A/HRC/44/40/Add.2 people who need it most. The capacity of existing cash transfers to reduce poverty is among the lowest in the European Union.17 14. A long line of domestic and external actors, such as the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility, 18 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 19 and the European Commission have come to similar conclusions. 20 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) – hardly a knee-jerk defender of the need for adequate social protection – recently reported that Spanish social assistance programmes do not deliver fully on their objectives, that expenditure is low, that gaps in adequacy and coverage stand in the way of reducing poverty, that bureaucratic hurdles decrease uptake and that the least social assistance is directed to the most vulnerable children and lowincome households.21 15. Many politicians and civil servants agreed that there were deep structural problems. Poverty and precarity, many acknowledged, were baked into the system, but while the new Government was committed to far-reaching reforms, too many officials seemed complacent and content to blame “other” parts of the system. Some officials dismissed high rates of poverty on the grounds that the cost of living was lower in some autonomous communities. Recent increases to the family and child benefit and the minimum wage are important first steps, but are far from adequate. There is remarkable consensus around the extent of the harm caused by existing housing and social protection policies and what needs to be done, but precious little action. 16. A vibrant third sector is doing admirable work, with many staff and volunteers deeply dedicated to supporting people seeking to achieve economic security and adequate living standards. However, the Government has direct obligations to fulfil human rights that cannot be effectively outsourced and it cannot abandon its own responsibilities to a patchwork of underfunded third sector groups. The latter cannot replace the State, nor can it offer the comprehensive, systematic support needed to fight poverty at scale and ensure that people are protected against the worst of its impacts. III. Key challenges 17. If the new Government is to deliver on its commitment to make Spain a leader in social rights, it will need to address the following main issues. A. Social protection Social assistance 18. Social assistance in Spain does a poor job of tackling poverty. The impact of social transfers on poverty reduction is the sixth lowest among reporting European Union countries.22 In 2014, no more than 10 per cent of transfers accrued to the bottom 20 per cent of households, half of what they would have received under an equal distribution. 23 According to Caritas, the majority of the 1.8 million people living in severe poverty as of 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Well-being, Estrategia Nacional de Prevencion y Lucha contra la Pobreza y la Exclusion Social 2019–2023 (March 2019), p. 71. Autoridad Independiente de Responsabilidad Fiscal, Los Programas de Rentas Mínimas en España (June 2019). OECD, Economic Surveys: Spain (March 2017), pp. 43–44. European Commission, “Council recommendation on the 2019 national reform programme of Spain and delivering a Council opinion on the 2019 stability programme of Spain” (June 2019), pp. 5 and 8. Svetlana Vyturina, “Effectiveness and equity in social spending: the case of Spain”, IMF working paper 20/16, p. 21. For social transfers excluding pensions, Spain achieved a 22.94 per cent reduction in the rate of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2018, compared to an average of 33.2 per cent in the European Union, Eurostat, “Social scoreboard of indicators”. Oretta Causa and Mikkel Hermansen, Income Redistribution Through Taxes and Transfers Across OECD Countries, OECD Economics Department working paper No. 1453 (July 2019), p. 18. 5