ATD Quart Monde sponsors UN Panel on UBI

The solidarity movement, ATD Quart Monde, which works with poor communities living in first world countries, has organised a panel at the United Nations with Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Philip Alston, devoted to the theme of a universal basic income.

Thirteen governments from all world regions as well as three UN agencies and fifty NGOs took part in the program on 8 June 2017.

ATD Quart Monde's reports notes that the idea has not raised great hopes nor excessive enthusiasm with both advantages and disadvantages being recognised.

Among the advantages it listed:

1. Reducing stigmatisation of the poor;

2. Enabling everyone to live in dignity and to have access to the necessary minimum;

3. Giving more power to people who would not be in a situation of dependency or insecurity;

4. No longer living below the poverty because of a system that discourages initiatve.

On the other hand, potential risks included:

1. Fear of being permanently excluded from the world of work.

2. Would not enable people to be integrated into society, to be recognised and to develop themselves.

Hence, any policy of UBI would need to form part of an overall policy to eradicate extreme poverty.

SOURCE

Un revenu universel de base : une solution pour mettre un terme à la misère ? (ATD Quart Monde)