Poverty Law & Policy

"The Problem: Over the last four years, millions of people were pushed into extreme poverty due to the consequences of COVID-19, erasing forward progress in poverty reduction efforts. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has exacerbated these challenges including igniting a global hunger crisis. Global food insecurity has now more than doubled since 2019. Due to these growing global challenges, it is critical that Congress support the International Affairs Budget."

"The Council of Europe is combating poverty by strengthening social cohesion, and preventing and combating social exclusion. The European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees civil and political human rights, is complemented by the European Social Charter (ESC), adopted in 1961 and revised in 1996, which guarantees social and economic human rights. According to Article 30, "Everyone has the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion"."

"IN 2015, WORLD LEADERS AGREED TO 17 GLOBAL GOALS. We’re at halftime and only 12% of the #GlobalGoals are on track. COVID-19, the cost of living, conflict, the climate crisis – such as floods, heatwaves, wildfires – have set us back, but hope remains. We’re joining the United Nations for the critical SDG Halftime Campaign this year, because any match is won in the second half. Let’s regroup, re-energize and win together."

"During the negotiations over the Sustainable Development Goals we at Open Society Foundations and our partners stressed the importance of including new targets on violence reduction, access to justice and the provision of legal identity, as well as the creation of more ways to enable citizens to take an active part in decisions that effect their well-being. We continue to work with our partners around the world—and with some governments who have already seen the benefits—to present clear, concrete examples of how grass-roots access to justice can support development."

"There has been marked progress in reducing poverty over the past decades. According to the most recent estimates, in 2015, 10 per cent of the world’s population lived at or below $1.90 a day. That’s down from 16 per cent in 2010 and 36 per cent in 1990. This means that ending extreme poverty is within our reach. However, the decline has slowed. In April 2013, the World Bank set a new goal to end extreme poverty in a generation. The new target is to have no more than 3 per cent of the world’s population living on just $1.90 a day by 2030. By measuring poverty we learn which poverty reduction strategies work, and which ones do not. Poverty measurement also helps developing countries gauge program effectiveness and guide their development strategy in a rapidly changing economic environment."

"Eliminating poverty and promoting human rights are inter-related objectives mentioned in many international treaties and commitments. The persistence of extreme poverty and the recurrence of violations of civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights are mutually reinforcing. For this reason, a wide range of human rights standards are relevant to the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for extreme poverty. [At this link] is a non-exhaustive list of relevant international instruments and standards."

"This latest Poverty and Shared Prosperity report offers the first comprehensive look at the global landscape of poverty in the aftermath of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. It outlines the limits of current fiscal policies for poverty reduction in low- and lower-middle-income economies, and points to the importance of reviving economic growth. It also shows the potential of fiscal policy reforms to help reduce poverty and support broad-based growth and development. "