Spain turning its back on the poor, says UN investigator

SPAIN is utterly failing its poor as it fails to adapt to the realities of modern society, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights said yesterday after a two-week fact-finding mission in the country.

Philip Alston said he sensed a complacency among politicians based on the idea that Spain is a caring society where families look after each other.

“Spain needs to look closely at itself in the mirror and it will not see what it expects. The image most Spaniards believe in is that of a close-knit community and family-based society, but the economy has changed and the old system no longer works,” he said in Madrid.

Mr Alston said he was particularly surprised that, in a country that traditionally prides itself on being child-focused, 29.5 per cent of minors are either affected by or are at risk of poverty and social exclusion.

Criticising the policies adopted since the start of the financial crisis in 2008 that crippled the Spanish economy, Mr Alston said that Spain has not only left behind the most vulnerable, such as Roma communities and immigrants, but also allowed a large swath of the population to fall into poverty due to a “miserly” welfare system.

Spain’s expenditure on social protection per person is 40 per cent less than the EU average, in a country with the bloc’s second-highest unemployment rate. Social housing accounts for just two per cent of homes.

“Poverty is ultimately a political choice, and governments can, if they wish, opt to overcome it,” he added.