Every day, in every region of the world, people living in poverty are discriminated against – whether through individual acts of others, or institutional discrimination by the state. Read about the obstacles and barriers they face, and how billions are trapped in a cycle of poverty and human rights violations.
Then act – demand dignity.

Background

People living in poverty have much more in common than simply living on less than US$2 a day. They have a shared experience of being excluded from the rest of society.

Know Your Rights

Rights are the key for people to break out of the poverty trap. Put simply, respect for human rights demands inclusion, demands that everyone gets a say, demands that those in power protect people from threats to their security.

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“We all, as members of society, have the right to realize the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for our dignity.”
There are specific rights we all have to do with not being excluded from society or discriminated against.

Fight Discrimination in Europe

The Fight Discrimination in Europe campaign aims to ensure that everyone in Europe enjoys protection against discrimination and to expose the impact of discrimination on people’s lives, as well as empowering those who suffer discrimination to claim their rights.

Through the campaign, Amnesty International pushes for the introduction and effective implementation of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation at the European and national level. We work to combat the prejudices underlying discrimination, we campaign against discriminatory policies and practices, and we call for the introduction of effective measures to promote equal treatment in a number of areas.

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals came onto the world stage 10 years ago, promising some of the world’s most impoverished and excluded communities a new dawn in a new millennium. Since then, some progress has been made, but it is now painfully clear that this has been uneven, and that without increased efforts, the targets set for 2015 will not be met.

Exclusion – Suitcases of evidence from around the world

When Amnesty International has members, partners, supporters or staff in a country or travels there on mission, it gathers evidence to understand the human rights situation on the ground.  Watch, read, listen; and then act.

  Return to the Exclusion Evidence Suitcase

Travel the world to find out about human rights and poverty. Learn about and take action on maternal mortality, human rights abuses in slums, the need for access to justice for those whose rights have been denied. Meet people and communities, listen to their stories, tell your own.