Poverty and human rights

Everyone, everywhere has the right to live with dignity. That means that no-one should be denied their rights to adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, and to education and health care.

Amnesty International is increasingly documenting how human rights violations drive and deepen poverty. People living in poverty have the least access to power to shape the policies of poverty and are frequently denied effective remedies for violations of their rights.

Amnesty International is working to hold governments, big business and other powerful actors to account for human rights violations which target people living in poverty, driving that poverty deeper still.


Homes set ablaze during forced eviction at Mittapheap 4 village, Cambodia, 20 April 2007

UN discusses crucial step on economic, social and cultural rights

(24 October 2008)
The UN General Assembly will this month discuss taking a crucial step to secure access to justice for everyone whose economic, social and cultural rights are violated and who is denied a remedy at the national level.
Video: How things could change


Kibera slum in Kenya

Poverty Day to address human rights and dignity

(17 October 2008)
This year's International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is a call to everyone, from policy makers to the public, to recognise the rights and dignity of people living in poverty.

Video: Working against poverty in Kenya


Shelters made from materials salvaged from ruins of Cambamba II neighbourhood, Luanda, Angola, February 2007

Angola bad choice to host World Habitat Day

(6 October 2008)
The choice of the Angolan capital Luanda to lead the global observance of this year's World Habitat Day provoked controversy among housing and human rights organizations.

Read more: Human rights violations in cities around the world


This work is part of Amnesty International's Demand Dignity campaign, which aims to end the human rights violations that drive and deepen global poverty. The campaign will mobilize people all over the world to demand that governments, corporations and others who have power listen to the voices of those living in poverty and recognise and protect their rights. For more information visit the Demand Dignity section.

News and Updates

Tens of thousands at risk in Côte d'Ivoire as fighting intensifies

1 March 2011

Amnesty International urges authorities in Côte d'Ivoire to protect the population as tens of thousands of people were forced to flee heavy gunfire amid intensified fighting across the country.

India steel project threatens human rights

28 February 2011

About 2,000 Indian farmers in Orissa state could lose their livelihoods in the next month if a proposed US$12 billion steel plant operation involving South Korean steel giant POSCO goes ahead, Amnesty International warns.

Security Council must refer Libya to International Criminal Court

25 February 2011

Amnesty International urges the UN to act now to stop the outrageous abuses taking place on the streets of Tripoli and elsewhere in the country.

Ghana railway dwellers under new threat of forced eviction

27 January 2011

Thousands of people who live and trade in kiosks and small structures built along the railway lines face homelessness and destitution if they are forcibly evicted from their homes.

Shell accused over misleading figures on Nigeria oil spills

25 January 2011

Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International have filed an official OECD complaint against oil giant Shell for breaches of basic standards for responsible business.

Issues

Appeals for action

Call for governments to sign up to defend economic, social and cultural rights

13 August 2009

Hunger, homelessness and preventable diseases are not inevitable social problems or simply the result of natural disasters – they are a violation of people’s economic, social and cultural rights.

Nicaragua must lift the total ban on abortion

27 July 2009

Nicaragua’s total ban on abortions is endangering the lives of girls and women across the country.

Oil companies and the Nigerian government must clean up the oil industry in the Niger Delta

30 June 2009

Hundreds of thousands of people are affected by oil pollution in the Niger Delta. Particularly the poorest and those who rely on traditional livelihoods such as fishin

Video and Audio

Teargas in Egypt's Tahrir Square

29 June 2011

Amnesty International's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui reports from demonstrations in Tahrir Square, Cairo.

World Habitat Day - Slideshow 2

World Habitat Day - Slideshow 2

Out of sight - In their own words

Maja was with her children on the day of the resettlement, and she describes here what conditions are like in the settlement of Rakovica...