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	Ending poverty by 2030 now a fading dream by Olivier De Schutter Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights   Sep. 2020   As the world faces the deepest economic recession since the 1929 Great Depression, social protection is again on the top of the international agenda, years after the adoption in 2012 of Recommendation No.202 on National Social Protection Floors within the International Labour Organization.   As countries have issued cash transfers, unemployment benefits, and in-kind support for their citizens, the Special Rapporteur assesses the responses governments are providing, examines the global state of public services and human rights before the pandemic, and reflects on the challenges that lie ahead.   In this report, submitted in response to resolution 44/13 of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur argues that the world was ill-equipped to deal with the socioeconomic impacts of this pandemic because it never recovered fully from the austerity measures imposed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008-2011.   The legacy of austerity measures is severely underfunded public healthcare systems, undervalued and precarious care work, sustained declines in global labour income shares, and high inequality rates coupled with average decreases in statutory corporate tax rates.   With public services in dire straits, one-off cash transfers are a drop in the bucket for people living in poverty, whether in developed, developing, or least developed countries.   Maladapted, short-term, reactive, and inattentive to the realities of people in poverty, the new wave of social protection hype must hold up to human rights scrutiny. This report identifies eight challenges that must be addressed in order to bring social protection in line with human rights standards.   In total, over 1,400 social protection measures have been adopted by 208 jurisdictions to cushion the shock. While a remarkable number in itself, the intended beneficiaries of these schemes must often face systemic obstacle courses to access them. Many of the programs are short-term, temporary measures, that either are being phased out, or can only be renewed through parliamentary processes with uncertain outcomes. Many provide allowances that are grossly insufficient to guarantee an adequate standard of living.   Although some schemes have been designed to cover workers in the informal sector and in precarious forms of employment (respectively 1.6 billion and 0.4 billion worldwide, both categories representing 61.2% of the global workforce), many are inattentive to the realities of the different groups that make up this category of workers.   Migrants, especially undocumented migrants, often are not covered. Indigenous Peoples, despite being overrepresented among people in poverty, remain invisible to public databases and face distinct obstacles in accessing benefits.   Many schemes are not gender-sensitive because they do not take into account the fact that women are overrepresented among part-time workers and workers in precarious employment, as well as among workers with an interrupted career, and that women shoulder the burden when schools close or when the healthcare sector is overwhelmed.   Many schemes also require forms to be completed online, which de facto excludes large groups of the population who have no internet access or have little digital literacy.   Finally, although transparency and participation should ensure that schemes are designed and implemented effectively and reach those who are most in need of support, and although access to independent claims mechanism are essential to reduce the risks of exclusion, these human rights principles have almost systematically been disregarded in the name of expediency.   In sum, impressive though the reaction has been considering the number of measures adopted, States have been taken off-guard. Now is the time to rebuild. The international community must prove that it learned from the mistakes of the 2008-2011 global financial crisis to avoid ending up more fragile than when it started.   Equitable financing, one of the main themes of the Call to Action of the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (USP2030), should therefore be at the heart of States’ answer to this crisis in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past: this is essential to ensure “universality of protection, based on social solidarity,” as pledged in the Social Protection Floors Recommendation No. 202.   Fiscal support to emissions-intensive firms contributing to climate change must also be conditional on clear plans for a transition towards zero emissions.   The design and implementation of social protection policies, and any conditionalities attached to allowances, must be transparent, consider the voices of people in poverty, and include oversight mechanisms that allow populations to hold their governments to account.   Building social protection systems on the basis of human rights can significantly contribute to their effectiveness in eradicating poverty and in reducing inequalities, thus improving resilience of societies in the face of shocks.   This means defining social protection neither as an emergency response to a situation of crisis, nor as charity – but rather as a set of permanent entitlements prescribed by domestic legislation, defining individuals as rights-holders, and guaranteeing them access to independent claims mechanisms if they are denied the benefits for which they qualify. Both the mobilization of domestic resources and international solidarity should be placed in the service of this objective.   * A rights-based approach to social protection in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery: http://srpoverty.org/2020/09/11/special-rapporteur-launches-new-report-on-poverty-in-a-covid-stricken-world/ http://bit.ly/30H7Mow http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Poverty/covid19.pdf http://www.srpoverty.org/2021/06/28/press-release-world-needs-to-prepare-for-next-crisis-by-setting-up-global-fund-for-social-protection-now http://undocs.org/A/HRC/47/36   July 2020   The global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more than 250 million people to the brink of starvation and dashed hopes of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, a UN expert says in a report published today.   The report, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council today by Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, was prepared by his predecessor Philip Alston. It criticises the way governments have banked on economic growth to lift people out of poverty. It says the UN's 2030 Agenda to eradicate poverty through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relies too much on a poverty line set so low by the World Bank that it allows governments to claim progress where there is none.   The report states that the pandemic will push 176 million more people into extreme poverty, compounding long-standing neglect of low-income people, including women, migrant workers and refugees. The international community's abysmal record on tackling poverty, inequality and disregard for human life far precede this pandemic, the report says.   "Many world leaders, economists, and pundits have enthusiastically promoted a self-congratulatory message, proclaiming progress against poverty to be one of the greatest human achievements of our time," the report says. "The reality is that billions face few opportunities, countless indignities, unnecessary hunger and preventable death, and do not enjoy basic human rights."   "In too many cases, the promised benefits of growth either don't materialise or aren't shared," the report says. "The global economy has doubled since the end of the Cold War, yet half the world lives under $5.50 a day, primarily because the benefits of growth have largely gone to the wealthiest."   The world needs new strategies, genuine mobilisation, empowerment and accountability "to avoid sleepwalking towards assured failure while pumping out endless bland reports", the report says.   Tax justice is key to ensure governments have the money needed for social protection: in 2015, multinationals shifted an estimated 40 percent of their profits to tax havens, while global corporate tax rates have fallen from an average of 40.38 percent in 1980 to 24.18 percent in 2019. De Schutter also called for establishment of a social protection fund to help countries give the poorest basic social security guarantees.   "Growth alone, without far more robust redistribution of wealth, would fail to effectively tackle poverty," said De Schutter. "Based on historic growth rates, it would take 200 years to eradicate poverty under a $5 a day line and would require a 173-fold increase in global GDP."   That, he added, is "an entirely unrealistic prospect, not least since it does not take into account the environmental degradation associated to the economic growth, or the impacts of climate change on poverty itself".   "I welcome this report, which illustrates that poverty is not a matter only of low incomes," said De Schutter. "It's a matter of disempowerment, of institutional and social abuse, and of discrimination. It is the price we pay for societies that exclude people whose contributions are not recognised. Eradicating poverty means building inclusive societies that shift from a charity approach to a rights-based empowering approach."   * Access the report: http://bit.ly/3hgU02x http://srpoverty.org/ Visit the related web page
	World Humanitarian Day: A tribute to aid workers on the front lines by UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs   World Humanitarian Day honours all humanitarians – many working in their own communities – who are going to extraordinary lengths in extraordinary times to help women, men and children whose lives are upended by humanitarian crises and the global COVID-19 pandemic.   The dedication, perseverance and self-sacrifice of these real-life heroes represent the best of humanity as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis and the massive increase in humanitarian needs it has triggered.   First responders are often people in need themselves, members of civil-society and community based organizations, local health workers, non-government aid workers, amongst others. They bring food, shelter, health care, protection and hope to others amid conflict, displacement, disaster and disease.   But humanitarian workers are being tested like never before, struggling with unprecedented movement restrictions and insufficient resources as pressing needs are outpacing funds.   And all too often, they risk their own lives to save the lives of others.   In recent weeks alone, despicable attacks have killed aid workers in Niger and Cameroon, and since the onset of the pandemic, scores of health workers have come under attack across the world.   A surge in attacks against health workers was recorded in 2019, including strikes against medics in Syria and shootings of Ebola workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to Humanitarian Outcomes’ Aid Worker Security Database, major attacks against humanitarians last year surpassed all previous years on record. A total of 483 relief workers were attacked, 125 killed, 234 wounded and 124 kidnapped in 277 separate incidents. This is an 18 per cent increase in the number of victims compared to 2018.   Most of the attacks occurred in Syria, followed by South Sudan, DRC, Afghanistan and the Central African Republic. Mali and Yemen both saw a doubling of major attacks from the previous year. The UN condemns these attacks, and it calls for accountability for perpetrators and justice for survivors. Relief workers cannot ever be a target.   This is the eleventh World Humanitarian Day, designated by the UN General Assembly. It falls on the day of the attack on the UN compound in Baghdad on 19 August 2003, which claimed the lives of 22 people including UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. Since then, nearly 5,000 humanitarians have been killed, wounded or abducted, and the 2010-2019 decade experienced a 117 per cent increase in attacks compared to 2000-2009. Yet, today humanitarian workers are assisting people in crises in over 63 countries.   Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said: “To humanitarian workers everywhere doing important, courageous work on the front lines we say Thank You. You are saving lives every day, and as new challenges and crises are piling on to existing ones, your perseverance is an inspiration. Your protection is also paramount to making sure we can deliver to people most in need. The best way to pay tribute to humanitarian workers is by funding their work and ensuring their safety.”   In tribute to the efforts of humanitarians, we present a few personal stories of some of the #RealLifeHeroes who are stepping up to meet the challenges, particularly local humanitarian workers. They include refugees who as health workers are playing essential roles in the pandemic response; Ebola health workers who are stepping in to fight COVID-19; and doctors and nurses who continue to provide critical health care to women and children.   http://unocha.exposure.co/meet-reallifeheroes http://news.un.org/en/news/topic/humanitarian-aid http://www.unocha.org/events/world-humanitarian-day http://about.worldhumanitarianday.org/past-campaigns http://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2020/08/19/default-calendar/world-humanitarian-day-2020 http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/world-humanitarian-day-voices-aid-workers-part-1 http://www.unicef.org/ http://www.savethechildren.net/news http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/ http://alliancecpha.org/en http://blogs.msf.org/blogs/staff-blogs http://www.ifrc.org/happening-now/media-hub http://www.nrc.no/perspectives http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2020/8/5f3c07d44/unhcr-chief-praises-aid-workers-battling-multiple-crises.html   http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/ http://www.msf.org/year-pictures-2020 http://www.unocha.org/media-centre/news-updates http://reliefweb.int/ http://www.wfp.org/emergencies/ http://www.ipcinfo.org/ http://fews.net/ http://humanitarianaction.info/ Visit the related web page
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