Freedom from poverty as a human right : who owes what to the very poor?

Collected here in one volume are fifteen cutting-edge essays by leading academics which together clarify and defend the claim that freedom from poverty is a human right with corresponding binding obligations on the more affluent to practice effective poverty avoidance. The nature of human rights and their corresponding duties is examined, as is the theoretical standing of the social, economic and cultural rights. The authors largely agree in concluding that there is a human right to be free from poverty and that this right is massively violated by the present world economy which creates huge unfair imbalances in income and wealth among and within countries. This searing indictment of the status quo is all the more powerful as the authors endorsing it exemplify diverse philosophical methods and moral traditions and also highlight different aspects of poverty and global institutional arrangements. This volume will be of great interest and value to academics working in the fields of philosophy, political science and international relations, as well as to undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines. It will also be a crucial aid and challenge to practitioners in international governmental organizations (such as the UN and its agencies) and NGOs who think of their work in human-rights terms. Indeed, in view of the magnitude of the human rights deficit at issue, any moral citizen has reason to engage with the arguments of this book. And the book makes this possible for most in that, throughout, even the most complex aspects of rights theory is discussed in clear, direct language, making the text accessible to specialists and lay readers alike

Author Notes

Thomas Pogge is Professor, Columbia University Political Science Department; Professorial Fellow, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), Australian National University (ANU); and Research Director in the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature (CSMN) at the University of Oslo.

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This UNESCO-sponsored volume tackles philosophical issues that long have dogged human rights advocates. How are moral human rights expressed, given the primarily legal interpretation common in the US? Pogge, a distinguished Columbia University scholar, helped convene 15 international specialists, mostly philosophers, to produce this volume. Most interesting among the essays are the authors' nuanced responses to the subtitle: Who Owes What to the Very Poor? Nearly one-half the world's population lives on less than $2 per day. They control less than 1/50th of the global product. Since the end of the Cold War, 300 million people have died from poverty-related disease, malnutrition, poor sanitation, and the like. Only $18 billion per year is given in official development assistance for "basic needs." The basic cause, most contributors to this book agree, lies in global economic structures. Fundamental alteration of national and international legal systems is required--plus a revolution in moral attitudes. Practical matters will be explored in a later UNESCO volume. This book extends earlier publications by Pogge, Alan Gewirth (a contributor), Henry Shue, and others; Paul Collier's outstanding The Bottom Billion (CH, Jan'08, 45-2714) was published too recently to be mentioned in this work. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate, research, and faculty collections. C. E. Welch University at Buffalo, SUNY

Thomas PoggeThomas PoggeTom CampbellJohn TasioulasAlvaro de VitaMarc FleurbaeyRegina KreideElizabeth AshfordAlan GewirthMarcelo AlegreLeif WenarSimon CaneyStephane ChauvierArjun SenguptaOsvaldo GuarigliaRoberto Gargarella

List of Contributors	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
1 Severe Poverty as a Human Rights Violation	p. 11
2 Poverty as a Violation of Human Rights: Inhumanity or Injustice?	p. 55
3 The Moral Reality of Human Rights	p. 75
4 Inequality and Poverty in Global Perspective	p. 103
5 Poverty as a Form of Oppression	p. 133
6 Neglected Injustice: Poverty as a Violation of Social Autonomy	p. 155
7 The Duties Imposed by the Human Right to Basic Necessities	p. 183
8 Duties to Fulfill the Human Rights of the Poor	p. 219
9 Extreme Poverty in a Wealthy World: What Justice Demands Today	p. 237
10 Responsibility and Severe Poverty	p. 255
11 Global Poverty and Human Rights: The Case for Positive Duties	p. 275
12 The Right to Basic Resources	p. 303
13 Poverty Eradication and Human Rights	p. 323
14 Enforcing Economic and Social Human Rights	p. 345
15 The Right of Resistance in Situations of Severe Deprivation	p. 359
Bibliography	p. 375
Index	p. 391

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