Blog by Stacy Ciulik, SI Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights held his annual interactive dialogue with UN Member States during the 16th meeting of the 59th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Wednesday, June 25th.
Last December I had agreed to follow topics related to poverty (SDG1 “No Poverty”) at the UN in Geneva and I was thrilled to meet the Special Rapporteur after his annual speech during the HRC session (thank you, Berthe de Vos, for the introduction).
Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Poverty
The Special Rapporteur emphasised that the greatest challenge to building peace globally is to break the vicious cycle of poverty. To enable a methodical approach towards breaking this cycle, the Special Rapporteur partnered with the international movement ATD Fourth World to create the IDEEP (Inclusive and Deliberative Elaboration & Evaluation of Policies) Tool. Using this tool, governments can capture and combat the hidden dimensions of poverty.
The international movement ATD Fourth World (All Together in Dignity) has been working at the grassroots level with people experiencing poverty for over 50 years. Both the Special Rapporteur and ATD Fourth World involve people experiencing poverty to ensure their views are taken into account and that they can contribute their expertise.
Building Partnerships for Change
With deep appreciation, I was able to convene with the ATD Fourth World international team before, during and after the session. We agreed to co-organise an event with the Poverty Task Group of NGO CSW Geneva at the UN in Geneva on October 17th to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. There hadn’t been any commemoration events at the UN in Geneva since the pandemic, and we are all enjoying planning this event together.
Key Issues Highlighted
I encourage all interested readers to listen to the recording of the Special Rapporteur’s annual interactive dialogue with UN member states.
The Special Rapporteur explains:
- The situation of 838 million people experiencing extreme poverty and living on less than $3 per day
- The reasons low-income countries cannot afford to invest in social protection due to lack of financing capacity
- How debt swaps could encourage social investment
- Why a 2% tax on billionaires worldwide could make a difference for many
Many countries’ representatives gave examples of the successes they have had (Estonia and Nordic States) as well as the challenges they face (Indonesia, Ghana, and others).
