Nicolás Brando

How Stringent is Our Duty to Reduce Global Poverty

One of the most urgent issues concerning the world today is that of the millions of people who currently suffer from avoidable poverty. This is a well-known problem but should I be liable to ameliorate the situation? I intend to offer a brief account of our responsibilities to alleviate poverty worldwide. First, I present two of the most relevant proposals on duties towards the global poor (Peter Singer’s and Thomas Pogge’s); I then show why these two positions cannot justly define our duties to eradicate poverty; and, finally, I defend an alternative account that defines more clearly our obligations to improve the situation of the global poor, by focusing on the value of special duties and vulnerability, rather than on the negative-positive dichotomy of general duties.