UN investigating Third World conditions in world’s richest country
In recent weeks the United States has seen two visitors from the United Nations who arrived to investigate conditions that most people would never associate with the biggest economy in the world.
Philip Alston, the special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, was investigating whether it is possible to enjoy human rights if you are unable to meet basic living standards.
Leilani Farha, the special rapporteur on adequate housing, was there to look into informal settlements, shanties, favelas and tent cities. Both were said to be deeply concerned at the unacceptable squalor and massive inequality they found in what is said to be the world’s richest country.
Having read news articles on their visits and seen the pictures attached I have come to realise that poverty in my part of North Thailand has yet to reach the extreme lows that are now afflicting parts of the US. When the richest man in the world is paying wages that can’t provide basic accommodation, something has gone badly wrong.
Lungstib
