EXPERT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND EXTREME POVERTY TO VISIT UNITED STATES

18 October 2005

Dr. Arjun Sengupta, Independent Expert of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the question of human rights and extreme poverty, will visit the United States of America at the invitation of the Government from 23 October to 8 November 2005.

The Independent Expert will analyse some of the lessons learned in the United States in addressing the different components of extreme poverty – such as income poverty, human development poverty and social exclusion – and identify examples of good practices and obstacles encountered.

The Independent Expert will meet with Government officials, at the Federal and State levels, as well as with representatives of civil society, including organizations working with and for people living in poverty, members of the media and academics.

The Independent Expert will present a report on his mission to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session in March-April 2006.


The Independent Expert is appointed by the Commission to assist States, and others, to promote the full enjoyment of human rights of persons living in extreme poverty. For further information on the mandate of the Independent Expert and copies of available reports, please consult the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. ( http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/index.htm)