OHCHR | Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

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Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Purpose of the mandate

For those living in extreme poverty, many human rights are out of reach. This mandate was created to:

Give greater prominence to the plight of those living in extreme poverty
Highlight the human rights consequences of the systematic neglect to which they are subjected.

Learn more about why extreme poverty is an urgent human rights issue.

About the mandate

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights first established the mandate on extreme poverty in 1998. It was taken over by the Human Rights Council, which replaced the Commission, in June 2006. Through its resolutions 8/11 and 44/13, the Human Rights Council requests the Special Rapporteur to examine and report back to member States on initiatives taken to promote and protect the rights of those living in extreme poverty, with a view to advancing the eradication of such poverty.

Learn more about the mandate.

Current mandate holder

Professor Olivier De Schutter (Belgium) was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights by the Human Rights Council at its 43rd session, in March 2020. A Professor of Law at UCLouvain and at SciencesPo (Paris), Mr. De Schutter was the Special Rapporteur on the right to food from 2008 to 2014, and a member of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights between 2015 and 2020. Prior to those appointments, he was Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Read Professor De Schutter’s full biography and CV.

Key documents

The Guiding Principles on extreme poverty and human rights

The Human Rights Council adopted the Guiding Principles at its 21st session in September 2012. These were the first global policy guidelines focusing specifically on the human rights of people living in poverty. They are intended as a practical tool for policy-makers to ensure that public policies and poverty eradication efforts reach the poorest members of society, respect and uphold their rights, and take into account the social, cultural, economic and structural obstacles to human rights enjoyment faced by persons living in poverty. Read more

Latest thematic reports

The persistence of poverty: how real equality can break the vicious cycles: This report, presented to the 76th session of the General Assembly in October 2021, examines the channels through which poverty is perpetuated, in the areas of health, housing, education and employment. The growth of inequalities itself is an important contributing factor: the more unequal societies are, the less they allow for social mobility. The report argues that ending the vicious cycles of poverty is within reach. Investments in early childhood education and care, inclusive education, the provision of a universal basic income for young people combined with an increased taxation of inheritance, and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of socioeconomic disadvantage are key to breaking the cycles that perpetuate poverty. People in poverty face systemic discrimination in societies that remain deeply segregated by wealth: this calls for systemic remedies to overcome inherited divisions. View report page | View document A/76/177

The Global Fund for Social Protection: international solidarity in the service of poverty eradication: This report, presented to the Human Rights Council in June 2021, recommends the establishment of a global fund for social protection as a means to close the financing gap faced by low-income countries to provide for social protection floors; to protect the resilience of those countries from future shocks; and to support the increased mobilization of domestic resources for social protection. Such a fund is affordable, whether funding comes from official development assistance or from other sources, including unused or new special drawing rights. Moreover, social protection should be seen as an investment with potentially high returns, since it leads to building human capital, has significant multiplier effects in the local economy, and contributes to inclusive growth and to resilience in times of crisis. View report page | View document A/HRC/47/36

The “just transition” in the economic recovery: Eradicating poverty within planetary boundaries: This report, presented to the General Assembly in October 2020, examines how the fight against poverty can be combined with a transition to a development model that mitigates climate change and halts the erosion of biodiversity. The report argues that the “just transition” should not only protect workers and communities affected by the ecological transformation, but also open up new employment opportunities for people living in poverty and improve their access to goods and services essential to the enjoyment of human rights. View report page | View document A/75/181/REV.1

Looking back to look ahead: A rights-based approach to social protection in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery: The Special Rapporteur’s report, issued in September 2020 in response to Human Rights Council resolution 44/13, analyzes social protection measures adopted around the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It finds that many of them are short-term, temporary and inadequate, and calls for building social protection systems on the basis of human rights. View report page

The parlous state of poverty eradication: This report, presented to the Human Rights Council in July 2020, examines the World Bank’s flawed measure of extreme poverty and the international community’s principal policy response to poverty, through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Special Rapporteur argues for adapting international poverty measurement and recalibrating the SDGs. View report page | View document A/HRC/44/40