UN to investigate welfare cuts on vulnerable UK groups

[chenrezig]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -uk-groups

The United Nations has launched an investigation into whether welfare cuts have disproportionally hit marginalised groups in Britain such as single parents, ethnic minorities and children.

It follows a separate confidential human rights inquiry by the UN into alleged violations of disability rights following welfare reforms, though this second investigation will be held in public and is more akin to a routine checkup rather than a response to an emergency situation.
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The UN’s committee on the covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (CESCR) announced on Wednesday that it planned to ask the government how it has “ensured austerity measures ... do not disproportionately affect, in particular, disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups”.

The UK was last investigated in 2009, so no previous CESCR investigation has looked at the effects of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s policies nor those of its successor.

The inquiry will cover more than 30 topics on an extremely broad remit and include questions on the gender pay gap, youth unemployment, migrant workers and asylum seekers and trade union rights.

It will also investigate:

Whether the national minimum wage provides families with a decent living.
Whether the government’s proposals for further welfare reform, including changes to tax credits, give people on benefits enough to live on.
Whether childcare is safe, accessible and affordable.
What steps are being taken to reduce reliance on emergency food aid from food banks.
Whether welfare reform is contributing to the lack of affordable housing.
The extent of homelessness, and measures to reduce the numbers sleeping rough.
How mental health services have been affected by cuts.
Whether there is fair access to higher education because of university fees.

Evidence has been requested by the committee in order to assess whether the government is adequately tackling forced marriage, domestic violence and female genital mutilation, and the strategy to combat human trafficking.

One group particularly singled out in the remit was Gypsy and Traveller communities and their access to basic services such as sanitation, healthcare and education.

The investigation is part of a periodic review of all the countries that have signed up to the covenant. A UN delegation of independent experts from numerous countries is set to hold public six-hour talks with government officials next summer.

A UN spokeswoman said the review was launched because it was due, rather than in response to a particular concern, though representatives from Just Fair, a consortium of 70 UK charities and NGOs, met the CESCR in Geneva a fortnight ago to discuss concerns about the erosion of rights to food and housing and the economic and social rights of disabled people.

Jamie Burton, the chair of Just Fair, said: “The decision of the committee to investigate these issues is timely and welcome. We and many others are concerned about the adverse impact austerity policies have had on the least well-off and already marginalised in society, including those in work.
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“In the one of the richest countries in the world, people do not have enough food to eat or decent housing to live in. Worst of all, the measures have hit children, single mothers and people with disabilities the hardest. As the tax credits scandal shows, the public is turning against these policies precisely because they are so unfair.”

CESCR monitors countries’ compliance with the 1966 covenant, which the UK has ratified. The other nations to be investigated during the coming session are Angola, Burkina Faso, Honduras, Kenya, Namibia, Sweden and Macedonia.

Its findings will be published on 24 June next year, highlighting the committee’s main areas of concern and recommendations for change.

A government spokesman said the inquiry was not an investigation
into wrongdoing but “a routine request for information that occurs
every few years as part of the periodic reporting process to the UN”.
He added: “We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in
society. The UK government continues to support millions of people on
benefits with an £80bn working-age welfare safety net in place.”

Separately, the UN committee on the rights of persons with disabilities is holding confidential hearings in the UK as part of an investigation into the effects of welfare cuts, during which it will speak to campaigners, lawyers and service users.

It is the first time a country has been investigated by the committee over claims of human rights breaches and was initiated by the grassroots campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts.

[wendy]

This will be most interesting to find out.
I can't wait.

[annie]

tha22222
I am sure this will prove that it does have a negative effect, but will they do anything about it if it does> This govt doesn't appear to care about vulnerable people's welfare, only about saving money

[wendy]

Money that the last government spent unwisely and left us nearly bankrupt.
People soon forget how lucky we are with what we have today.