UN Expert Slams US on Poverty, Quitting Global Rights Body

By Associated Press | Published on June 23, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — A human rights expert is criticizing the U.S. for failing to tackle poverty, days after Washington quit the United Nations body that appointed him.

New York-based law professor Philip Alston said Friday that high U.S. income inequality “can only be made worse” by the Trump administration’s policy of cutting taxes and restricting welfare.

A day before Alston presented his report to the Human Rights Council, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley branded it “misleading and politically motivated” in a letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Announcing the U.S. pullout from the Geneva-based body Tuesday, Haley described the council as a “cesspool of bias.”

No U.S. diplomats were present to respond Friday when Alston told the council of witnessing “raw sewage” pouring into poor residents’ gardens in Alabama.

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