Human Rights and Extreme Poverty

A/RES/79/178View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 71b Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

21 versions · 1992–2024

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/178	Human rights and extreme poverty	3,346	76%Compare
2023	A/RES/77/223	Human rights and extreme poverty	3,464	91%Compare
2020	A/RES/75/175	Human rights and extreme poverty	3,490	77%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/163	Human rights and extreme poverty	2,723	82%Compare
2017	A/RES/71/186	Human rights and extreme poverty	2,466	72%Compare

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

4 entities

(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited
Programme 15	Economic and social development in africa	165
Programme 18	Economic and social development in latin america and the caribbean	234
Programme 16	Economic and social development in asia and the pacific	254
Programme 20	Human rights	433

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

4 entities

(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
Programme 15	Economic and social development in africa	165	—
Programme 18	Economic and social development in latin america and the caribbean	234	—
Programme 16	Economic and social development in asia and the pacific	254	—
Programme 20	Human rights	433	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2002

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2002	A/57/369	Human rights and extreme poverty report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/55/106

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Development Strategies Poverty Mitigation Sustainable Development

What’s in this document?

25 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 that all business enterprises, both transnational corporations and other business enterprises, have a responsibility to respect all human rights, and recognizes that proper regulation, including through national legislation, of transnational corporations and other business enterprises and their responsible operation can contribute to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of and respect for human rights and assist in channelling the benefits of business towards contributing to the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Further 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 and persons with disabilities;

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,²¹ 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 2.15 United States dollars a day, for all people everywhere by 2030;

²¹Resolution 70/1.

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;²²

²²See resolution 60/1.

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 measures necessary 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;

Calls upon Member States, in taking measures to eliminate discrimination, to ensure that their legal frameworks, where relevant, are non-discriminatory on the basis of socioeconomic status and to address the need to effectively remove the obstacles that people in poverty face in areas such as housing, employment, education, health and other social services;

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 for Sustainable Development, 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 2000,²³ and the Incheon Declaration: Education 2030 – towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, adopted at the World Education Forum 2015,²⁴ 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;

²³See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Final Report of the World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal, 26–28 April 2000 (Paris, 2000).

²⁴See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Final Report of the World Education Forum 2015, Incheon, Republic of Korea, 19–22 May 2015 (Paris, 2015).

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 his 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, adopted by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 21/11, 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 for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals set out therein into their work;

Takes note of the work undertaken by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, including his reports submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth²⁵ and seventy-ninth sessions,²⁶ and notes the work of the Secretary-General to address the issues referred to therein;

²⁵A/78/175.

²⁶A/79/162.

Decides to consider the question further at its eighty-first 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”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?