By: Hittu Saluja
Thank God, Chhotu is saved! He’s just released from a glass manufacturing factory. This was first reported on a local news channel that initiated “Mission-Save Chhotu!” and got a fantabulous response from its viewers too.
The whole nation is happy to see a child of hardly 10 years out of that hell. “Now he can study, play and do all those things that suit his tender age”, acclaimed a TV journalist. But there is no smile on Chhotu’s face. Instead, there is a question of survival of his family. Perhaps, this is what he has been and many-many more Chhotus are thinking of, ever since they felt the need of food, clothing and shelter to survive. In fact they know all hazards and pains in the work involved in the glass making factory but they also know that living in utter poverty and dying of starvation is even more painful.
Worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day. According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death”.
That is about 210,000 children each week or just under 11 million children under five years of age, each year. Another survey tells that about 852 million people across the world fail to get two square meals a day. This startling statistics is the cruel truth that can not be defied but can surely be rectified. Poverty is considered a human rights violation.
That is why this year, on International Human Rights Day, UN is observing the Poverty and Human Rights Day on the basis that everyone, everywhere has the right to live with dignity and it is the duty of the government to ensure these rights to all. An economist writes, “Poverty is the greatest human scourge of our time. Human rights violations are both a cause and consequence of poverty. Human rights are increasingly accepted as part if the definition of what it is to be poor, as well as offering pathways out of poverty.”
Poverty is not just the lack of income but it also takes into consideration the right to live with basic human dignity. It is not just the question of food, water, clothing and shelter but of equality among all human beings. As per the UN, living in poverty means one is more likely to die from preventable diseases; a higher rate of child mortality; not being able to get an education and a lack of adequate shelter. It means that no one should be denied their right to adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, along with the facility of basic health care and education.
Listen to the poor as they speak about their lives, and what it means to be poor, reads one of the campaigns of the World Bank. Well-being is about the fulfilment of material needs as well as the good state of mind. This year Human Rights Day focuses on fighting poverty as a matter of obligation, not of charity.
“Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty." (UN charter
On International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the world vowed to work together to eradicate poverty. The day highlighted the need for a truly global anti-poverty alliance, one in which both developed and developing countries participate actively. While extreme poverty declined significantly between 1990 and 2002 -- from 28 per cent to 19 per cent of the developing world’s population -- the disparity among countries and within a country is standing erect. In most parts of Asia, economic and social progress has lifted nearly a quarter of a billion people out of perpetual poverty. But poverty rates in Western Asia and Northern Africa have remained stagnant, while the transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have registered increases. Sub-Saharan Africa lags the most. 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods. The Gross Domestic Product of the poorest 48 nations that is almost a quarter of the world’s countries is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
Focusing on India, the situation is almost the same. With over a billion inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 million are below the poverty line and more than 40% of the population is illiterate. They are surviving in acute poverty though the Supreme Court of India has interpreted the Right to Life to include nutrition, clothing, and shelter in considering whether the denial of emergency medical treatment at a government-run hospital violated an individual’s Right to Life.
“Poverty is but the worst form of violence,” said Mahatma Gandhi. Looking at it as a product of human rights violation, it is this double edge that makes poverty probably the gravest human rights challenge in the world. When people are denied their rights, through persecution or discrimination, they are more likely to be poor. It is in fact the cause of conflict and insecurity.
On this day, we all must pledge to induce the slogan - “tackling poverty as a matter of human rights obligation, the world will have a better chance of abolishing this scourge in our lifetime... Poverty eradication is an achievable goal."