Towards an inclusive economy: rethinking growth to combat poverty

At the 56th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, on Tuesday 2 July 2024, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Olivier De Schutter, presented his annual report on the subject. In this document, he presents his reflections aimed at deconstructing the deep roots of poverty and denouncing the dominant economic model which, far from reducing poverty, contributes to perpetuate it.

According to De Schutter, the narrative that economic growth based on rising GDP is an essential factor in eliminating poverty and reducing inequality is misleading and must be abandoned. Questioning the concept of ‘growthism’, he denounces a paradigm embedded in our societal structures that distracts from the need to provide more goods and services to improve people’s well-being. Such a perspective inevitably leads to another observation, also set out in the report: as long as the economic system continues to favour the accumulation and concentration of wealth among a few private players, social exclusion and inequality will continue to grow.

The Special Rapporteur also points out that this permanent enrichment is undeniably weakening the foundations of the productive economy. Based on the work of the United Nations Environment Programme, he points out that the quantity of resources extracted has tripled since the mid-1970s and continues to increase. Insofar as unbridled industrial production has caused six of the nine planetary limits to be exceeded, such a model is simply not viable. Mr De Schutter also condemns the under-valuation of tasks that are useful to society. According to his report, the equivalent of 16.4 billion working hours are devoted to unpaid domestic tasks (caring for children or the elderly, household maintenance, etc.), a situation that particularly affects women. Although domestic work is rarely recognised or supported by social investment, it is essential to the economy because it enables productive work to be done. If domestic work were paid at the minimum hourly wage, it would account for 9% of global GDP. Hence the crucial importance of recognising and valuing this often invisible and underestimated sector.

In short, despite its many shortcomings, economic growth remains the main indicator of government performance and is actively supported as a response to various societal challenges, including through international environmental agreements. This calls for a change of direction.

The necessary transition to an economy that respects human rights

To reduce economic dependence on the market and break the cycle of overproduction and overconsumption that exacerbates these inequalities, the Special Rapporteur proposes various reforms. These include stimulating the social and solidarity economy, promoting worker participation in strategic decision-making, and providing universal services such as social housing, childcare and free public transport.

At the same time, he advocates correcting the structural dependence of the South on the North. In this respect, he believes that the development of low-income countries should not focus solely on GDP growth, but on the creation of local wealth benefiting communities, with decent jobs and investment in public services.

CETIM’s position and proposals

At the presentation of this report, CETIM, which has been working for many years on the issue of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), took part in the interactive dialogue at the plenary session of the Human Rights Council. It recalled that a genuine policy to eradicate poverty imperatively requires ‘attacking the structural foundations of the dominant economic, social, financial and commercial system, based on the unbridled commodification of all aspects of life, the liberalisation of markets and the privatisation of public services’.

CETIM also argued that the Human Rights Council should be a forum for discussion and promotion of decolonised and self-determined development models capable of tackling the root causes of poverty. To this end, multilateral international organisations should be able to act as a bulwark against the imposition of a single mainstream development model, which serves to promote the neo-liberal economic logic that has reigned supreme for decades at a global level and is directly responsible for the increasing inequalities worldwide. Considering the need to go beyond the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whose failure is inevitable and has already been announced by the UN Secretary General, CETIM urges the mobilisation of legal and political frameworks offering real solutions. In this respect, it is essential that the Rapporteur include in his work the principles and provisions of the right to development, which are highly relevant to the formulation of public policies and action plans to combat inequality.

A long road to implementation

The ideas put forward in the above-mentioned report have traditionally been claimed by the oppressed and progressive organisations. But the fact that they are defended and promoted within the UN, and moreover formally recognised and supported by the vast majority of States’ delegations, is significant. That said, there is still a long way to go between implementing the recommendations in the report and turning them into tangible, effective public policies. And at a time of neo-liberal offensive, attacks on the working classes, and widening inequalities, where military spending is exploding and the ideals of peace are being ignored or even censured, such a stance deserves to be emphasised and promoted.

At a time when we have a range of useful proposals to feed into strategies for radical system change, it is imperative that public authorities, social movements, organisations and citizens guided by social justice appropriate these ideas and work collectively to translate their momentum into concrete tools for struggle and advocacy efforts. The aim is to equip ourselves with legal levers as well as concrete and viable policies in the hope of building a world without discrimination, one that is fair and based on solidarity.

“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the action of human beings. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity.  It is an act of justice.” Nelson Mandela

For further information:

CETIM’s page on the Right to Development.

Melik Özden, Les droits économiques, sociaux et culturels, un levier juridique dans la lutte pour la justice sociale, 2023, édition CETIM (soon available in English).

Francine Mestrum and Melik Özden, Critical Report n°11, The Fight Against Poverty and Human Rights, June 2012, CETIM.