Human Rights and Extreme Poverty

A/RES/73/163View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 74bHuman rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

21 versions · 1992–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/178

2024A/RES/79/178Human rights and extreme povertyLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/223Human rights and extreme povertyCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/75/175Human rights and extreme povertyCompare with previous version
2019A/RES/73/163Human rights and extreme povertyCompare with previous version
2017A/RES/71/186Human rights and extreme povertyCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 topics

Development Strategies Poverty Mitigation Sustainable Development

What does this mandate say?

23 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms that extreme poverty, deep inequality and exclusion constitute a violation of human dignity and that urgent national and international action is therefore required to eliminate them;

Also reaffirms that it is essential for States to foster participation by the poorest people in the decision-making process in the societies in which they live, in the promotion of human rights and in efforts to combat extreme poverty and exclusion and that it is essential for people living in and affected by poverty and in situations of vulnerability to be empowered to organize themselves and to participate in all aspects of political, economic, social, cultural and civic life, in particular the planning and implementation of policies that affect them, thus enabling them to become genuine partners in development;

Emphasizes that extreme poverty is a major issue to be addressed by Governments, the United Nations system and international financial institutions, the private sector, including the corporate sector, civil society and community-based social organizations, and in this context reaffirms that political commitment is a prerequisite for the eradication of poverty;

Also emphasizes the need to accord due consideration and priority to poverty eradication within the United Nations development agenda, while stressing the importance of addressing the causes and systemic challenges of poverty through integrated, coordinated and coherent strategies at the national, intergovernmental and inter-agency levels, consistent with the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields;

Reaffirms that the existence of widespread extreme poverty inhibits the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, renders democracy and popular participation fragile and can also create barriers to full and effective participation in political and public life, in particular for women and girls;

Recognizes the need to respect and to realize human rights and fundamental freedoms in order to address the most pressing social needs of people living in poverty, including through the design and development of appropriate mechanisms to strengthen and consolidate democratic institutions and governance;

Reaffirms the commitments contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular to leave no one behind, to reach the furthest behind and the most vulnerable and to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1, including by sparing no effort to fight against and eradicate extreme poverty, which is currently measured as people living on less than 1.25 United States dollars a day, for all people everywhere by 2030;

Also reaffirms the commitment made at the 2005 World Summit to eradicate poverty and promote sustained economic growth, sustainable development and global prosperity for all, including women and girls;

Recalls that promoting universal access to social services and providing social protection floors can make an important contribution to consolidating and achieving further development gains and that social protection systems that address and reduce inequality and social exclusion are essential for protecting the gains made towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and in this regard takes note of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), of the International Labour Organization;

Encourages States, when designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating social protection programmes, to ensure gender mainstreaming and the promotion and protection of all human rights in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law, throughout this process;

Calls upon States to implement gender-responsive social protection policies, as well as fiscal policies that contribute to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by, inter alia, facilitating greater access to and inclusion in social protection and financial and business services, including credit, for women, in particular women heads of household;

Encourages States to take all necessary measures to eliminate discrimination against all persons, in particular those living in poverty, to refrain from adopting any laws, regulations or practices denying or limiting the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including economic, social and cultural rights, and to ensure that people, in particular those living in poverty, have equal access to justice;

Welcomes the ongoing efforts to strengthen and support South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation, recognizing their contributions to the efforts of developing countries to collaborate in the eradication of poverty, and stresses that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation;

Encourages the international community to strengthen its efforts to address challenges that are contributing to extreme poverty, including those derived from the ongoing impact of the financial and economic crisis, food insecurity, volatile food prices and other ongoing concerns over global food security, epidemics and the increasing challenges posed by climate change and the loss of biodiversity in all parts of the world, especially in developing countries, by enhancing cooperation to help to build national capacities;

Reaffirms the critical role of quality education and lifelong learning for all in achieving poverty eradication and other development goals, as envisaged in the 2030 Agenda, in particular free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education and training for eradicating illiteracy, efforts towards expanded secondary and higher education as well as vocational education and technical training, especially for girls and women, the creation of human resources and infrastructure capabilities and the empowerment of those living in poverty, also reaffirms in this context the Dakar Framework for Action, adopted at the World Education Forum on 28 April 2000, and the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, adopted at the World Education Forum 2015, and recognizes the importance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization strategy for the eradication of poverty, especially extreme poverty, in supporting the Education for All programmes as tools for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030;

Invites the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue to give high priority to the question of the relationship between extreme poverty and human rights, and also invites her Office to pursue further work in this area;

Calls upon States, United Nations bodies, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Programme, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations, to continue to give appropriate attention to the links between human rights and extreme poverty, and encourages the private sector, including the corporate sector, and international financial institutions to proceed likewise;

Takes note with appreciation of the guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights,16 adopted by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 21/11,15 as a useful tool for States in the formulation and implementation of poverty reduction and eradication policies, as appropriate;

Encourages Governments, relevant United Nations bodies, funds and programmes and the specialized agencies, other intergovernmental organizations and national human rights institutions, as well as non-governmental organizations and non-State actors, and the private sector, including the corporate sector, to consider the guiding principles in the formulation and implementation of their policies and measures concerning persons affected by extreme poverty;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to disseminate the guiding principles, as appropriate;

Welcomes the efforts of entities throughout the United Nations system to incorporate the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals set out therein into their work;

Takes note of the work undertaken by the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extreme poverty and human rights, including his report submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-second session and his report submitted to the Assembly at its seventy-third session, and also notes the work of the Secretary-General to address the issues referred to therein;

Decides to consider the question further at its seventy-fifth session under the sub-item entitled “Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms” of the item entitled “Promotion and protection of human rights”.

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