Co-Chair
Christiana Essie
Sagay

Poverty and Social Development Committee

The Poverty and Social Development Committee, builds on years of work under various IBA auspices. We engage the legal profession to contribute to UN Sustainability Goal #1: Eradicating Poverty. Our committee advocates for using law to protect individuals and communities from poverty, promoting well-being. We believe legal professionals have a duty to create and apply law for good, preventing exploitation and mitigating harm. Planned projects include a podcast, a practical book for lawyers, a session at the IBA Annual Conference, and supporting NGOs focused on poverty eradication. We invite members to join our efforts.

View officer list Join this committee

Forthcoming conferences and webinars View All Conferences

IBA Annual Conference Copenhagen 2026

04 Oct - 09 Oct 2026

Copenhagen , Denmark

Committee content

Interview with Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

According to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, the approach to overcoming poverty based on economic growth has passed the peak of its usefulness.

In his book The Poverty of Growth, De Schutter explains why it’s necessary to expand our toolbox in the fight against poverty in order to be substantially less dependent on economic growth.

In this video interview with journalist Sara Chessa, recorded for the IBA, De Schutter discusses these themes and more.

Watch interview

The role of law schools and clinical programmes in ending poverty

Law schools can play an essential role in eliminating poverty and encouraging social development within the core legal value of the rule of law. This webinar will review the relationship between legal education and how legal training can incorporate conceptual and practical dimensions of poverty elimination and social development. The panellists will outline and illustrate various ways in which law schools, and their clinical programmes can take action on poverty elimination through empowering poor clients and communities. This webinar focuses on Chapter II in the book Eradicating Poverty Through Social Development: A Practical Guide for Lawyers. You can access the book here.

Watch webinar

Publications
All articles

Poverty eradication for sustainable social development in Pakistan

Pakistan continues to reduce poverty amidst a backdrop of economic uncertainty, natural calamities and global crises. Notwithstanding progress in poverty reduction, recent stagnation indicated by statistics underscores certain challenges, including the floods of 2022. Despite this volatility, Pakistan is pursuing a diversified strategy to poverty reduction and social development.

Released on Jun 26, 2024

Eradicating Poverty Through Social Development: A Practical Guide for Lawyers

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 1 – the eradication of poverty in all its forms everywhere – can be achieved by 2030, but it will require catalytic leadership and hard work by the legal profession. Active involvement in the elimination of poverty has become the ethical obligation of every lawyer. This book, edited and authored by members of the IBA Poverty and Social Development Committee, is a compilation of commentary and case studies about the broad variety of initiatives and actions that lawyers in all sections of the profession worldwide – law firms, law schools, bar associations and corporate law departments – are taking to achieve sustainable progress in the fight against poverty and the betterment of the communities they serve.

Released on Jul 26, 2021

Podcast: Poverty and the rule of law

Carmen Pombo, IBA Poverty and Social Development Committee Advisory Board Member and Co-Chair of the Rule of Law Forum, talks to Ian McDougall, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the LexisNexis, Legal & Professional division of RELX Group, about the relationship between poverty and the rule of law.

Released on Nov 11, 2019

Unemployment risks and the pandemic: how will enterprises respond?

An article looking at the responses of enterprises in light of unemployment risks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Subcommittees and other groups

The Poverty and Social Development Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.

Poverty and Social Development Committee Advisory Board

International Bar Association is incorporated as a Not-for-Profit Corporation under the laws of the State of New York in the United States of America and is registered with the Department of State of the State of New York with registration number 071114000655 - and the liability of its members is limited. Its registered address in New York is c/o Capitol Services Inc, 1218 Central Avenue, Suite 100, Albany, New York 12205.

The London office of International Bar Association is registered in England and Wales as a branch with registration number FC028342.