Ms Sepúlveda explained that the Guiding Principles highlight specific rights whose enjoyment by persons living in poverty is particularly limited and obstructed, and in relation to which State policies are often inadequate or counterproductive. ‘The Principles respond to the significant social, cultural, economic and structural obstacles that people living in poverty face, which prevent them from enjoying their rights and put them at increased risk of discrimination, stigma, violence, ill health and lack of education, further entrenching and exacerbating the cycle of poverty through successive generations.’
The adoption of the Guiding Principles on extreme poverty and human rights marks the end of a long process of consultation and drafting that began in 2001, when the then UN Human Rights Commission first proposed the elaboration of such guidelines.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Poverty/A-HRC-21-39_en.pdf
KATE DONALD is Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.