Description
Law and Social Transformation Conference (2019) (Lancaster Univeristy, U.K.)Destitution is an ill-defined concept which is seldom addressed at a policy level from a human rights perspective. Even so, the non-realisation of a number of Economic Social Rights and as such Social (in)Justice is inherent within the experience of being destitute. This justifies the examination of destitution from a human rights perspective.
In order to examine destitution, it must first be defined. A rights-based definition of destitution will contain component rights and a level of realisation of these component rights below which destitution exists. In order to highlight and address the challenge destitution poses to contemporary human rights law, this paper will contribute towards defining destitution from a human rights perspective. This will be achieved through determining the level of rights realisation below which destitution can be said to exist: the destitution threshold. This placing will be based upon an examination of the key themes and concepts inherent within existing legal and non-legal definitions of destitution. The key theme of ‘extreme poverty’ as being differentiated from poverty by the sub-themes of ‘survival’, ‘subsistence’ and ‘basic rights’ will be explored and then utilised as a tool by which to determine the destitution threshold.
The examination of these themes will inform the central contention that the use of the concept of the ‘minimum core obligation’, supplemented by the concepts of benchmarks and indicators, are pre-existing human rights mechanisms which can inform a determination of the destitution threshold.
Through framing the destitution experience in terms of tangible rights the aim is to further effective policy and law to tackle, and mobilise against, destitution. Thus, the prevention and alleviation of destitution whilst being of value in itself, can also be a stimulus for the implementation of fundamental social and economic rights at the domestic level.
Period | Feb 2019 |
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Event type | Conference |
Location | Lancaster, United KingdomShow on map |
Related content
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Activities
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Using a Human Rights Framework to Tackle Destitution
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Charity as a Challenge to Social and Economic Rights
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The Cost-Of-Living Perma-Crisis in the UK and UDHR Rights
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Exploring Alternative Pathways to Accountability for the Violence of Austerity
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Destitution Inducing Benefit Sanctions as a Crime Against Humanity in the United Kingdom
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Austerity and the ‘Big Society’ as Inherently Destitution Inducing: The Implications of this from a Human Rights-Based Perspective
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Avoidable Poverty, Law, & (in)Justice
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
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Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Destitution in the UK
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
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Mapping Destitution into the Sphere of Human Rights: Laying the Foundations for a Human Rights-Based Definition of Destitution
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Policy as Violence: Exploring Alternative Pathways to Accountability
Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Research output
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'Austerity' Policies as Crimes Against Humanity: An Assessment of UK Social Security Policy Since 2008
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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International Human Rights Law and Destitution: An Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Perspective
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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Poverty: The Cost-Of-Living-Perma-Crisis and the UDHR
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Using a Human Rights Framework to Tackle Destitution: The Component Rights
Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Destitution as a denial of economic, social and cultural rights: Addressing destitution in the UK through a human rights framework
Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis
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Press/Media
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International Human Rights Law and Destitution
Press/Media: Blogs and social media