo, 1994.
74. Held in Copenhagen, 1995.
75. Held in Beijing, 1995.
76. Held in Istanbul, 1996.
77. General Assembly resolution 50/176 of December
1992.
78. General Assembly resolution 48/183 of December
1993.
79. General Assembly resolution 50/107 of December
1995.
80. General Assembly resolution 51/178 of December
1996.
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