'We squandered a decade': world losing fight against poverty, says UN academic

Goal to eradicate poverty by 2030 completely off track', says outgoing special rapporteur, with Covid-19 likely to impoverish millions more

International institutions are losing the fight against global poverty despite self congratulatory" messages to the contrary, according to the UN's outgoing special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

In his final report in the post, the Australian academic Philip Alston warns that states and global organisations are completely off track" to meet the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, with more people instead likely to become highly impoverished by new shocks, including coronavirus and existing challenges like the climate crisis.

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