UN Expert on Extreme Poverty to Meet with ACORN Lead Organizer Stephen Bradberry to Discuss Poverty in New Orleans

United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, Dr. Arjun Sengupta, will meet with Stephen Bradberry, an economic rights activist and Lead Organizer of the New Orleans Office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and members of the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association (AKSA) on October 28th, 2005 at the Baton Rouge ACORN Offices to discuss problems now faced by the New Orleans's displaced poor.

“The people of New Orleans want to come home and rebuild their communities,” says Stephen Bradberry. “International law—specifically the ‘UN Guidelines on Internal Displacement’—says that the city’s dislocated residents have a right to return, and to have a voice in the recovery process. But under current policies, these rights are not being respected.”

Mr. Bradberry also points out that, “In order to have a voice, low and moderate income families must have access to their own neighborhoods, temporary shelter near their homes, and first access to jobs in the reconstruction process, under fair wages and conditions.”

Dr. Sengupta and his UN delegation were invited by the United States government to meet with government officials and civic leaders, like Mr. Bradberry, to study the lessons learned in the United States after Hurricane Katrina. His delegation hopes to analyze how high levels of poverty have come to exist in the United States, a highly advanced industrialized economy.

Since Hurricane Katrina hit, Stephen Bradberry has worked tirelessly to coordinate help for those affected by the storm from ACORN’s temporary headquarters in Baton Rouge. ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families working together for social justice and stronger communities.

Through organizing the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association (AKSA), Bradberry hopes to unite survivors spread across the country to have a real say in how their communities are rebuilt. He is working to assure New Orleans poor have a right to return to their city, the means to take care of themselves and that their concerns are treated with fairness and dignity.

Even before disaster struck New Orleans, Bradberry had much experience in motivating political action to address the everyday problems affecting the low income communities of New Orleans through public interest campaigns targeted at promoting a living wage, preventing lead poisoning in children, giving parents a say in local schools, preventing predatory lending, and increasing voter participation.

Mr. Bradberry was recently awarded the 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial and the 2005 Court TV “Unexpected Hero Award”.

Dr. Arjun Sengupta is the Independent Expert of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the question of human rights and extreme poverty. In its resolution 1998/25, the UN Commission on Human Rights, deeply concerned that extreme poverty continued to spread throughout the world, regardless of economic, social or cultural situations, decided to appoint an independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty. Dr. Sengupta, is currently serving a two year term.

Dr. Sengupta’s role is to evaluate the relationship between the promotion and protection of human rights and extreme poverty by meeting with local officials, civic leaders, and members of the media and to make recommendations on how to eliminate such poverty.

Mr. Bradberry hopes the meeting will garner UN support for New Orleans’ working poor communities as they try to recover from this tragedy. “Louisiana ACORN, the nationwide ACORN Katrina Survivors Association, and our labor and community allies are fighting to rebuild a viable community, where people can return and prosper”, says Bradberry.

Meeting Location: Baton Rouge ACORN Offices
5177 Greenwell Springs Rd
Baton Rouge, LA 70806

For meeting time and information on interviewing Mr. Bradberry or Dr. Sengupta please contact:
Jeffrey Buchanan, Communications Officer
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
(202) 463-7575 ext 241