Geneva/New York, October 17 – Lives will be lost unless governments embark on increasing benefits and wages in line with rising inflation, a U.N. poverty expert said.

With rising inflation hitting rich and poor countries around the world buffeted by Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate destructions, calls to take effective measures resounded with a focus on low-income economies.

“It is not hyperbole to say that unless governments increase benefits and wages in line with inflation lives will be lost,” said Olivier De Schutter, U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said in an address to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17).

“Whether in Europe, where inflation has hit 10 percent or sub-Saharan Africa where food prices have surged by 20 per cent, household budgets across the world are being stretched beyond breaking point, meaning even more people in poverty will starve or freeze this winter unless immediate action is taken to increase their income,” De Schutter said.  

“As with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is once again the most vulnerable that are paying the price of world events. The combined crises are expected to throw an additional 75 to 95 million people into extreme poverty this year alone.”

The Special Rapporteur also urged governments to act quickly to insulate homes ahead of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

“Insulating people’s homes to keep them warm and safe is not rocket science, and failure to act in this area is simply down to a lack of political will. Not only will doing so reduce the energy bills of low-income households, it will also considerably reduce carbon emissions.”

He called on governments to involve people in poverty in the design of policies to tackle the soaring cost-of-living, pointing to the Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, adopted a decade ago, as a roadmap to follow.

“For far too long misguided poverty-reduction policies have completely failed to reach those in need, meaning poverty simply passes from one generation to the next. As policymakers attempt to shield low-income households from the current crisis, I implore them to call on the real experts – people with lived experience of poverty,” De Schutter said.

“The Guiding Principles are a secret weapon in the fight against poverty. They should be on the desk of every decision-maker as they navigate the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.”

U.N. warns of growing hunger crisis on World Food Day

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. marked World Food Day in Rome (October 16) with the rallying cry to “leave no one behind” in the fight against rising levels of hunger being experienced in Asia and Africa.

“In the face of a looming global food crisis, we need to harness the power of solidarity and collective momentum to build a better future where everyone has regular access to enough nutritious food,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said at an event on the day.

An estimated 828 million people were facing hunger in 2021 in addition to the 970 000 people at risk of famine in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, FAO said in its latest The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report) which pointed out that 3.1 billion people still cannot afford a healthy diet.

Alvaro Lario, President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said at the event: “This year, more than ever, World Food Day should be a call to ramp up action to elp small-scale farmers in rural areas, who supply food to their communities and countries – through crisis after crisis – despite inequality, vulnerability, and poverty.”

“My gravest concern is what’s coming next: a food availability crisis as the fallout from conflict and climate change threatens to sabotage global food production in the months ahead. The world must open its eyes to this unprecedented global food crisis and act now to stop it spinning out of control,” said World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley.

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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