Early this week, Eurodiaconia has released a short report on its latest Extreme Destitution Network Meeting. The event, co-organised by Kerk in Actie, took place last November in Utrecht (NL) and focused on over-indebtedness, and the issue of fair debt managing measures and practices.
Over-indebtedness can have various causes, e.g. lack of education, unemployment, in-work poverty, housing or health issues to name but a few. In combination with dysfunctional social security systems, this can lead to further poverty of people with debt. For this, a number of rights and principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights point the way forward.
The meeting provided a forum for members to share experiences and good practice, identify the challenges they face as well as discuss potential solutions and opportunities for development. This included discussing what political solutions could be found at national and European level to address over-indebtedness, group work sessions and a study visit to Rotterdam.
To know more about good practices on over-indebtedness, have a look at the meeting report.