Overview
Respond to the following quotation from a statement made by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston, after a 15-day fact finding mission to witness poverty across the US:
"The United States is alone among developed countries in insisting that while human rights are of fundamental importance, they do not include rights that guard against dying of hunger, dying from a lack of access to affordable healthcare, or growing up in a context of total deprivation. . . at the end of the day, particularly in a rich country like the USA, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power. With political will, it could readily be eliminated."