How can a human rights approach help to define poverty?

Poverty has conventionally been defined in economic terms, focusing on an individual’s or household’s available financial capacity, either absolute or relative. In recent years, however, alternative views have emerged that now recognize that poverty is multidimensional. It can be defined not only as lack of material resources deemed necessary for an acceptable standard of living, but also a denial of other related capacities and opportunities, such as education and physical well-being, as well as less easily quantifiable factors such as lack of dignity, self-respect, freedom or access to power.
Although “poverty” is not specifically and explicitly referred to in any of the international human rights treaties, its existence as a phenomenon is recognized by the human rights community. Both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights refer to the right of every one to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services. In 2001, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reached agreement on the definition of poverty as:
There is no single standard definition of poverty and the choice of definition remains a country’s national prerogative. Any strategy that is to be sustainable and effective must, however, recognize and address the multidimensional nature of poverty and respond to not only its economic aspects but also other critical elements, be they structural, social or
political, that contribute to its persistence in certain vulnerable groups.