UN expert: COVID-19 pandemicβs worst impacts on poverty yet to come
By: Associated Press | September 11, 2020 3:25 PM
‘’The
social safety nets put into place are full of holes,'’ said Olivier De
Schutter, a Belgian legal scholar appointed by the UN Human Rights
Council as special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
The
United Nations independent expert on poverty has warned that the worst
impacts from the coronavirus pandemic on poverty are yet to come, and
that measures taken by governments to protect people so far have been
insufficient.
βThe
social safety nets put into place are full of holes,β said Olivier De
Schutter, a Belgian legal scholar appointed by the UN Human Rights
Council as special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
βThese current measures are generally short-term, the funding is
insufficient and many people will inevitably fall between the cracks,β
De Schutter said.
His
message was directed to world leaders meeting this month for the UN
General Assembly. He called on them to take more decisive steps to
eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities, according to a UN statement
released on Friday.
De
Schutter said the economic downturn resulting from the pandemic is
unprecedented in times of peace since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
He warned that 176 million additional people worldwide could fall into
poverty, with $3.20 per day being used as the poverty baseline.
Even
though governments have pledged social schemes to help, the worldβs
poorest people are often excluded because they donβt have the digital
literacy or internet access, he said. In some cases, government programs
are now running out.
βFamilies
in poverty have by now used up whatever reserves they had and sold
their assets,β he said. βThe worst impacts of the crisis on poverty are
still to come.β