Protecting people’s basic economic rights and a decent living comes prior to profits.
Komala Ramachandra 20, Associate Director, Business and Human Rights, "Why Poverty and Inequality are Human Rights Issues," Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/14/breaking-poverty-trap//ethanh How else can governments help people get out of poverty? A critical first step is developing a solid legal framework that protects people’s basic economic rights, like the right to an adequate standard of living, and provides for effective remedies for those whose economic rights are violated. Laws and regulations should prevent people from exploiting political and economic systems to benefit themselves at the expense of the rights of others. This includes worker, environmental, consumer, criminal, or anti-discrimination protections and policies. For example, governments can raise the minimum wages so that they are genuine living wages that help meet the needs of workers and their families. These rights are universal, and, in a global economic system, these protections should expand beyond borders. Workers across a global value chain need to be protected against labor abuses. And governments need to monitor and enforce those laws. Without enforcement, the best laws won’t have much impact. Governments also should leverage resources to invest in people and communities. This includes increasing spending on a range of social programs, like health care, education, job training, and access to credit. It also means improving transparency and oversight to root out corruption and wasteful practices that take resources away from the people who need it most.
It is critical for governments to include people’s voices in shaping these policies and the technologies they use to implement them. This is a necessary counterbalance to self-interested powers that seek to enrich themselves. For example, in the context of development projects, affected communities should be consulted to ensure they receive the promised benefits, and don’t end up losing more than they gain. In , we reported on bauxite mines that were funded both by Chinese investors and by the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. The mines were supposed to create jobs and make things better for communities, but instead they have threatened the livelihood of thousands of people by destroying ancestral farmland and damaging water sources. The companies involved claimed to have consulted communities, but in reality, communities have little choice but to allow mining to move forward on the companies’ terms. Communities should instead be able to participate in decisions about how their land is used and get meaningful benefit from mining and other development projects.
What if governments can’t afford to provide all this for their people? It’s a reality that governments don’t have infinite funds, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, when many are facing revenue crises. Yet when governments respect human rights, they make sure powerful people and companies don’t make it harder for people to be financially secure. This doesn’t require massive government spending.
Also, there’s a lot governments can do to maximize the resources they have. This means eliminating corruption and self-dealing by politicians that can lead to misdirected or wasteful spending. Governments should prioritize the needs of the poorest, ensuring that everyone has the adequate support to access food, housing, water, education, and other essentials for a decent life. Governments should also aim to provide universal social protections, such as a welfare system, and should help people achieve greater economic security. For example, providing to low-income families could buffer them from future poverty, as does offering quality public education along with other continuing education courses designed to improve access to better jobs. All this would benefit society as a whole.