Financial crisis threatens legal protection for the poor
The Nation
Mar 5, 2009
The economic crisis will increase the demand for justice among the poor, especially when it comes to protecting their property, jobs,working conditions and their right to do business without extortion, said economists and development experts taking part in a regional UN Development Programme (UNDP) meeting in Bangkok this week.
"In an attempt to alleviate these challenges, the Thai government is forced to invest a large amount of its limited human and financial resources that would otherwise have been earmarked for education or medical care," said Charnchao Chaiyanukij, the justice ministry's deputy permanent secretary.
He said activities planned by the ministry would target 10 of the poorest provinces in order to "ensure access to justice and labour, property and business rights of the poor and vulnerable people".
The three-day dialogue brought together more than 80 senior government and UN officials to identify priorities and proposals for Asian countries to ensure access to justice, property rights, labour rights and business rights for the poor and the marginalised.
The meeting is aimed at finding national and regional ways of applying recommendations put forward last year by the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, which produced a report called "Making the Law Work for Everyone".
John Samuel of ActionAid called for legal, social and political empowerment for the poor. "Don't just bailout banks, bailout voices of the people who have been put under the carpet - women, indigenous, the Dalits [the untouchables in India]," he said.
According to the commission's report, four billion people across the world find themselves excluded from the protection provided by the rule of law. In urban slums and rural villages, poor people often have no legal identity, no birth certificates, no legal addresses, no rights to their home or business, and no protection of their labour. The report calls for focus on property, labour, entrepreneurial rights and access to justice. As a package, these rights can help prevent legal exclusion and foster a reduction in poverty.
"The financial downturn will threaten the security of land tenure of millions of working poor as they face destitution, forced eviction and land grabbing," warned Hamid Rashid, UNDP's senior adviser on legal empowerment. "With rising unemployment, wages are likely to fall, working conditions to deteriorate and labour rights to be violated."
