Financial Transparency Coalition

Socioeconomic rights, such as that “to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care” (UDHR, Article 25), are currently, and by far, the most frequently unfulfilled human rights. Their widespread under fulfillment also plays a major role in explaining global deficits in civil and political human rights demanding democracy, due process, and the rule of law. Extremely poor people — often physically and mentally stunted due to malnutrition in infancy, illiterate due to lack of schooling, and much preoccupied with their family’s survival — can...