The global coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more than 250 million people to the brink of starvation and dashed hopes of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, a United Nation’s expert said in a report. The report criticized the way governments have banked on economic growth to lift people out of poverty. The report, presented at the session of the Human Rights Council, has been prepared by Philip Allston, predecessor of UN Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter on extreme poverty and human rights.

According to the report, the UN’s 2030 Agenda to eradicate poverty through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relies too much on a poverty line set so low by the World Bank that it allows governments to claim progress. It said that the COVID-19 pandemic will push 176 million more people into extreme poverty, compounding long-standing neglect of low-income people, including women, migrant workers and refugees.

Many world leaders, economists, and pundits have enthusiastically promoted a self-congratulatory message, proclaiming progress against poverty to be one of the greatest human achievements. The reality is that billions face few opportunities, countless indignities, unnecessary hunger, and preventable death, and do not enjoy basic human rights, the report noted.

The report pointed out that the benefits promised for economic growth were either not fulfilled or not benefited by everyone. “The size of the global economy has doubled since the Second World War, but then half the population lives on less than $ 5.50 per day, primarily because the benefits of growth have largely gone to the wealthiest.”

Who is the Rapporteur? 

In Model UN, a rapporteur is a member of the dais, typically alongside a Chair and/or Director. Their duties are mostly procedural, such as taking roll calls, counting votes, keeping watch over caucus time, and other administrative items like organizing working papers and adding names to a Speakers’ List. They are not employees of United Nation and do not receive any salary for their work. These Reporters are independent of any government or organization and work in their personal capacity.