“Nobody thought it was worth the effort”. A poets perspective- Teesside to Geneva for the CESCR 7th Review of the United Kingdom at the United Nations – February 2025

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Ode to the French things seen on train journeys through France 

(Teesside to Geneva)

Oh, dear French things in France
so magnificently magically French.
French windmills standing statuesque and serene, 
arms reaching to the clouds, waiting 
for the weather to turn their heads.
French sun drenching English faces 
through windows of French trains, defying 
the isolationist ideals of separation –
this French day will smile on all.
French fields crisscrossed with the neatest of bushes 
binding the greenish lushness to the earth below.
French sheep munching French grass with French teeth.
French horses neighing in beautiful French accents.
French pigeons cooing and pooing in much more romantic tones.
Gawdy graffiti on whitewashed walls beneath high rises, 
deprivation in French is still deprivation.
Outside stations, French ashtrays 
masquerading as guards in dull metal jackets, 
their studded shoulders decorated 
with tab end medals.
Slippery shiny surfaces on French platforms, 
stretching as far as the eye can see, 
hiding unfindable lifts.
The sortie salida exit,
how dare the French declare how to get out in multiple languages, 
how dare they etch French values onto buildings 
like ink onto skin. 
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, 
it’s as if equity was meant for us all, 
if only we could live it.

I had a bit of an out of body experience recently. It began with a mammoth train journey from Teesside to London to Paris to Geneva and ended up with me sitting in a room in a United Nations building in Geneva – headphones on – listening to people in glass encased pods high above me translating the words of the representative of the UK government. The UK rep sat on the ‘big table,’ with the chair of the UN beside him along with other ‘big’ people from the UN. They were projected onto a cinema style screen with a massive digital countdown clock that flashed dangerously red when time was up. 

Sitting directly vertically from the ‘big table’ were more UN committee members and UK government reps, including DWP, Home Office, Scottish, Welsh and NI reps, Justice and Housing. Beyond were ‘us,’ the civil society, I was sandwiched between Thrive Teesside and Amnesty International UK (Tracey & Laura) and surrounded by JustFair, Humans Right Watch, ATD Youth Voices, Friends, Families and Travellers, & RAPAR to name just a few. I felt strangely comforted, a poet among peers. 

In many ways this was a first for me, in that someone like me was somewhere like that, but I was reassured when Tracey felt that too and kept reminding me – I had a right to be there, and although I felt out of place, I wasn’t intimidated by the formality or grandeur of it all, or even by security sniffing my little flask of earl grey tea!

I was there at the invitation of Thrive Teesside, in my role as Thriving Women workshop facilitator – a poetry collective writing about the lived experience of poverty and social exclusion in partnership with Tees Women Poets. I was there as an observer, a poet, someone with lived experience, and as a contributor of the GRIPP submission to the International Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, or ICESCR for short.

There were 72 such submissions to the UN, (a record, I heard) and ours began life back in 2024, when Sarah (from Thriving Women) and I joined Tracey from Thrive to meet up with GRIPP (Growing Rights Instead of Poverty Partnership). We then wrote our section of the submission on Article 9 – the Right to Social Security – and included poetry from the Thriving Women (and Dylan from Thrive!) as well as lived experience testimonies and recommendations for the UK government to take into consideration.

Fast forward to my out of body experience – the months of work (years from Thrive and others) were now being used by the UN, headed by a Special Rapporteur (surely a name for a new superheroine) to question the UK government on the impact of their policies on the Economic, Social & Cultural Rights of their citizens. These are your everyday human rights, rights that make life bearable – right to adequate standard of living, right to education, health, social security, family life, work & rights at work. Importantly, these are human rights which affect the most vulnerable in our country and were removed from the Equality Act 2010 by the previous government.

Now, there are many ways to avoid a question, and the UK delegations’ skill in question dodging was so good they should win awards for it. They used every way imaginable by replying with evasion, avoidance and blame – (at one point even blaming the translators ability to translate questions correctly!) A technique unfortunately parroted by politicians worldwide. A technique that allows them to spew out facts and figures and skirt around issues without actually saying anything. Same old, its sometimes referred to.

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Blah Blah Blah

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There was a lot of information, a lot of back and forth, a lot of the UK rep congratulating himself on his teams good timekeeping (the countdown clock), but very little to be excited about. I did learn a few things though: 

