Geneva (AFP) - The UN's top expert on extreme poverty warned Thursday that contemptful and cruel US policies towards the poor were disenfranchising millions, posing a threat to democracy in the country.

People living in poverty in the United States are seeing their rights "increasingly ignored", said Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, he said a "complete lack of compassion" characterised US policies towards the poor, who are becoming ever more "invisible in the political process".

According to the latest available statistics, from 2016, some 40 million Americans live in poverty, 18.5 million live in extreme poverty, and more than five million live in "Third World" conditions.

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Alston in particular decried policies that punish and imprison people who cannot afford to pay bills or fines, weakening their chances of finding or holding a job, housing and stability, and fuelling a cycle of poverty and desperation.

"Mass incarceration is used to make social problems temporarily invisible and to create the mirage of something having been done," he said in a report published earlier this month and based on a visit to several US states and territories last December.

"It is difficult to imagine a more self-defeating strategy," the report said.

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He warned that negative attitudes towards foreigners often foreshadow attitudes towards other vulnerable groups in a society.

"I think once you have departed from that basic commitment to minimum humane standards, it doesn't usually stop at the borders," he said, describing the developments as "deeply troubling".

Alston is due to present his report to the rights council on Friday, just days after Washington decided to withdraw from the body, meaning no US representatives are expected to be present to react to his findings.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/lack-compassion-poor-threatens-us-democracy-un-expert-183748933.html

poverty is everyone’s business or it should be.
we talk more about fashion clothing, expensive foods, drugs, entertainment, etcetera, etcetera,

it is a sad view, a harsh reality.

note: i am not trying to be judgemental, just expressing my opinion.

They have the right to get a job.

well Ive read that report and as usual they are always one sided and report things that furthers their agenda.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

Look at facts, comparing poverty in America to third world poverty is ludicrous at best.

The poor in America have it better vs the poor in any developed and emerging societies, third world society and even some second world societies.

Take China in some tier 5 rural village, the poor there have no welfare, no government support, they may have free healthcare assuming they can get to the doctor or find a doctor.

Kids there are working in sweat shops ( if they are lucky) or agricultural collectivist farms working 15 hour days, they are not going to school, and when the western goody goody two shoes lefties shuts down the sweat shops these kids are either turning to prostitution or begging in the streets to survive or starve to death.

In America you dont have that, there are so many federal programs to help the poor, Third world countries dont have SNAP , or food stamps or programs like that.

While poverty does exist in america particularly among the african American communities in rural areas and white folks in the Appalachians they still have programs available to them if they choose or know about them.

the same cannot be said for the rest of the third world, comparing poverty in America to the rest of the world is intellectually dishonest.

America is a unique society period, America is the only country in the world where the poor person on average is fat and you want to compare that to a poor person in a third world country?

Less welfare here could benefit Americans. Losing weight would would improve their help. Less foodstamps being sold for liquor would improve health and probably keep a lot out of jail. Welfare queen might have a change of heart and stop having unwanted kids. Maybe even go to work.

We said this in the other thread.
Poverty is a none starter in the west (West meaning West of the Russian border)
Those on or below the poverty line still have the big tv, computer, car etc.
Where as diserli says, poverty in static or developing countries means walking 5 miles to get a bucket of water and waiting for a un bag of rice, which by the way has been genetically modified so you can't actually grow it by the greedy seed companies in the west.

I understand that the people from these countries want to better themselves and the only option is to migrate!
Where are all the god religious people who preach about caring for mankind?
Seems an awful lot of God bless us but not them!
While I'm at it, how many companies in the west exploit migrants for cheap labour?
Why aren't those companies employing resident people?
And yes, there are people who will work but couldn't survive on migrant wages!

Where as diserli says, poverty in static or developing countries means walking 5 miles to get a bucket of water and waiting for a un bag of rice, which by the way has been genetically modified so you can't actually grow it by the greedy seed companies in the west.

