Writer: Dr. Lecturer Firas Hussein Ali/ head of the Crisis management Department
Translated by: Hiba Abbas Mohammed Ali
The world has enough resources for a basic standard of living for humankind, but people in countries like Burundi, the Central African Republic, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the world’s three poorest countries) still live in absolute poverty.
The mathematician Elie Khmarov says that poverty is like punishment for a crime did not commit. Authoritarian and corrupt governments can turn very rich countries into poor ones. The same thing with the history of exploitative colonialism, the weakness of the rule of law, war, social unrest, extreme weather conditions or aggressive neighbors; It is difficult to identify the cause of persistent poverty, which is why economists point to the need for “cycles” of poverty. A heavily indebted country cannot afford to build good schools, and a poorly educated workforce will be less able to solve problems and create conditions that attract foreign investment.
The social and economic consequences of Covid-19 will be on poor people around the world, over the past twelve months, it has affected the poorest and most needy, The World Bank Group’s latest analysis suggests that the pandemic led 88 million people to fall into absolute poverty and it could rise to 115 million, so the group expected that the largest group of “New poor” will be in south Asia then south Desert in Africa .
On the other hand, The IMF explained in its own modernization Of the World Economy’s prospects for October 2020″ COVID-19 killed 1 million person since the beginning of 2020 and continues to rise, and the number of people affected by the disease is much more,And 90 million people are expected to be severely deprived”, As for the level of the Fund’s expectations on the short term horizons: The world growth is expected to reach -4.4% in 2020, and 5.2% in 2021, The level of global GDP is expected to be in 2021 above 2019 by a modest 0.6%, Growth forecasts refers to significant negative output gaps and a rise of unemployment rate in 2020 and 2021 , so (IMF) add that closures in countries with a high level of informal employment has led to unemployment as well as sudden losses for many workers.
This applies in 10 poorest countries in Africa, The average purchasing power per person is $1181. By contrast, in the richest ten countries, this figure amounts to more than $90,000. The decline in commodity prices has led in recent years To blow up their chance of progress, as well as political instability, disputed elections and ethnic or religious conflicts but the number of people affected by COVID-19 is less. According to the United Nations study in December 2020, more than a billion people may live in absolute poverty in 2023 because of COVID-19.
And if the economic crisis continue we will reach this number, and Over the next ten years, another 44 million people will be below the poverty line.
But in-spite of that we can prevent poverty rising through Investments in social welfare, governance, digitization and eco-economy programs, and will lift 146 million people out of poverty. Akim Steiner, the UNDP director, said “COVID-19 is a turning point, the leaders chooses may be take the world to different ways, We have an opportunity to invest in a business that helps people recover from COVID-19 and redefine the development path of peoples toward A more just, flexible and environmentally friendly future.
The United Nations confirm on the relationship between poverty and human rights through :-
According to poor people , many human rights are elusive , like learning, medical services, and safe drinking water as well as excluded from participation in political process, pursuit of justice when it related to violations of their human rights .
Absolute poverty can be a cause of human rights violations because the poor are forced to work in unsafe and unhealthy environments, and when children are unable to escape poverty because the state does not provide adequate access to education.
The eradication of absolute poverty must be seen as an urgent human rights issue. Its persistence in countries that can eliminate it leads to a clear violation of human rights.
http://kerbalacss.uokerbala.edu.iq/wp/blog/2020/12/31/مؤشرات-ظاهرة-الفقر-عام-2020/
