Economic Human Rights

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We believe that every person is born worthy of dignity and respect. This means that everyone is born with the right to freedom from poverty. Freedom from poverty is realized when the economic human rights in the Universal Declaration of Rights are realized, and requires that basic needs are met and economic security is achieved. The absence of poverty is universal prosperity. The end of poverty, or the achievement of universal prosperity, is best measured in human and social terms on the individual level, not merely in economic terms.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes the following economic rights:

• No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. (article 4)
• The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. (article 16)
• Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (article 17)
• No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. (article 17)
• Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.(article 22)
• Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (article 23)
• Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.(article 23)
• Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (article 23)
• Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. (article 23)
• Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. (article 24)
• Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (article 25)
• Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. (article 25)
• Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (article 26)
• Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.(article 26)
• Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.(article 26)
• Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (article 27)
• Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. (article 27)