Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations
mobility is required within a given generation and, even more importantly, from one generation to the next. Education and the greater geographical mobility that often comes with it have been the traditional means of improving one's station in life. The increased inequality in access to a decent education, noted in chapter 3, constitutes an obstacle to such mobility in poor and affluent countries alike. It appears that in some of the latter, with the combined increases in both extreme poverty and various forms of inequality, the average individual now has fewer opportunities to move upward on the social ladder than he or she did 25 years ago. Lack of social mobility, combined with a high level of income inequality and low political participation, leads to the segmentation of societies. A de facto separation occurs between social groups identified on the basis of their income and wealth, their geographical location, the common ethnic origins of their members, or a combination of these andlor other factors. These groups coexist more or less peacefully within the borders of a country but have less and less in common as time goes by and do not communicate with each other. Such segmentation is a prelude to social disintegration, placing society on one of the surest paths to authoritarian rule. At the international level, the marginalization of various countries leads to the segmentation of the world, to violence, and to attempts to impose order through domination, creating a global environment that is antithetical to the notion of an international community. It is also true that when levels of poverty and income inequality reach a certain point, combined, again, with a lack of political involvement among the groups lowest on the social ladder, the concept of equal rights that is fundamental to democratic societies tends to become meaningless. Marginalized individuals and groups are no longer in a position to exercise, or even to understand, their basic rights and fundamental freedoms. Any progress that has been made towards achieving horizontal equality, including equality between women and men, is seriously threatened, and a reversal may even occur. The actual threshold at which inequalities in society affect social mobility and the capacity of individuals to enjoy their basic rights varies over time and space. However, it is clear that inequalities, and the attendant risks of marginalization and alienation, are growing in a number of countries. Excessive inequality is even an obstacle to economic growth, or more precisely to the broad-based and sustained growth that the United Nations and other international and regional organizations see as a requirement for sustainable, inclusive and people-centred development. It is possible to achieve high rates of growth by engaging in activities that are socially and morally questionable and by employing organizational and management practices that are prohibited by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, growth in free and democratic societies is oriented towards the needs and aspirations of all and is facilitated by maximum and voluntary participation in economic activity. Such participation is incompatible with extreme poverty and hindered by excessive inequality.