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Debt and Human Rights

The term human rights is used to refer to those rights that have been recognized by the global community and protected by national and international legal instruments. They reflect the moral conscience of the world and the highest common aspiration that everyone should live free from want and fear and have the opportunity to develop dignity. This entails a proclamation by the world that every living being has:

• The right to life and liberty
• The right to security of person (physical integrity)
• The right to participate in the political process
• The freedom of religion, opinion, speech and expression
• The right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being of the individual and his or her family
• The right to work and to be entitled to just and favorable conditions of work
• The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
• The right to food and housing
• The right to education and access to information

These rights are inherent in the human person. This means that every woman, man, and child is entitled to enjoy them simply by virtue of being human. Moreover, every person is entitled to these rights regardless of his or her color, sex, religion, or nationality. Because human rights are inherent, governments cannot grant them, but rather, they must respect, protect, and promote them.

Various global and regional instruments have been written and affirmed to guarantee that these rights are respected. These include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966); and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981). Adding to these broad human rights conventions are numerous more specific instruments such as the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984); and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).There is a tendency to try to list human rights in the order of their importance. However, all human rights are core and central, and any attempt at creating a hierarchy will fail.

How debt burdens harm human rights

Debt becomes a human rights issue when it blocks the practical realization and full enjoyment of human rights. Indebted developing countries spend huge sums of their scarce national resources on debt servicing. In fact, they spend more on servicing the debt than on providing sufficient education and health services. As debt servicing locks people into poverty and allows creditors to determine a country’s political, economic, and social destiny, then debt invariably becomes a human rights issue. While African nations honor their debt obligations, the rights of citizens continue to be violated in the following ways:

Right to Life and Liberty: Paying debt service rather than supplying social services that provide food, shelter, health, and education directly threatens the lives of
vulnerable populations.

Right to Health: Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Six thousand Africans die daily and almost 30 million are HIV/AIDS positive. Yet, governments spend more money on debt servicing than on providing health care for their citizens.

Right to Participation: Political participation is vital for poor and marginalized people to shape their lives. Countries saddled with external debt direct their ears to the demands of the creditors rather than listening to the people—especially the poor.

Right to Work: Many African debtor countries have experienced massive job loss as a result of privatization or other lender imposed Structural Adjustment Policies. Furthermore, because of servicing debts, governments are unable to pay retired workers their hard-earned money in pensions and retrenchment packages.

Right to Education: Because of donor country and institutional pressures to service debt, important resources are cut from public education. In response, schools shift the burden to parents through fees. Many parents are unemployed or underemployed and cannot afford to pay.

Poor country debt is clearly a human rights issue, bringing human rights activists from around the world to call for its cancellation.

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