Philip Alston UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights is visiting Spain
The UN’s extreme poverty expert is embarking on a 12-day visit to Spain to see what the government of Europe’s fifth largest economy is doing to address inequality, unemployment and social exclusion.
Philip Alston, the special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, will begin his fact-finding mission in Madrid on Monday before travelling to Galicia, the Basque country, Extremadura, Andalucía and Catalonia.
Alston said he would be looking into how Spain’s social protection system works for those in poverty and examining areas such as housing, education and healthcare.
“I think there’s no shortage of statistical indicators to suggest that Spain has significant problems in terms of its less well-off population,” he said.
“Spain is the fifth largest economy in Europe and yet it has surprisingly high levels of poverty,” which “raises real questions about who has benefited from recent growth and who has lagged behind,” the rapporteur said. the announcement of his trip to Spain a few days ago in Geneva.
Approximately half of the population has difficulty reaching to make ends meet, Spain’s unemployment rate doubles the EU average and the country spends much less than the EU average on numerous types of social support, the statement said. from the ONU.
Alston said that the new Government of Spain “has committed to improve the economic and social welfare of the population,” so his visit that occurs at the start of this new legislature offers an opportunity to “recommend the best way to the Government can support “disadvantaged people.
