Rebuilding Trust:
A New Social Contract Based on Human Rights and Equality
Olivier De Schutter
[Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights]
Cities and local governments have a crucial role to play in the implementation of economic and social rights — the rights to housing, to food, to health or to education. In most countries, it is at municipal level, and with municipal budgets, that social housing projects can develop; that land zoning ordinances are adopted, allowing improved linkages between cities and their rural hinterland; that hospitals and health care centres are established; and that schools are set up and teachers paid. Moreover, it is often at the local level that social protection is delivered to the local population. Municipal policies in these areas would be further strengthened if grounded in the normative framework of human rights, and if benefits to be provided are defined as legal entitlements, that beneficiaries can claim before independent bodies. First, this would transform the relationship between service providers and users, improving accountability. This would reduce the risks of discrimination and corruption in the delivery of goods and services essential to lead a decent life. It would also reduce the rates of non-take-up of benefits, which often stem from the fear — or the shame — of users, who do not want to be stigmatised as depending on public charity. Second, this would ensure that the services provided are adequate, in other terms, of acceptable quality; the risk otherwise is, as once noted by Richard Titmuss, that « services for the poor are poor services ». Third, this would encourage establishing various forms of participation by the public (or the end users) in the design, implementation and evaluation of the services, since local collectivities are much better equipped to ensure direct participation than would be possible at higher levels of governance. For all these reasons, cities should lead the objective of achieving the full realisation of economic and social rights, and they have a major contribution to make to the fight against poverty and social exclusion.
Rebuilding Trust:
A New Social Contract Based on Human Rights and Equality
Olivier De Schutter
[Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights]
Cities and local governments have a crucial role to play in the implementation of economic and social rights — the rights to housing, to food, to health or to education. In most countries, it is at municipal level, and with municipal budgets, that social housing projects can develop; that land zoning ordinances are adopted, allowing improved linkages between cities and their rural hinterland; that hospitals and health care centres are established; and that schools are set up and teachers paid. Moreover, it is often at the local level that social protection is delivered to the local population. Municipal policies in these areas would be further strengthened if grounded in the normative framework of human rights, and if benefits to be provided are defined as legal entitlements, that beneficiaries can claim before independent bodies. First, this would transform the relationship between service providers and users, improving accountability. This would reduce the risks of discrimination and corruption in the delivery of goods and services essential to lead a decent life. It would also reduce the rates of non-take-up of benefits, which often stem from the fear — or the shame — of users, who do not want to be stigmatised as depending on public charity. Second, this would ensure that the services provided are adequate, in other terms, of acceptable quality; the risk otherwise is, as once noted by Richard Titmuss, that « services for the poor are poor services ». Third, this would encourage establishing various forms of participation by the public (or the end users) in the design, implementation and evaluation of the services, since local collectivities are much better equipped to ensure direct participation than would be possible at higher levels of governance. For all these reasons, cities should lead the objective of achieving the full realisation of economic and social rights, and they have a major contribution to make to the fight against poverty and social exclusion.