Well said

My ex, for example, she is on the dole since November, only works 5-8 hours over the weekend. Refuses to work full time, because she rather helps her mother to mind her nieces, when her sister goes to the gym.
But she is able to go on holidays twice a year, her son gets the latest I phones, and she forks out 400 quid minimum for Christmas presents.

this is true LU (love you)

but the piece is speaking of conditions, which doesnt mean ALL conditions (like what programs are in place) but some conditions (like concentrated poverty, physical ACCESS to places and resources for assistance, crime, drugs, lack of protection ... et cetera)

many in America live FAR FAR worse than your ex ...

so why is Trump to blame for that when mass incarceration of folks particularly minorities started under Bill Clinton?

Clinton ( Bill) supported the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity for crack cocaine vs powder cocaine you know that stuff Eric Clapton sang about in his hit song "cocaine"

When Clinton announced his 3 strike rule in his 1994 state of the union address you folks hailed him as a conquering hero

While he was doing that Hillary was campaigning on his behalf gathering support for this bill because as she put it
quote unquote "They are not just gangs of kids anymore,” she said. “They are often the kinds of kids that are called ‘super-predators.’ No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel.”

A comment she later regret making and Bill admitting that his crime bill was a mistake because of the mass incarceration and many of these people after released couldn't find a job because of their conviction, they couldn't subsidized housing because of their criminal record.

And Trump is to blame for this how?

who is to blame for American poverty?
You want to blame greedy corporations, Trump and the republicans when it was both political parties responsible.



While I agree that Companies exploit people, but to be fair the people they hire in those 3rd world countries are better off , what we think is meager wages in reality is good wages there.

While we cannot live on 20 dollars a day here, 20 dollars a day there means they have a life and can start actually living and if they earn more that means the children can actually start going to school.

While I dont support child labour but if its a choice between children and families starving to death or keeping the kids off the streets I rather them earn a living to help feed themselves and the families.

Its no one politician or party its the normalization of attitudes involving judgmentalism, financial hierarchy, and lack of compassion or empathy.

How can it be worse? Leaving personal reasons aside, this is stonewall welfare cheat, whereas genuine families are losing their homes, because they can't afford to pay then rent

huh?

its no one politician or party TO BLAME, its the normalization of attitudes like HARSH judgmentalism, financial hierarchy, and lack of compassion or empathy that is damaging our 'democracy'

where do think these attitudes came from? do you think they were born with it?

It has to be taught.

Judging people? people have been judging people since Moses was wearing short pants

I still dont know what you mean by financial hierarchy, did the article or your left wing blog not explain it to you.

how is compassion or empathy damaging our democracy? by the way America is not a democracy is a republic, something that George w.Bush foreign policy didnt understand.

I think we all know someone who is living off welfare better than we are paying taxes. I would agree compassion is out the window. Tax payers are proving that by voting Republican. Senate just passed a bill to cut foodstamps by twenty million dollars. Hopefully the house will approve it also.

the attitudes come from education and media and the messages those venues immerse people with every day, and the way in which those messages feed the need of the ego to feel superior....

and I said :' 'harsh' judgmentalism (cruel or severe) which is an extreme of plain judgmentalism

and although I know it is common in these threads for people to simply regurgitate campaign slogans or cut and paste other people's perspectives, I am well capable of and regularly practice coming to my OWN conclusions and forming my own opinions

when I say financial hierarchy I Mean a hierarchy(a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority) based in Financial status


and lack of compassion and empathy are damaging our representative democracy/constitutional republic/country

because once people lose that, it becomes so much easier to start being divided from within in stead of UNITED ... as the title of the country might suggest and the more groups can be dehumanized in justification for inhumane or inequitable treatment...

only if 'better' is only focusing on one attribute, like whether they might own a sixty dollar cellphone or buy groceries with name brands on them or God forbid purchase snacks

but when we look at the OVERALL quality of their life, living conditions, community environment, safety, education, 'freedom', they really live dont live 'better' at all.