The private sector “should not take the lead in poverty alleviation” but it should remain a key obligation of governments to improve the life of the poorest people across the world according to Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

The privatization of public services, such as health care, social protection, education and prisons, has been promoted by international organizations, such as the World Bank and “even the UN,” Mr. Alston told UN News, in an in-depth interview.

The Special Rapporteur believes countries like the United States are increasingly allowing profit-driven private companies, to run services for the estimated 40 million people who live in poverty in the US.

Daniel Dickinson sat down with Philip Alston to discuss his role as an independent observer of poverty and began by asking him what he had seen in the seven countries he has visited since 2014 when he became Special Rapporteur.