10. SERAP asserts further that these various initiatives were reflected in
the recent work of the UN Human Rights Council, in view of the impact
of poverty on human rights, and notes that in July 2012, the Special
Rapporteur
Sepulveda
on
Human
Carmona,
Rights
submitted
and
her
Extreme
final
Poverty,
report
on
Magdalena
the
Guiding
Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights to the Human Rights
Council,
which
Principles,
according
to
SERAP,
significantly
underscores that poverty is not just an economic or developmental
matter
but also a crucial
human rights issue, and that poverty is not
an inevitable problem but something "created, enabled and perpetuated
by acts and omissions of States and other economic actors".
11.0n the definition of the term poverty, SERAP refers to the meaning
espoused by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, which defines poverty as
"a human condition characterized by sustained or chronic deprivation of
the resuurces, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for
the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living".'
12. SERAP therefore submits that there is a strong relationship between
poverty,
under-development and
lack of respect for human
rights
guaranteed under the African Charter, noting that this proposition is
buttressed by the consensus reached at the World Conference on
Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, that extreme poverty and social
exclusion should be regarded as violations of human dignity and human
rights.
See SERAP'S submissions of 12 January, 2016, citing General Comment No.8 of the UN CommiHee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights 'subslanlive issues arising in the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, Statement adopted by the Committee on 4 May, 2001. UN Doc E/C. 12/2001110.
3
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