Amid worsening economic prospects for millions, member states of the UN body also called for action on housing to prevent homelessness, better food security for young children and equal rights for people with disabilities. After a four-year review, the UN body issued 302 recommendations in a written document on Monday. While some of the requests came from countries such as North Korea, Russia and Belarus, which are likely to be easily dismissed by ministers, others demanding change included New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada. The report was published as new figures showed that 4 million children in households with Universal Credit face big cuts in income if benefits are not increased in line with inflation in Thursday’s Autumn Budget and that the proportion of consumers who cannot afford to eat healthy, balanced. The diet increased to 36% last month. Dozens of organizations in the UK, from Oxfam to healthcare union Unison, said the UK was “failing to meet its international legal obligations”. More than 80 groups have written to the Department of Justice, calling on it to respond to the UN agency’s demands and plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a bill of rights that has been dubbed a “bill of rights” by critics. Signatories include Human Rights Watch and Just Fair, which campaigns for economic, social and cultural rights it describes as “everyday life rights”. Earlier this month, UN extreme poverty rapporteur Olivier de Schutter told Rishi Sunak that unleashing a new wave of austerity could breach the UK’s international human rights obligations and increase hunger and malnutrition. This week’s calls for action from the UN human rights council included Romania urging the UK government to “implement an emergency poverty strategy that addresses the impact of rising costs on child poverty targets and access to affordable , accessible and culturally appropriate social housing’. Brazil said the UK must “improve food security, particularly for young children, teenagers and people with disabilities”. Switzerland has warned against the legality of the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and New Zealand said the UK government must propose “policies and practices to eliminate discrimination against minorities”. On Tuesday, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said a third of consumers surveyed in October by the Food Standards Agency had eaten products past their expiry date because they could not afford to buy more food, and a quarter were eating cold food because they could not they could afford to cook. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimated that working couples on universal credit with two children would be £752 worse off in 2023-24 if benefits rose in line with wages (5.4%) rather than inflation (10.2%) in Thursday’s budget. Working single parents with two children would be £654 worse off. CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Children are going hungry because family budgets are at breaking point. This problem has been brewing for some time and in the current crisis another cut in real terms is indefensible.” The UK government has been approached for comment.
