The campaign to make poverty history poses a central moral challenge of our time. Enforcing universal human rights can blaze a path towards that goal.Basic human rights - the right to a decent standard of living, to food and essential healthcare, to opportunities for education or decent work, or to freedom from discrimination - are precisely what the world's poorest need most. Yet, by virtue of their enfeebled status, they are the ones least able to achieve or defend such "universal" rights. As a result, human rights are jeopardized wherever and whenever a man, woman or child subsists in extreme poverty.If we are to be serious about human rights, we must demonstrate that we are serious about deprivation. As suggested by this year's International Human Rights Day observance, we must answer the call to fight poverty as "a matter of obligation, not charity"……………….. Viewing poverty through a human rights lens heightens our moral imperative to act. But it brings other benefits as well. Since human rights norms emphasize individual empowerment, a rights-based approach can help empower and enable the poor…………….Today, development, security and human rights go hand in hand; no one of them can advance very far without the other two. Indeed, anyone who speaks forcefully for human rights but does nothing about human security and human development - or vice versa - undermines both his credibility and his cause. So let us speak with one voice on all three issues, and let us work to ensure that freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom to live in dignity carry real meaning for those most in need.***