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Core Issues: Poverty, Illiteracy, Overpopulation and Disadvantages of Sustainable Development The damaging lack of material benefits considered to be basic necessities in a society. Deprivation is a result of socioeconomic disparity which leads to: Unequal opportunities Unequal rewards Unequal social positions Unequal distribution of resources These inequalities create a division between the people of a society as: Privileged Groups Under privileged Groups Overpopulation occurs when number of living being exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. “Carrying capacity” refers to the maximum number of individuals that can exist in a habitat indefinitely without threatening other species in that habitat. Overpopulation results into scarcity of natural resources, poverty, environmental damage, lack of bargaining capacity, lack of awareness of policy perspectives of a state by majority of population and ethical and cultural conflicts. Deprivation of reproductive rights Effect on economic rights: Overpopulation results into more demand. When demand supply equation is disturbed, prices are affected. Effect on resources: Food Water Oil and gas Other fuels Forests Effect on environment Pollution Effect on ozone layer Ecological balance Global warming Deprivation of right to adequate living conditions Overcrowding Conflicts and wars Health Cost of living Adequate Shelter Affect on other rights Right to qualitative life Active participation in politico, socio, economic and cultural aspects of the country Employment and Education Increasing child mortality rates due to poor health care and malnutrition Child labour Low wages Pollution Right to health Social security Environmental degradation Severe crunch on resources Poverty is a human condition characterised by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Rights of people living in poverty are threatened by: Lack of food Risk of diseases Hazardous work Lack of education Precarious living conditions Violence Discrimination Harassment and humiliation Threats of death Violations of human rights can be cause, consequence or constitutive element of poverty: Cause: Some say that poverty causes human rights violations. Those who are living in extreme poverty, are not treated as human beings worthy of human rights and are discriminated, exploited, treated insignificant, disgraced, disapproved and denied access to rights and resources. Consequence: Some suggest that poverty is a consequence of human rights violations. This means human rights violations cause poverty, e.g. forced eviction from homes or land, or the destruction or denial of access to productive resources can clearly cause poverty. Constitutive: Some suggests that poverty is in itself a negation of human dignity and so it is a denial of human rights. According to this view point, government should not let any human being live in conditions of poverty, degradation or deprivation. Human Rights NonEnjoyment (Deprivation) Violation To determine a violation, we first have to identify a specific human right, identify the duties imposed by that right on governments or other actors and then identify whether there has been a breach in meeting those duties. Obligation of State Duty to respect Violation Duty to protect Duty to fulfil Duty of nondiscrimination State actions that cause poverty or affect the poor most severely: Eviction of people from their homes/ lands Deliberate exclusion from access to productive resources State actions that fail to protect individuals from actions of non-state actors that cause poverty. E.g.: Failures to hold corporations to account Lack of an adequate regulatory framework State actions that fail to alleviate poverty. E.g.: Absence or inadequacy of policies and programmes Lack of appropriate government expenditure Actions that have discriminatory effects or fail to prevent discrimination and therefore cause poverty. Respect: It means not harming the enjoyment of human rights. Protect: It means ensuring that third parties (non-state actors) do not infringe the enjoyment of human rights. Fulfil: It means taking positive steps to progressively realize human rights. Non-enjoyment is different from violation of rights. It is the inability of government rather than unwillingness to provide certain rights. E.g. people who cannot afford access to medical care are deprived of enjoying their right to health, but we cannot state that they have suffered from a violation of those rights, unless we have identified a breach of human rights obligations. So, poverty is related to both non-enjoyment of rights and violation of rights. “the inability to read or write” Two types of illiteracy: Complete or absolute illiteracy: It is defined as the lack of the most basic reading and writing skills. Functional Illiteracy: Individual may have basic reading, writing and numerical skills but cannot apply them to accomplish tasks that are necessary to participate fully in everyday life. Illiteracy Complete Illiteracy Functional Illiteracy Illiteracy and Educational Rights Lack of awareness about their rights and duties They accept insecure, low quality employment contract. It would deprive them from the right to job security. Illiterate parents put work before education. Children of illiterate parents display behavioural problems, have poor grades, repeat school years and even discontinue their formal education because of non-involvement of their parents. Illiteracy and Economic Rights: Illiterate people are not able to obtain good jobs. Also, the kind of jobs they get, have low salaries or wages, which are not sufficient to live with adequate standard of living. They become deprived of rights of adequate standard of living, right to employment and equal opportunity of livelihood. Illiteracy and Health Rights: Illiteracy creates unawareness regarding knowledge and practices for self-care (health and hygiene). Household health Occupational Health: Illiteracy makes the people deprived of right to safe and healthy environment and sometimes even right to life. Illiteracy and Social Rights: They suffer from low self-esteem, less autonomy and low status in the society. This makes them deprived of right to life with dignity. Illiterate persons are neither acquainted with nor make use of the human rights to which they are entitled by law. So, sometimes they become victims of deception. Illiteracy and Political Rights: If the population is not aware of its political rights, is not able to organize itself in political parties, unions or other civic organizations; it is impossible for government to develop adequate public policies for the benefit of population as a whole. They are even not aware of the significance of their voting rights and so they are less willing to vote or participate in elections and local associations. Unsustainable development occurs when present progress is at the expense of future generations. Population Growth: Energy Consumption Resource Consumption Waste Production (due to industrialization) High Profit Orientation Consumerism: Increased advertising leads to increased buying of products. People sometimes buy those products which are actually not required. Policy Failures (No policies for controlling unsustainable development) Lack of sustainable urban planning Climate Change Around 3,00,000 deaths annually are caused by climate change. Agriculture is affected due to climate change (unexpected seasonal changes, less or more rains than required) Climate change results in heat waves, floods, storms, tsunamis and forest fires etc. Such natural calamities results into displacement of population. Depletion of ozone layer has increased exposure to ultra violet rays, which are very harmful for the health. Deforestation for developmental purposes has further increased the problem of environmental imbalance. Affect on economic development People in developing and developed countries have high living standards and abundant goods from around the world. Whereas, the under developed countries are still facing poverty due to inequitable economic development. Some countries are exploiting resources in are getting richer day by day. Whereas the poor, who constitute 40% of the world's population, accounts for only 5% of total global income. So, the unsustainable development in developing or developed countries is adversely affecting the economic development in under developed countries. Environmental Degradation Pollution Loss of Green Space Ecological Imbalance Affect on human health Climate change, environmental degradation and poverty, all have a negative impact on human health. Environmental degradation and climate change is responsible for loss of lives, serious diseases and poor health of individuals. Poverty is also responsible for malnutrition, hunger related diseases and deaths. Right to life, right to health, right to healthy environment, right to equal distribution of resources, right to equal opportunity of employment, right to equal distribution of economic resources etc. are affected due to unsustainable development. Copehagen conference of 1995 proposed right to development to fight against poverty, malnutrition, famine, housing, unsafe environment, unemployment, illiteracy, imbalanced development and ill health. Concept of sustainable development was coined during the conference. Human rights were integrated with sustainable development, as the idea behind its implementation was to provide: Quality of life to every citizen Atmosphere of education Healthy environment Secured employment Adequate wages Good working conditions Sufficient leisure and recreation Health and Sanitation Welfare of children, women, disabled and elderly people