There is a tradition according to which all the main human rights and freedoms are divided into three groups. The first of these contains standards that ensure freedom. These are the rights to freedom and life as such, the ability to believe or not to believe, and how to believe, and what political beliefs to share, as well as the right to be free from slavery, torment, torture, and so on. The second group consists of safety standards. Work that brings a decent salary, the ability to eat normally, have a roof over your head, basic amenities - all this is included in this group. And finally, the rights, the observance of which gives us the opportunity to enjoy the cultural heritage of mankind, live in an environmentally friendly natural environment, and so on.
Human freedom is one of the basic principles on which the entire foundation of human rights rests, as well as tolerance, equality, solidarity. These standards are considered to be natural, innate to man, those that can neither be earned, nor bought, nor inherited. They are the same for all people, in spite of any differences between them. They are not a reward for observing certain moral criteria; moreover, they belong to both highly moral and completely immoral representatives of homo sapiens. This is what unites all people. They are violated, but neither the government, nor a group of people, nor an individual person can take away their rights, no matter how powerful they may be. Man cannot deny them, just as he cannot cease to be a human being.
In addition, in order to live with dignity, people must demand from their governments the assurance of all rights, without exception. The fact is that there is no hierarchy between rights, and a person’s freedom from repression must be respected just like the right not to feel hunger and not need. These concepts are inseparable from each other. Poverty is unnatural, just like impossibility to tell the truth. Overcoming poverty, states do not make any charitable gestures, they simply fulfill their duties.
Social human rights are fundamental defense of dignity. Systematic neglect of them leads to very serious consequences. Every night, almost a billion people go to bed hungry, and even more live in slums and unsanitary conditions. Every minute a woman dies from complications during childbirth, every day 20,000 children die from diseases and hunger, and a little less than one and a half billion people have no access to doctors or hospitals at all. But we are not talking about the Middle Ages, but about our civilized time.
Whatever plans are implemented, whatever projects are considered priority, it is impossible to solve the problem of poverty with long-term consequences without realizing that human freedom is at the forefront of it. After all, protecting the rights of the poor is not just one of the goals of politics, but the main problem. What are the causes of the scandalous situation in which the modern world finds itself? It's simple: banal inequality, because even in rich and developed countries, entire layers of people do not have access to normal housing, medicine and education. Of course, now the financial crisis has erupted, and governments cite a lack of resources, but in reality in most cases they simply do not want to do this.
The activities of many international financial institutions, requiring reduction or freezing of expenses on social payments and needs, indifference of the international community to these issues, and ignoring data on international treaties of obligations also play a significant role. And the victim most often is the life and freedom of a person, especially since elementary, but systematic discrimination also lies at the basis of what is happening. Poor people not only suffer from being deprived of their rights - they live as if trapped. They are excluded from normal life, they are not allowed to talk, they are intimidated and constantly made to feel insecure. The only way out of this trap is to respect the rights of these people.