This Report does not look at poor people and feel sorry for them. This Report calls for looking at the problem of poverty and asking why it exists and who is responsible. The focus of the debate should not be on people whose human rights are being violated. It should be on the people, institutions and other actors - the social arrangements that are accountable and responsible for protecting and promoting people's human rights. The human development approach takes on poverty as the most pressing human rights challenge.
Poverty is as much a human rights issue as arbitrary arrest.
The torture of a single person rightfully raises public outrage. But the deaths of 30,000 children a day from preventable causes barely gets acknowledged. Yes, economic, social and cultural rights are human rights. But they are not handouts. They are entitlements to ensure that people have secure access to health, education, decent work, etc., whatever the level of resource availability.