Virginia Mantouvalou (University College London - Faculty of Laws) has posted Structural Injustice and Human Rights: The Case of Begging (Published in: Structural Injustice and the Law, Virginia Mantouvalou and Jonathan Wolff (eds), UCL Press 2024) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This paper considers the role of the law in creating and addressing structural injustice. In so doing, I use the example of begging, which I place in a broader pattern of states’ punitive attitudes towards poverty in the first part. People who beg are some of the most disadvantaged in society, and resort to begging in public spaces in order to survive. However, the act of begging is a criminal offence in many legal orders. The criminalisation of begging is said to be justified on several grounds, including the interests of those who beg, the protection of public order or the interests of businesses that are disrupted by the practice. All these reasons are very questionable, though, for the criminalisation of begging reinforces structures of injustice that affect some of the most disadvantaged people in society. It compounds their disadvantage and creates ‘state-mediated structures of injustice’, namely situations where the state, through identifiable legal rules, perpetuates structural injustice. Against this background, I turn to human rights law to consider its role in holding the state accountable for the criminalisation of begging. Human rights law can be particularly suitable in addressing these state-mediated structures of injustice, given that its primary focus has typically been on state responsibility. In several rulings human rights bodies have criticised the criminalisation of begging, and accepted that it is incompatible with human rights obligations, including the right to private life, freedom of expression and freedom of movement. Human rights law cannot, of course, address all instances of structural injustice. However, it can impose on states an urgent requirement for legal change, and can also lead to cultural and broader social change. The example of begging exemplifies how human rights law can be used to destabilise structures that perpetuate injustice towards the most disadvantaged.
