Voice for UN Convention on the Poor

Mahatab is the visionary who first conceived of a UN Convention on the Poor and organized others to work together towards this goal. He has extensive experience working with national and international NGOs at the community level on women empowerment, poverty reduction and human rights. Mahatab did his master’s degree in Sociology & Anthropology from the Asian University of Bangladesh and a second master's degree in Industrial Relations & Labor studies from Dhaka University.

About the thought-

In 2015, Mahatab was struck by the idea of a UN Convention on poverty during the transition from the MDGs to the post-MDGs. He questioned how states and the international community could justify keeping people in poverty until 2030, and whether the people living in poverty agreed with this time period. Despite the consultative process that involved input from stakeholders such as governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, and international organizations in the development of the MDGs and SDGs, Mahatab was uncertain if the time period of the SDGs could truly end poverty. He searched for answers to why all stakeholders were working to end poverty and questioned if there was a legal framework under which the goals were set and whether they were legally obligated by the UN or its member states. Unfortunately, the answers were not convincing. This means that all actions for poverty alleviation are either charity or goodwill or non-obligatory but somewhat strong commitment. Although the UN and its member states are obligated and accountable to act positively for unique and vulnerable groups when separate human rights instruments exist and implement them accordingly, the major human rights instruments, along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), do not adequately address poverty and poor people. In fact, the term "poverty" is not even found in any of the major international human rights instruments. Analyzing the context of poverty eradication endeavors, Mahatab conceived idea of allowing all stakeholders to a legal agreement first, to obligate the world to act end poverty under a separate UN Convention on poverty.

Email address:akmmahatabg@gmail.com