Poverty: A Human Rights Problem. What to do when the law makes poverty even worse?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show poverty is a human rights problem, specifically one that threatens the dignity of the person and is the responsibility of the state to avoid. The scope and bearing of poverty are compared to the consequences of torture; the limitations it produces in terms of political participation are warned, and poverty is related to the right to life and the right to health. All of this is to demonstrate that poverty is not just a monetary or economic problem and, therefore, requires a holistic approach. Three cases brought before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Street Children, Sawhoyamaxa and Yakye Axa) are analyzed to show the Court has come close to affording a human rights approach to the problem of poverty. Then, two legislative aspects are reviewed (labor and forestry legislation in Chile) to warn that the law can aggravate or add to the poverty in which many people live. The conclusion is that poverty should be a factor to consider when analyzing the constitutionality of norms, without this implying a political effort on the part of the courts and regulatory bodies.