22/03/2011 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 22.03.2011 - “Poverty generates, and leads to, lack of access to human rights, and can only be eliminated if poverty reduction strategies are based on human rights. Leaving people in poverty destroys the social fabric, preventing countries’ growth and prosperity for future generations,” Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) stresses in his report on combating poverty which is due to be discussed by PACE on Wednesday 13 April during its spring session in Strasbourg.
Deploring the alarming increase in poverty in recent years in Europe – in the EU alone, 16 per cent of the people are affected by poverty – he called for a paradigm shift in public policy-making that would ensure that human rights, including social rights, become the foundation of all policy-making in Europe. They should touch upon all areas of life – from the economic sphere to health and family policies, to internal security and poverty eradication – and should apply to all people without discrimination, including those who are in poverty. “Poverty is a barrier to exercising human rights, be they political, civil, social, economic or cultural rights,” the rapporteur stressed.
In a draft resolution and recommendation adopted in Paris today, the Social Affairs Committee calls upon member states to commit to ending poverty through a series of measures including full access to employment opportunities and adequate medical assistance and housing, a fair remuneration through the provision of a minimum wage, the ratification of the Council of Europe European Social Charter and other related legal instruments, as well as measures aimed at protecting the rights of children, women, and people from minority and migrant communities in situations of poverty.