UNITED NATIONS: Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, has lambasted a report which spoke of poverty in America, calling it “misleading and politically motivated”.

“It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in Ame­ri­ca,” Haley wrote in letters to Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

“There is no question that poverty in America remains a serious concern, but it does no one any good to inaccurately describe its prevalence or its causes.”

Sanders and Warren were among 20 congressional De­­mocrats who wrote Haley last week criticising the Trump administration for the UN study’s conclusions .

In December, Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, issued the report following visits to California, Alabama, Georgia, Puerto Rico, West Virginia and the capital Washington. Citing the Republican tax overhaul, Alston said his visit coincided “with a dramatic change of direction in US policies relating to inequality and extreme poverty”.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2018

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