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Mission: Poverty eradication through:

a) empowerment;

b) application of human rights approach to poverty eradication via lobbying to enforce “The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (right to food, education, health, housing, environment )

Unique features: This is a community based Centre that works at a grassroots level with linkages to academic institutions. It forges working relationships between community groups, individuals and researchers to deal with issues related to poverty at a policy as well as operational level.

Rationale for our approach:

Poverty affects large number of people, with its dehumanizing effects. Many people have misplaced belief that poor are an appendix to mainstream society. In fact they are very much integral part. They are inextricably interwoven in the social fabric of society. Poverty impacts everyone, deprives society of the potential of those affected and deepens social problems  People are poor for four main reasons:

a) some of them are sick, seniors or physically challenged;

b) others are able bodied individuals who do not posses skills or resources to meet society’s demand for goods and services.

c) Some more people become poor because of natural disasters such as Earthquake, Flood , Epidemic etc.

d) Denial of equal opportunity and access. 

The first group needs social and other assistance and the second needs empowerment through skills development /upgrading / entrepreneurship and building of  productive assets. The third group needs help in areas of Relief, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation. The last group requires human rights approach to poverty eradication. 

In fact, all human rights are conceived as universal and indivisible, and are rooted in two binding agreements: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( right to life, freedom of expression and association) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ( whose article II requires states to “recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living” i.e. right to housing, land, education, health, environment among other things, and to take appropriate steps to enforce them). By accepting such principles, states as well as  society recognizes that all rights should be protected, promoted and enforced.  

International debate on human rights has emphasized civil/political rights and underplayed  socio-economic rights (which are undermined by Galbraith’s ‘contended majority’). Society blames the state when someone is tortured, but remains relatively silent when thousands starve or uprooted. Equally, Societies and States spend billions of dollars on the war which cause untold deaths and destructions, yet show reluctance to spend on war against poverty which helps millions of people. Indivisible human rights rooted in the two covenants were supposed to be enforced simultaneously. This hasn’t happened –because human rights became a Cold War weapon ( the U.S.S.R. stressing socioeconomic rights, the West and U.S. dominated institutions using civil/political rights to weaken Communist regimes). As a result U.S and its allies put more emphasize on civil/political rights and in that process made the human rights implementation efforts as litigation-oriented. The human rights movement, therefore, has become merely a legalistic adjudicative dispute settling mechanism, and has traditionally relied on the judiciary to remedy violations.  Despite the clear status of human rights laws, the international legal community has yet to tackle violation, such as homelessness, hunger  and exclusion that threaten the world’s social and economic fabric. 

The most States who are the signatories to the aforesaid two binding agreements—the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ( right to life, freedom of expression and association) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ( right to education, health, housing, food, environment)-- have incorporated obligations under the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in their National Constitution but have failed to do the same for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It is therefore, quintessential to enshrine the ICESCR in the Constitution to inject real force to fight poverty, intensively and extensively, with accelerated speed. Such move will help to create level field for improving the quality of life. 

This does require a government’s decisive action to adopt comprehensive and integrated approach to  poverty eradication through social and economic development. From a human rights perspective, the central goal of socio- economic policy, should be to provide all citizens with the opportunity to reach their potential. That does not mean erasing differences in wealth, background , talent or personal ambition. It means removing the impediments that hold people back as a way to overcome poverty.