Oxfam urges chief executive to set poverty threshold
Oxfam is urging the chief executive to define the penury line, propose targets to help the poor, and avoid previous mistakes ahead of body's relaunch
The upcoming relaunch of the Commission on Poverty is an opportunity to rethink Hong Kong's priorities on alleviating poverty and rectify mistakes, says Oxfam Hong Kong.
The charity group yesterday urged the government to create a new post of commissioner for the body and to define the poverty line.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying chairs a seven-member preparatory task force that is consulting various sectors on the direction and scope of the commission, which will be set up next month.
Oxfam says it's pinning its hopes on Leung to act, adding that the body's main task was to define the poverty threshold.
It is also urging Leung not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in poverty-relief efforts.
When Tsang led the government, he did not define the poverty threshold. He also did not have specific poverty-reduction targets despite having then financial secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen chair an anti-poverty body from February 2005 to June 2007.
"The commissioner for poverty alleviation can foster collaboration between the government and the community," said Alfred Choy Man-kit, an Oxfam programme officer.