The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, visited today the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile, where he had meetings with various officials from the regional organization.
Alston, an Australian, was welcomed by ECLAC’s Deputy Executive Secretary, Antonio Prado, on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena. His agenda included meetings with ECLAC’s experts on poverty, inequality, education and social protection.
ECLAC is one of the five United Nations regional commissions and its goal is to promote the economic, social and environmental development of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
On Monday, March 16, the United Nations Special Rapporteur began a nine-day official visit to Chile to assess the structural causes and consequences of poverty and inequalities in the country. During his tour of the cities of Santiago, Valparaíso and Temuco, Alston will talk to government authorities, representatives from non-governmental organizations and labor unions, academics and people living in extreme poverty.
On March 24, at the end of his visit, the independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council will give a press conference at ECLAC headquarters to present his preliminary observations. His report with conclusions and recommendations will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2016.
