Memorandum from Oxfam GB as Evidence to the Joint Committee on ESC rights

Overview

This submission provides evidence from the Oxfam UK Poverty Programme (UKPP) and some of its partners working on poverty related issues; it illustrates Oxfam’s assertion that, while the UK Government is clearly committed to the relief of poverty and to finding solutions to social exclusion, (as indicated by its social policies and successive redistributive Budgets), poverty reduction in the UK would be considerably strengthened by taking a rights-based approach as required by the UN Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (the Covenant). The need for strengthening anti-poverty measures is illustrated by the scale of the task: nearly one in four people in Great Britain (just over 13 million) live in poverty according to latest figures.