The UN’s independent expert on extreme poverty said in a report published today that while governments have adopted more than 1,400 social protection measures since the outbreak of COVID-19 they were largely insufficient, and warned the worst impacts on poverty were yet to
come.
“The social safety nets put into place are full of holes,” said Olivier De Schutter, calling on world leaders at the UN
General Assembly in New York to strengthen measures to help the poor. “These current measures are generally short-term,
the funding is insufficient, and many people will inevitably fall between the cracks.”
The economic downturn resulting from the pandemic is unprecedented in times of peace since the Great Depression, he
said, adding another 176 million people could fall into poverty when using a poverty baseline of 3.20 USD/day. This is equivalent to an increase in the poverty rate of 2.3 percentage
points compared to a no-COVID-19 scenario.
World Bank data covering 113 countries show that US$589bn have been pledged for social protection, representing about
0.4 percent of the world’s GDP. However, the expert’s report says those initiatives will fail to prevent people falling
into poverty. Many of the poorest people are excluded from the social protection schemes that are meant to support them.
“Many schemes require forms to be completed online and exclude large groups of the population who have no internet
access or who have only weak digital literacy,” De Schutter said.
“Some schemes impose conditions impossible to fulfil for people in precarious forms of employment or without a permanent
address. Migrants, especially undocumented migrants, often are not covered. And although some schemes have been designed
to cover workers in the informal sector and in precarious forms of employment, many do not.”
There are 1.6 billion informal workers and 0.4 billion precarious workers worldwide, representing 61 percent of the
global workforce.
De Schutter said most of the programmes were now being phased out, or can only be renewed through parliamentary
processes with uncertain outcomes. “Families in poverty have by now used up whatever reserves they had, and sold their
assets,” he said. “The worst impacts of the crisis on poverty are still to come.”
Even where programs are still in place, the allowances often are grossly insufficient to guarantee a decent standard of
living.
The independent expert called upon world leaders to seize the moment, by calling for the establishment of strong social
protection floors guided by human rights principles, to make them more effective in eradicating poverty and in reducing
inequalities.