Ferraz, Octavio L. M.. (2008) Poverty and human rights. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol.28 (No.3). pp. 585-603. ISSN 1464-3820

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Abstract

Poverty has been a central subject of economics, sociology, and other social sciences for a long time. But it has not been a frequent concern of lawyers until quite recently. The increasing recognition in international law instruments and national constitutions of rights that protect interests closely related to the predicament of poverty: e.g. health, education, housing, food (so-called social and economic rights) has begun to change this landscape. In the past decade, a growing body of academic literature and a great deal of legal activism has emerged around these rights. Yet, despite wide legal recognition and this growing attention from the legal community, they remain largely judicially under-enforced internationally and domestically. As a consequence, there is a pervasive sense of frustration amongst those who saw them as law's distinctive contribution to the so-called fight against poverty. David Bilchitz's Poverty and Fundamental Rights, The Justification and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights is best understood, I suggest, within this climate. It opens by affirming that ‘social and economic rights have been systematically neglected, regarded as having little to offer a world filled with severe poverty and inequality’. 1 Yet he recognizes that this persistent neglect cannot be solely, or even mainly, explained by ‘the self-interest of those who stand to gain from disparaging these rights’. 2 There is also a strong responsibility on the legal and philosophical communities which, as he rightly notes, have so far failed to provide a clear understanding of the content of these rights, which is essential to render them enforceable. 3 This echoes the complaint of Human Rights Watch's executive director Kenneth Roth against what he appropriately called ‘sloganeering’ about social and economic rights. As he well put it against criticisms that his organization neglects those rights in favour of more traditional civil and political rights, it is …

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Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare K Law > K Law (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Law
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Poverty, Human rights
Journal or Publication Title:	Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	1464-3820
Date:	2008
Volume:	Vol.28
Number:	No.3
Page Range:	pp. 585-603
Identification Number:	10.1093/ojls/gqn012
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/37671

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