Human Rights, Poverty Reduction Strategies, and the Role of the International Monetary Fund1

Author(s):  
Mark W. Plant

In light of human rights, poverty has multidimensional faces, so it is quite complicated to define the term poverty. Some scholars have argued that poverty is a cause and consequence of human rights violation, whereas, rest of others found that poverty itself is a violation of human rights. So it is not clear to what extent poverty violates human rights. This ambiguity leads to some other issues such, the exact definition of poverty, the approach of human rights, the link between discrimination and poverty, whether the poverty line standard maintains equity, the legal obligations of duty holders, and the human rights approach in incorporate in poverty-reducing plans. All through the world, there are various types of human rights discriminatory laws that exist and which lead to poverty. It can be said that State actions fail to reduce poverty owing to the absence or inadequacy of policies and programs and the lack of appropriate government expenses, in cases where resources are available. This paper is made with the purpose to clarify the term human rights and poverty. It is necessary to draw a link between human rights and poverty. This paper also has some other purposes, such as, try to find out reasons for poverty, giving importance to the duty bearer obligations, and designing the poverty reduction strategies under the human rights approach.


Author(s):  
Paul Spicker

The position of poor countries reflects international relationships governing economic exchange, debt, and markets. No less important are the dominance of ideas from abroad, such as the Washington Consensus, and the role of international organisations in enforcing its principles. Policies have shifted from the self-direction of the Poverty Reduction Strategies towards the top-down priorities represented by the Sustainable Development Goals.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-40
Author(s):  
Julio Boltvinik ◽  

This paper presents a case study of the origins of Progresa–Oportunidades, the conditional cash transfer program for which Mexico has gained an international reputation. The main argument is that, though Mexico is held up as a leader in this area, this is little more than a façade. Rather, Mexico is used by the World Bank to propel its favoured policies and NAFTA has limited its ability to engage in autonomous policymaking. Furthermore, it is shown that the alleged role of Mexico as an emerging power is misleading and that we can best characterize it as a sinking middle power.


Author(s):  
Paul Nelson

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), endorsed by 189 governments at the Millennium Summit, propose a concerted global effort to reduce the incidence of severe poverty and many of its most serious manifestations over a twenty-five-year period. The MDGs offer crucial insights into the politics of poverty and poverty reduction in international affairs. Their political dimensions can be analyzed in terms of agency, the nature and limits of accountability, the use and manipulation of quantitative goals for political ends, the dangerous illusion that MDG objectives can be accomplished in large part by mobilizing more development assistance, and the MDGs’ distinctly apolitical approach to the structural causes of poverty. The MDG initiative should be situated in three ongoing streams of debate and discussion: the debate over the relative priority of growth and of human development for poverty reduction; the tension between the assertion of rights and the enunciation of donor-driven goals as the political engine of poverty reduction; and the debate over the roles of markets and of state direction and regulation. While the MDGs concentrate on increasing aid flows to reduce the incidence of poverty and its manifestations, international trade and finance arrangements too often impede rapid progress. This is evident in water privatization, trade rules, and anti-retroviral medicines for HIV/AIDS patients. A way forward is to integrate the MDGs more deeply with human rights guarantees. Donors, for example, must take seriously the 2002 Draft Guidelines for the application of human rights to poverty reduction strategies.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Michaelowa ◽  
Jürg Oliver Vollenweider ◽  
Jacqueline Duerr

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taly Reininger ◽  
Borja Castro-Serrano ◽  
Marcela Flotts ◽  
Mónica Vergara ◽  
Ana Fuentealba

The following article revises conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Latin America, followed by an examination of the history of poverty reduction programs in Chile since the 1960s and the installation of CCT programs in the country with a particular focus on the role of social work in their design and implementation. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges social work faces in actively participating in the redesign and implementation of the new CCT model from a human rights and social justice focus.


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