On 6 October 2025, EAPN participated in the expert roundtable “An EU Anti-Poverty Strategy grounded in human rights”, organised by the UN Human Rights Regional Office for Europe at the UN House in Brussels. The meeting gathered EU institutions, civil society organisations, and international bodies to discuss how a human rights-based approach can guide the future EU Anti-Poverty Strategy, currently being developed by the European Commission.
EAPN was represented by Marie-Amah Kouadio, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer and Juliana Wahlgren, Director, who moderated the session “Combatting poverty through human rights-based policy making”. The discussion focused on sharing good practices for implementing international human rights standards in the fight against poverty, ensuring the participation of people experiencing poverty, and embedding equality and non-discrimination in policy design.
Irina Emanuela Popovici, Project Assistant at Bucovina Institute and member of EAPN Romania, she set the scene of the roundtable to bring valuable national and lived-experience perspectives. Drawing attention to the growing reality of in-work poverty, she explained:
“I live in modern poverty: I have a salary, I pay rent; but if I go to the dentist, I risk not being able to pay the utilities that month.”
Irina also underlined the importance of recognising the diversity of poverty across Europe, adding:
“Each country needs national targets, because poverty in Romania is not the same as in Belgium or in Portugal.”
Her testimony underlined the importance of direct participation by people with lived experience of poverty in shaping EU and national anti-poverty strategies.
The main outcomes of the consultation will contribute to a series of recommendations that the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter, will submit to the European Commission as part of the ongoing public consultation.
We thank the UN Human Rights Regional Office for Europe for organising and hosting this important exchange.
