The proposal that poverty ought to be regarded as a violation of human rights and therefore as a condition that ought to be abolished has been presented as 'a new paradigm in the fight against poverty'. In this essay Tom Campbell explores this proposal from a philosophical standpoint, examining how the proposal may be interpreted and how it might be morally and politically justified. He suggests that the basis for the proposal would be strengthened rather than weakened by including compassion or humanitarianism as part of its moral basis and that this can be done without diluting either the moral force or the radical implications of regarding poverty as a violation of human rights.