Human Rights Facts (104): Human Rights and the Recession

(source, photo by Anna Gowthorpe, Associated Press)

Like any recession, the current one has a detrimental effect on human rights. Both the so-called economic human rights (the right to work, the right to a certain living standard etc.) and the more traditional civil rights or freedom rights suffer. In some countries more than in others, but no country will escape unharmed. It’s obvious that poor countries will suffer more, because they don’t have the means for stimulus measures or social security systems that can soften the effects of the recession, and because developed countries will turn their attention to themselves. In developed countries, the poor will suffer more, as will migrant workers, illegal immigrants, asylum seekers etc.

Here are some of the human rights problems provoked by the recession:

1. Unemployment increases:

(source, data for the U.S., click the image to enlarge)

(source, data for the U.S.)

2. Poverty levels increase:

(source, data for the U.S.)

3. Homelessness will increase

Because of rising unemployment and poverty levels, it’s likely that homelessness will also rise. The specific nature of the current recession, with high numbers of foreclosures, will increase this likelihood.

4. Prejudice and violence will increase

People will get angry and will misbehave. They may turn to crime more easily, or they will go on the streets and riot. Or they will turn their anger against foreigners, migrants, asylumseekers etc. Xenophobic political parties will profit, and, as a result, migration policy will tighten.

5. Public goods will receive less money and will under-perform

National governments will invest less in public goods such as the police force, the healthcare system, education etc. As a result, these institutions may under-perform, with detrimental results for people’s education, health, judicial protection etc.

6. International development aid and remittances drop

See here for data on the level of development aid during recessions. Remittances from migrant workers to their home countries also drop, because of rising unemployment which is likely to hit migrant workers harder than resident workers. And we all know the importance of remittances to the economies of developing countries (see here – they are often more important than official development aid):

(source)

I tried hard to come up with some positive effects of the recession, but apart from something vague and uncertain like increased solidarity, I didn’t have much success. I’ll give it some further thought.

Regarding point 4, I have to mention something I found on Freakonomics. According to this post,

economic downturns don’t necessarily stoke racial tension or violence. In fact, most economic research finds no correlation at all between hate crimes and the economy.

A 1998 study of economic motivations for hate crimes examined crime statistics for New York between 1987 and 1995, and found no correlation between the city’s unemployment rate and prevalence of bigoted violence. That same study, by a team of researchers at Yale, also found no significant economic link to patterns of lynchings in the pre-Depression American South.

Another study, by Swarthmore economists Philip Jefferson and Frederic Pryor, studied Southern Poverty Law Center (S.P.L.C.) data on hate groups in 3,100 U.S. counties, only to find, again, no correlation between economic conditions and the presence or absence of operational hate groups.