UN gives a damning view on failing performance of politicians on fundamental human rights 

A domino effect of poor housing, a broken social security system and inadequate healthcare is leaving communities on their knees 

Published yesterday, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) concluding obligations set out a bleak view of the UK Government's performance on tackling poverty, managing the impact of austerity, and ensuring people have a decent home, enough money to pay for the essentials (like food), and access to decent work, good health care, and education.   

They outlined a worsening picture of food insecurity, poverty, homelessness, health inequalities, and educational outcomes, which impact those communities already marginalised, such as single mothers, racialised communities, gypsy Roma and traveller communities, and people seeking asylum. 

Amnesty UK presented evidence to CESCR in Geneva in February 2025 on the government's failure to protect fundamental human rights, outlining the domino effect of poor housing, a broken social security system, and inadequate healthcare in communities. 

Jen Clark, Economic and Social Lead at Amnesty UK, said:   

“The UN committee set out clearly how a devastating domino effect of unmet rights leads to destitution and hardship, a conclusion borne out by our own research.    

“Reading between the lines of the committee statement, you get a sense of frustration that little progress has been made since they last reviewed the UK performance in 2016.   

“They call again for independent evaluation on the impact of austerity on the most disadvantaged groups and communities to be undertaken as a matter of priority and for the punitive nature of sanctions and deductions from social security payments to be reviewed. 

“Like Amnesty, the UN is calling for the end to the two-child limit, benefit caps, and five-week wait for benefits. They are concerned that social security is already not paid at a level that enables an adequate standard of living for essentials such as food, utility bills, and clothing.   

“It is all tied together by addressing that our human rights are not adequately protected in the UK. The government has failed to provide legal protections for these rights under the covenant, meaning people who experience violations cannot access justice. Amnesty echoes their call on the government to undertake an independent review of how legal status can be given to these rights to provide routes to justice and safeguards against further rollback of these rights.” 

Additional elements addressed in the report include: 

• Concern regarding the specific plight of people with certain immigration status who have no recourse to public funds and that people experiencing homelessness are criminalised by punitive policy.  

• To address depleted public services and struggling local authorities, CESCR calls on the government to shift fiscal priorities away from tax freezes and toward measures that will broaden the tax base and increase the funding available for them (such as capital, corporate, and property taxes). 

• The UK's failings at home were not the only concern of the UN Committee.  They too share concerns about the UK's role in ensuring these rights abroad, citing the need to address the extent to which the ODA budget has slipped away from the target (at the time of reporting this was to 0.5%) and call for the UK to take a stronger approach on the world stage in relation to tackling debt in the global south and taking more decisive leadership to ensure that the UK addresses tax evasion from multinational companies.  

The three top priorities that the UK Government must report back on in the next 24 months: 

• Conduct an independent, participatory impact assessment of the extra-territorial effects of its financial secrecy and corporate tax policies on the economies of developing countries. 

• Conduct an independent assessment of the cumulative impact of austerity measures introduced since 2010 on economic, social, and cultural rights, focusing on disadvantaged groups, regional disparities, and the effects of subsequent policy shifts 

• Assess the impact of welfare reforms introduced since 2010 on the most disadvantaged groups and take corrective measures, including reversing policies such as the two-child limit, the benefit cap, and the five-week delay for the first Universal Credit payment. 

Amnesty’s complete submission to the United Nation’s Committee for Cultural, Economic, and Social Rights can be read here.