UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/7/15 28 February 2008 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Seventh session Agenda item 3 PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT Report of the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty, Arjun Sengupta* Summary In the present report, the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty takes stock of the key issues raised during his tenure. In particular, he reiterates that extreme poverty should be regarded as the combination of income poverty, human development poverty and social exclusion. The independent expert calls for attention to be focused on the intersection of these three components of poverty when social consensus on poverty reduction strategies are formulated. On this basis, he notes that European Union policies are based on the same conceptual understanding of poverty as that proposed by the independent expert. In this context, European Union programmes promoting social inclusion are discussed. In the report, the independent expert emphasizes the importance of international cooperation, which is enshrined in international human rights law. In order to examine the effectiveness of international cooperation in eradicating extreme poverty, the independent expert makes some observations on the past experiences on poverty reduction strategy papers in Africa. He concludes the report by emphasizing the need to recognize that extreme poverty is a denial of human rights, and suggests that guiding principles on extreme poverty become legally binding. * The present report is submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most relevant information. GE.08-11156 (E) 050308