UN expert: when trump poor become even poorer

Poverty in the United States if Donald trump is becoming an increasingly urgent problem, said the UN representative Philip Alston.

The special Rapporteur of the United Nations on poverty and human rights urged the authorities to improve the social protection of citizens, on the verge of poverty or below, instead of «to punish and put in jail.»

Elston noted that the current President cuts social benefits and limits the access of Americans to health insurance, while conducting a tax reform, providing incentives for large businesses and wealthy citizens. Such steps, according to the UN special Rapporteur, can only exacerbate the stratification of society.

«Policy pursued in the past year were directed towards the systematic abolition of most benefits for the poorest [of the citizens], to sanctions against the unemployed, making even basic health care a privilege that must be earned and not a right of every citizen,» said Elston.

According to the UN, nearly 41 million people in the United States — poor, of which 18.5 million are living below the poverty line. Each third beggar is a child. In the United States has the highest level of poverty among young people in industrialized countries, stated Alston.

Citing the «shameful statistics» on racial discrimination, Alston stressed that the poor African Americans in 2.5 times more than whites, and the unemployment rate among blacks is 2 times higher. Women, Latinos, immigrants and indigenous peoples also suffer from unemployment and poverty.

«In the end, the maintenance of extreme poverty, especially in a rich country like the United States, is a political choice of those who is in power,» concluded the UN special Rapporteur.

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