The United Nations

“ The State should ensure that there are fair labour codes so that wage earners, both permanent and, especially, temporary, and their families do not have to live in poverty despite going to work. The State must eradicate child labour, prostitution, forced labour, contemporary forms of slavery and other activities in which those living in extreme poverty are often constrained to engage. ”

“ On the matter of access to employment, the State and society must strive to abolish any form of discrimination based on external impressions, physical appearance, residence, living conditions, race, ethnic background, sex or any other consideration stemming from extreme poverty. Discrimination in employment on grounds relating to extreme poverty which are unrelated to good performance on the job should be duly penalized. ”

“ The international community must accord due recognition to, back and finance voluntary work in support of the poor, especially efforts to combat poverty and establish, nationally, regionally and internationally, a climate of solidarity; it must encourage poor people’s organizations and social movements seeking to eradicate poverty with a view to the attainment of human rights. ”

“ International cooperation over basic human rights must be developed with a view to the full realization of those rights. States and the international community are under an obligation to act immediately to end situations of widespread poverty, starvation and hardship. In the case of long-standing situations of dire poverty and situations resulting from natural disasters, armed conflict, etc. which require States to make appropriate resources available at short notice it is not just the State that must take immediate action: the international community must also set up ad hoc programmes. ”

“ States should foster and promote participation by the poorest people in the decision‐making process in the societies in which they live, in the promotion of human rights and in efforts to combat extreme poverty. ”

“ Corruption, food smuggling, theft of international humanitarian aid, wilful adulteration of food intended for the general public, distribution of perished foodstuffs and all other similar misconduct must be regarded as criminal behaviour of the gravest order - as a violation of poor peoples’ and others’ human rights in particular - and made subject to exemplary punishment. ”

“ Public and private bodies working to reduce extreme poverty (whether in industrialized or in developing countries) , provide humanitarian aid or conduct international cooperation or development, educational or other plans and programmes are duty-bound to make their programmes public, disclose their working methods and objectives as well as their funding, and account for their activities. ”

“ The staff of public and private international organizations, non-governmental organizations and movements and organizations working to eradicate poverty do and must display a high level of professionalism and moral rectitude in their conduct, and must base their action on the principles of international human rights law and these guidelines. ”

“ International cooperation must be combined with appropriate action in international trade, market and investment promotion, weapons dealing and labour-market regulation to ensure that such cooperation yields results and does not accentuate the cycle of extreme poverty. Cancellation of foreign debt, reduced rates of interest and similar measures should be part of States’ international cooperation policies and obligations. ”

“ States will adopt special measures to provide protection to the poor in respect of their dignity, their privacy, their integrity, their honour and their reputation. This protection must be effective and provided free of charge on an equal footing with other subjects of law. ”

“ In the event of hunger or famine and where welfare assistance is provided in the form of food, distributions of food or similar measures, peoples’ dignity must be fully respected, organized arrangements being made for distribution that encourage active participation by the population groups concerned. ”

“ States, intergovernmental organizations, national and transnational enterprises and non‐governmental organizations, inter alia, have a responsibility to take into account and fully respect human rights, in particular the principles set out in the present document. ”

“ Theft, corruption, trafficking, black-marketeering and any other criminal activity involving vaccines, medical supplies, surgical or other equipment originally intended as medical aid must be severely punished and, depending on the scale of the activity, regarded as a crime of the utmost seriousness subject to prosecution and trial before the competent courts. ”

“ International bodies at the highest level must decide upon preventive measures, provide assistance and set medium- and long-term development objectives for dealing with such situations together and effectively. ”

“ Given the humanitarian nature of such organizations’ activities (their staff often work without pay) , and in order to display greater solidarity with the poor and their living conditions, the organizations should be held strictly to ethical standards of conduct and any breach of those standards should be duly punished. ”

“ Adopts , the following guiding principles, which it submits to the Human Rights Council for consideration, expressing the hope that all the interested parties will engage in an in-depth discussion with a view to their adoption. ”