protecting human rights in a world of growing inequality.
Recent years have been marked by growing economic inequality, which intersects with other factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and ability to threaten the realization of socioeconomic rights. This economic injustice is unfolding in a context in which socioeconomic rights are already given considerably less attention than civil and political rights. This line of work aims to fill this gap, pursuing scholarship and legal advocacy to advance global economic justice and socioeconomic rights in an increasingly unequal world.
addressing poverty and inequality with a human rights approach.
Through new and improved evidence-based approaches, the Center works to combat poverty and inequality. This includes the work of Philip Alston, former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and faculty co-director of the Center, as well as several projects associated with the Global Justice Clinic, in addition to the work of the poverty and inequality team at the Center.
In the various activities associated with this line of work, we pursue interdisciplinary research and practice while also fostering dialogue among scholars and practitioners to set and advance norms around economic rights and global justice.
ongoing project
Human Rights and Privatization Project
This project scrutinizes how the privatization of essential sectors and services impacts the realization of human rights, particularly for low-income individuals. It involves research, advocacy, and education and seeks to foster generative dialogue between human rights practitioners and experts across various disciplines.
a legacy of advocacy against extreme poverty and inequality.
During the tenure of Philip Alston as the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (2014-2020), the Center undertook a variety of activities to examine and act on the link between global justice and extreme poverty.
Launched in 2015, this initiative examined the manifold connections between economic and fiscal policies, burgeoning inequalities, and human rights, making use of the Center’s in-house expertise to produce critical scholarship and promote dialogue among scholars and practitioners on issues central to global economic justice and socioeconomic rights.
Launched in 2017, this year-long series of lectures, panels, roundtables, and consultations examined how human rights law, institutions, and discourse can promote a better understanding of poverty in the US and identify solutions, particularly at the intersections of gender, race, and healthcare.
Through applied research, legal analysis, advocacy before international bodies, and public conferences, the Center and the Global Justice Clinic have sought to inform policy-making on fiscal issues like taxation so that it better respects international human rights law and norms.
Philip Alston served as the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights from June 2014 to April 2020. During his mandate, he carried out 11 official country visits, authored 12 thematic reports to the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council, and issued a large body of press releases and communications to states and other actors.
