Human rights of single parent families

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - June 22, 2023 - PRLog -- New data released by Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) show that single parent families around the world are at risk of experiencing rights violations. Human rights experts identified single parent families as being at risk of experiencing a range of rights violations in 28 of the countries HRMI surveys.

HRMI data show that single parent families are listed as at risk of having at least one of their economic and social rights violated in every country surveyed. In the United Kingdom, Libera, Mozambique, India, Australia, Fiji, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea, single parent families are particularly at risk of having all five of their economic and social rights violated. Single parent families are identified as an at risk group for having their right to food violated in 22 counties. Further, single parent families are identified as particularly at risk of having their right to housing violated in 25 countries.

HRMI found that single parent families with low socio-economic status are identified as at risk for certain rights violations. In the United States and Kazakhstan people of low socio-economic status, particularly single parent families, are identified as at risk of violations of their right to housing. In the Maldives, people with low socioeconomic status, especially single parent families, are identified as at risk of having their right to food violated. In Kyrgyzstan, single parent families are also at risk of having the right to food violated because of high unemployment rates and low wages.

Much of the qualitative data identifies single parent families as being particularly at risk for violations of economic and social rights. Single parent families are also identified as at risk group for having civil and political rights in some countries. For example:

• In China, single parent families are identified as at risk of having their rights to arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial execution, assembly and association, opinion and expression, and to participate in government violated.
• In Fiji, single parent families are at risk of having their rights to freedom from arbitrary arrest, forced disappearance, and torture and ill-treatment violated.
• Single parent families in Papua New Guinea are at risk of having their rights to freedom from forced disappearance, extrajudicial killing, and torture and ill-treatment violated.

HRMI Global Spokesperson Thalia Kehoe Rowden, said, "It's clear from our data that single parent families are a group in need of extra attention. Governments around the world are failing to protect their human rights, especially when it comes to the basic dignity of having enough food, adequate housing, access to education and healthcare, and sufficient income. The injustice is compounded by the fact that many single parent families are led by women and the children are suffering when they ought to be protected."