Stories of poverty can be powerfully framed as human rights issues to position government as a duty bearer. Governments have obligations under international human rights standards. The Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) reframed the welfare debate as part of a larger fight for human rights. They advocated for the rights of those living in poverty. KWRU demanded the government honor its obligations through the maintenance of welfare services. In 1991, welfare cuts threatened the livelihoods of poor families and communities in the most impoverished district of Pennsylvania. A group of women from this area came together and organized KWRU. They framed welfare as a human rights issue. Not an issue of personal responsibility for poverty or for charity-based government responses.

Government Obligations Under International Standards

KWRU framed the welfare cuts as a violation of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Articles 23 and 25. These guarantee the right to a job and the right to an adequate standard of living. The United States is a party to the UDHR. It is expected to follow the human rights guidelines. By presenting poverty and welfare as human rights issues, KWRU took the position that the government has obligations. These obligations include meeting basic human needs of those living in poverty. This is part of international human rights standards. This viewpoint stands in contrast to the idea that providing welfare is a choice a government can make. That this choice can be based on their policies and the economic situation. KWRU challenged this notion that welfare is a discretionary choice. Rather, KWRU argued that providing welfare is necessary according to the UDHR.

Empowerment Through Community Organizing

KWRU set up physical sites where they could provide people with food and housing assistance. This included a tent city and a medical clinic. This was a way for them to both help the community and have regular contact with those living in poverty. KWRU developed teams of involved community members. These organizers used their experience to figure out what tactics could move people living in poverty to act in support of KWRU’s advocacy. This helped to educate, mobilize, and organize other people living in poverty to fight for their rights.

One project that KWRU carried out was a month-long cross-country bus tour. In 1998, poor families from all over the United States traveled by bus to thirty-five poor communities. They went to communities in both urban and rural areas. Along the way, they gathered detailed stories of people’s struggles for survival in situations of poverty. They used these stories to document economic human rights violations in the United States. After the journey, they released the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Report.

Drawing Public Attention to Poverty

With the help of the Center for Constitutional Rights, CUNY’s International Women’s Human Rights Law Clinic, and other organizations, KWUR filed a petition in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They charged the United States government with violations of economic rights. This legal effort fueled a massive human rights organizing drive that culminated in the “March of the Americas” in December 1999. The march protested economic rights violations. Organizations of the poor and homeless from across the United States marched to the United Nations headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Using a human rights framework highlighted poverty in a new way. The filing of the petition in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights brought the U.S. government into focus. The march drew the press and public attention at the national and international levels. The stories of poverty as a human right raised awareness of the continued existence and persistence of poverty in the United States.