“Nobody thought it was worth the effort”*

They want to build our financial resilience 
with plans and reviews as if we don’t know
what resilience is.
They want 10 years to address child poverty.
They want to revel in their lovely slogan
‘stable homes built on love,’
but words are just words
and millions could be immediately saved by repealing 
the 2-child benefit cap.
They want us to believe that forcing the disabled 
and sick into work is the new definition of ‘inclusive.’
They want the poor to die 17 years before the rich, 
and though they know child obesity is double in deprived areas
they can’t relate it to the impact of their policies
because they have millions for this and millions for that.
They want to rename sickness as health.
They want employment support to mean benefit compliance.
They want to brag about future plans and future reviews
but minimise implementation, 
and even when they admit failing children in poverty, 
because too many are taken away from families,
they dismiss discussions of change.
They want to erase children from gender health care
because trans kids don’t exist, right?
They want to invisiblise a whole community,
eliminate their rights, expunge them.
They want to reimagine it as women’s rights,
because disappearing children from vital support
somehow protects lasses from inequality, 
when in reality it just kills trans kids and women 
are still begging to be seen, because women
are still legislated with ‘some exceptions.’
They want increased powers for the police
as if the Police Act 2022 isn’t already overreaching,
as if it doesn’t directly discriminate the Traveller community, 
as if violating their humans rights to adequate housing
isn’t criminalising a whole lifestyle.
Just for being.
They want to preach there is ‘strength in our diversity,’
yet continue to allow the exploitation of migrants 
by denying them the right to work.
They want private landlords to remain as immigration
enforcers, meaning a home can quickly become a prison.
They say being a country of devolved nations, 
without a constitution, 
means the UN doesn’t understand 
how difficult it is to implement this covenant.
They don’t say 
that without this covenant 
being implemented into domestic law 
means that human rights can’t be enforced, 
and there’d be no access to legal representation.
They say “Nobody thought it was worth the effort”*

*(quote from the UK state representative at the UN ICESCR 13/02/25)

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It was an intense 3 hours followed by our closed meeting with several of the UN committee members chaired by Human Rights Watch and facilitated by Jess from JustFair. This was the first time the UN had heard directly from lived experience, we had 3 minutes each to put forward our concerns and it was very emotional to hear the lived reality of government policies on the most vulnerable in our country. Refugees and the right to work, kids in the social services system and the right to family life, the Roma/traveller community and the right to housing, and our GRIPP speeches, Amanda for ATD and the right to family life, me for Thrive and the right to social security and Tracey for RAPAR, on behalf of Almamy, on the right to work. The UN listened, commented and treat us with respect, they did mention, however, that we had all heard the UK’s response to their questioning.

Did we change things? I don’t know. Will we make a difference? I’m not sure. Will the UN take our lived experience into account when they make their response to the UK? Yes I think they might. Will the UK make any changes to their policies following UN recommendations which is the next stage we await? Well that remains to be seen, I don’t have any expectations about that, this is the same government who has chosen to continue austerity. Was it worth it? Absolutely and I’ll tell you why.

I met loads of people with a million names thrown at me at every corner, and was saturated with quotes and numbers and trying to read maps, but that hour and a bit with the UN committee and our speeches proved one thing to me. We have to break through the ‘othering’ that goes on in the UK. We have to remind each other at every opportunity how much we share, how much we can achieve if we work together. All of us in that closed meeting, laying ourselves bare to strangers, not only have to fight a system that denies our basic everyday human rights but also a culture that pits us against each other. The migrant who is stealing your job or your house, the traveller who dares to ask for decent housing, the disabled who fake disability, the trans community who want to erase women and the low paid workers who scrounge benefits. In that room, in that instance, we were one voice united in our solidarity, our lived experiences intersected and connected, and the blame, not directed at each other, but at the government policies that keep us divided, demeaned and devalued.

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Right But Wrong (for Tracey)

Bag lady extraordinaire 
Piles of paper everywhere 
Not for her, walking slowly
She’s only still when having a rollie
Expertise through every vein
Being there to keep me sane
Google maps, booking taxis
Utter joy at dead cheap baccy
Working class, heart of gold
I was too hot, she was too cold
Bread and cheese for every meal
Down to earth, funny and real
Speed writing on her phone
Greeting answers with a groan
Truth teller who never stops
Being propositioned at 6 o’clock
Internal flame that’s always lit
Fighting for everyone’s benefit
Always wrong but always right
A powerhouse for human rights

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My everlasting image will be of Tracey (from Thrive Teesside) speed writing on her phone to the comms team back in the UK so they could comment in real time on social media. Tracey didn’t stop for a minute in Geneva, from commenting on the proceedings, making connections, asking the right questions, sorting everything from tickets to food to hotels, and supporting me and Amanda. She showed me another side to Thrive, and because of our shared life experiences, working-class background, and humour, she not only made the experience enjoyable and that I belonged there but that I was a valuable contributor too.  

I have a new understanding of Thrive, even more respect for what they do. They are a team of just 3, Tracey, Coy and Dylan, operating from a small office in a community centre in Norton. Every 2 weeks they welcome us, the Thriving Women, giving us a safe and supportive space to write about issues we shouldn’t have to write about. More than that they have allowed us to grow and offered opportunities to take the Thriving Women poetry to national and international audiences, from church action groups, poverty truth commissions, parliament, and now all the way to the United Nations. They have also included us in creative sessions where we have learnt book binding and screen printing and visits to York, Leeds and London to connect with other organisations around lived experience. Their trust in taking me to the United Nations to speak on their behalf is something I will treasure.

I can’t thank Thrive enough for their unending support and commitment to Thriving Women and our partnership with Tees Women Poets, they go above and beyond and that also translates to their work in the community. Being in Geneva for 5 days with Tracey brought it home to me just how much they care and how much expertise they have about lived experience and its value in meaningful participatory policy making. It is the work and dedication of organisation’s like Thrive Teesside that make the difference to people’s lives, sometimes the only difference, and in the current political climate that is a lifeline for so many. 

No wonder Tracey is a Big Issue top 100 Changemaker. 

No wonder Thrive Teesside are an award-winning charity.

Julie Easley
Tees Women Poet
Thriving Women workshop facilitator 
February 2025