How Human Rights Empower Poverty Eradication: Insights from the Bahá'í Faith

The ‘International Day for the Eradication of Poverty’ on 17th October is a reminder of the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, and to promote awareness of the urgent need to eradicate poverty globally.  

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is entitled to a standard of living able to provide for the health and well-being of oneself and one's family. However, according to the United Nations Statistics Division, in 2025, an estimated 808 million people live in extreme poverty, representing 9.9 percent of the world's population, or 1 in 10 people. 

Poverty is a condition that often arises from injustices in society. The creation of a just and peaceful society, in which all individuals are able to meet their basic human needs, will require a significant reorientation of individual and collective goals, and a profound transformation in attitudes and behaviours. 

Poverty, in the Bahá’í view, is a symptom of a system of economic and social relationships that promote the advantage of the few at the expense of the many. The underlying nature of poverty, according to a statement of the Bahá’í International Community, “can be described as the absence of those ethical, social and material resources needed to develop the moral, intellectual and social capacities of individuals, communities and institutions”. The statement calls on both individuals and institutions to put essential moral principles, such as unity and justice, first.  

Conditions such as racism, the marginalization of girls and women, ethnic and religious antipathy, lack of access to education, and unemployment are obstacles to progress and development of communities, and in eradicating poverty. 

Thus, the question of poverty alleviation, and alleviation of gross disparities between rich and poor are directly linked to our consciousness of the oneness of humanity – oneness of all races, nations, ethnic groups and religions – and observance of the human rights of everyone.

Education & poverty

Education is a human right and is essential for eradication of poverty. The Bahá'í International Community says “In order for a society to progress, human beings must be free to know, to create, and to believe. First, with the understanding that knowledge can provide the means to alleviate poverty and achieve the higher moral goals of human justice and dignity.... Second, human beings must have access to the cultural and scientific attainments of humanity and their applications”. Furthermore, “The provision of meaningful work should be a cornerstone of any poverty alleviation efforts”. 

Today, most people live in societies characterized by relationships of dominance – whether one nation over another, one race by another, one religious or ethnic group by another, one social class over another, or a gender related dominance. This mode of thinking must be overcome. 

Extremes of poverty are linked to extremes of wealth. Both extremes must be eradicated. “In this context, a discourse on the elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth presumes that societies cannot flourish in an environment that fuels inequitable access to resources, to knowledge, and to meaningful participation in the life of society”, as the Bahá'í International Community says.

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