Tag: Extreme Poverty

UN Special Report Calls US Approach to Poverty 'Cruel and Inhumane'

A United Nations special report said that the United States’ principal strategy for dealing with extreme poverty is to criminalize and stigmatize those who need assistance.

The report’s lead author, UN independent expert Phillip Alston, said that more than five million Americans are living in “third world” conditions.

Alston visited California, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia and Washington D.C. in December 2017. In a statement, Alston called the U.S. “cruel and inhuman” — referring to the 40 million people who live in poverty here even though the United States is one of the world’s wealthiest countries.

Alston said the Trump Administration has brought massive tax breaks for corporations and the very wealthy, while orchestrating a systematic assault on the welfare system. This approach, Alston said, seems to be aimed at maximizing inequality and results in forcing millions of working Americans into extreme poverty.

In a press release, he pointed to the fact that the United States now has the highest income inequality in the Western world, the highest incarceration rate in the entire world and one of the lowest turnout rates in elections among developed countries.

Alston will present the report to the UN Human Rights Council on June 21st.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

W.Va. Woman Joins Fight Against Extreme Poverty in Africa

A Morgantown woman is representing West Virginia in an international effort to fight extreme poverty in Africa. Jamie Williams was inspired by her faith and her previous volunteer work to take up the cause. 

Williams is a West Virginia University alumna. She made her first lobbying trip to Washington, D.C., in February for the ONE Campaign Summit. Co-founded by U2’s Bono, the ONE Campaign is an international group working to end extreme poverty and disease. Williams was in D.C. to urge members of Congress to take up the Electrify Africa Act.

The act directs Congress and President Obama to focus foreign aid on expanding access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by building new infrastructure. 

“Really, the goals would be to partner with oversees private investments. So it really doesn’t cost anything to the taxpayers here,” she said.

Access to electricity helps businesses to grow, which leads to more investment and a rise in personal income, Williams said. Access to the utility can also improve health outcomes in African countries.

Williams said she was well-received by West Virginia’s Congressional delegation and is confident that ONE Campaign’s message was heard. Similar legislation passed the House of Representatives last year, but wasn’t taken up in the Senate.

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