A/HRC/15/41 E. Ensuring public participation 47. The exclusion of persons living in extreme poverty from public life implies that their voices are not heard in the development and implementation of legislation and policies affecting their lives. Full and effective participation is central to the right to take part in public affairs. Extreme poverty cannot be eradicated if the life experiences of persons living in extreme poverty continue to be ignored in public debates. Exercising the right to participate is clearly related to the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, and the right to information.31 Persons living in extreme poverty must be considered part of the solution and their voices must be heard and properly considered at all stages of the design, implementation and evaluation of policies affecting them. 48. F. A revised version of the draft guiding principles should: • Recommend the creation of specific mechanisms and institutional arrangements through which persons living in extreme poverty can effectively and meaningfully participate in all stages of decision-making processes that affect them. • Call for specific measures to ensure adequate representation in the decisionmaking processes of groups that are at higher risk of falling into extreme poverty such as children, women, indigenous peoples, racial, religious, ethnic and other minorities, older persons and persons with disabilities. • Recommend measures to remove obstacles to participation, such as lack of meaningful and accessible information and opportunity costs, and create enabling conditions for the inclusion of persons living in extreme poverty in participatory processes. These measures should include enhancing the capacity of individuals, community-based organizations, social movements and other non-governmental organizations that give visibility to those in extreme poverty. Ensuring transparency and access to information 49. Corruption is less likely to persist where there are legal instruments and independent mechanisms protecting transparency and access to information. Persons living in extreme poverty often lack access to crucial information and are disproportionately affected by corruption. Not only does this reduce their net income but it also obstructs their access to social services or job opportunities. The lack of transparency creates leeway for authorities to manipulate the provision of social services on a discriminatory basis, reinforcing social exclusion. 50. 31 32 12 A revised version of the draft guiding principles should: • Recall State obligations related to the right to seek, impart and receive information.32 • Recommend that States make publicly available and accessible information about issues of particular concern to those living in extreme poverty, such as information relating to service provision and availability of public resources. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 25 (1996) on article 25 (Participation in public affairs and the right to vote), paras. 25-26. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 19 (2).