Members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union arrived in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on April 3, 2000. This body, consisting of representatives from all countries around the world meets for one and a half months each year to debate current human rights issues.

On April 4, 2000, members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union Joy Butts and Dawn Plummer attended another day of debate on economic, social and cultural human rights in the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressed the body.

Joy Butts and Dawn Plummer held a panel discussion titled "Economic Human Rights in the United States of America" which was attended by people from around the world. They explained the struggle of the poor and disappeared in the US and shared ways that poor people are fighting back and organizing at the local, national and international levels. The presentation was followed by the second international viewing of the Skylight Pictures documentary "Outriders". It was very moving to finally bring, as mentioned at the end of the film, the struggle of the poor in America to the world's center of human rights in Geneva. Also, as Dylan say in the film,"take it to this to the world!"

In the afternoon, Joy Butts delivered a statement to UN Commission on Human Rights, which consists of government representatives, international organizations and non-profits from around the globe. The statement highlighted poverty in "developed" nations, adding to the debate which focused mainly on "Developing" countries. We called particular attention to our petition Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign vs. the United States of America.

56th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

International Peace Bureau (IPB)

41 rue de Zurich, CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland

Item 10: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

"Mr. Chairperson,

I speak as a poor woman from the United States and on behalf of the International Peace Bureau, which has worked for economic and social justice for over 100 years.

We at the IPB understand that there can be no peace without economic justice. Today, we would like to call your attention to the state of economic human rights in the United States of America. As noted by independent expert Ms. Anne-Marie Lizin, "extreme poverty is universal and affects all regions of the world, including the North." We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Lizin for shining a light on the poverty that exists in the United States and other developed nations.

To compliment the existing debate around poverty and economic human rights which has focused mainly on important "developing" world issues like foreign debt, structural adjustment and lack of development, I would like to bring to your attention the extreme poverty that persists in the most "developed" countries. The reality of poor people in the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, is quite different from the image portrayed by both the US government and mainstream media.  Downsizing, unemployment and poverty wage jobs exist in the shadows of the reported "US economic boom."

The social welfare reform bill passed by President Clinton in 1996 has effectively repealed the safety net for all men, women and children in the United States by placing a five-year lifetime limit to government assistance therefore limiting economic human rights. Moreover, the American-style social reform is modeled and replicated throughout the developed world, therefore globally dismantling states' responsibility to provide for the basic needs of poor people.  This is the American contribution to the global race to the bottom.

The International Peace Bureau supports and would like to call your attention to the petition titled Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign vs. the United States of America, submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on October 1, 1999. This petition has also been brought to the attention of High Commissioner Mary Robinson and independent expert Anne-Marie Lizin. We urge the members of the Commission, particularly those from the Americas, to help move the petition process forward at the regional level in order to examine violations of economic human rights in that country.

Like the desaparecidos of Latin America, the poor of all colors in the United States are disappearing from the welfare rolls and unemployment statistics. As the criminalization of poverty and of poor people increases, prisons fill with the disappeared. Until the international community understands the truth about poverty in the US, the poor will continue to speak out and refuse to be invisible.

I would like to add that in order to advance the economic, social and cultural rights of the American people, particularly those of the poor, I strongly urge the United States of America to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Lastly, I urge all member states to pass the Optional Protocol of this Covenant. "

The KWRU would like to thank the International Peace Bureau in Geneva for its support.