The fiftieth anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights prompts a re-examination of the links between 'development' and the range of economic, social, political and cultural rights enshrined within it. Chronic poverty is a flagrant denial of what the international community once hailed as the basic rights and fundamental freedoms on which our humanity and security must rest. The papers in this collection consider, among other entitlements, the rights to food, adequate housing, safe employment, protection from sexual assault and popular involvement in political processes which shape the lives of the poorest communities.

* Preface
Deborah Eade
* The depoliticisation of poverty
Firoze Manji
* The humanitarian responsibilities of the UN Security Council: ensuring the security of the people
Juan Somavia
* African rural labour and the World Bank: an alternative perspective
Deborah Fahy Bryceson and John Howe
* Empowerment and survival:humanitarian work in civil conflict
Martha Thompson
* The global struggle for the right to a place to live
Miloon Kothari
* Agrarian reform: a continuing imperative or an anachronism?
Cristina Liamzon
* The ethics of immigration controls: issues for development NGOs
Andy Storey
* The right to protection from sexual assault: the Indian anti-rape campaign
Geetanjali Gangoli
* Guatemala:uncovering the past, recovering the future
Elizabeth Lira
* Strengthening unions: the case of irrigated agriculture in the Brazilian north-east
Didier Bloch
* All rights guaranteed-all actors accountable: poverty is a violation of human rights
Grahame Russell
* Collective memory and the process of reconciliation and reconstruction
Wiseman Chirwa
* Devastation by leather tanneries in Tamil Nadu
John Paul Baskar
* Annotated bibliography
* Addresses of publishers and other organisations

Firoze Manji
Firoze Manji, a Kenyan with more than 30 years experience in international development, health and human rights, is Director of Fahamu, an organisation committed to using information and communication technologies to support the struggle for social justice in Africa. He is editor of Pambazuka News, a weekly electronic newsletter on social justice in Africa.