COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CONCLUDES SPECIAL SESSION IN NEW YORK, 21-31 MAY

3 June 1996

Press Release
SOC/4405*

COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT CONCLUDES SPECIAL SESSION IN NEW YORK, 21-31 MAY

19960603 Poverty Eradication Strategies; International Year of Older Persons

Concluding its special session in an extended afternoon meeting on Friday 31 May, the Commission for Social Development approved, by a show-of- hands vote of 27 in favour to 1 against (United States), with 1 abstention (Ukraine), an orally-amended draft resolution that would have the Economic and Social Council decide on several aspects of the Commission's functioning, including the increase of its membership from the current 32 to 46 members.

Before action on the draft, the Secretary of the Commission said that the increase in membership from 32 to 46 would entail the need for additional resources from the 1996-1997 programme budget. The representative of the United States said he was not in a position to support a text calling for increased budgetary expenditures. After action, the representative of Ukraine said that increasing the Commission's membership was premature until the need for that had been clearly established.

The draft resolution, which was one of three texts acted upon during a meeting that lasted over five hours, concerned follow-up to the 1995 World Summit for Social Development and the Commission's future role. It was introduced by the Chairman of the working group that discussed that issue, Ruth Limjuco (Philippines), and it was the subject of five show-of-hands votes.

_---------_ * The meeting number of Press Release SOC/4404, dated 31 May, should have been the 14th Meeting (AM)

In addition to voting on the draft as a whole, the Commission approved, by a vote of 24 in favour to 2 against (Ukraine and United States), with 2 abstentions (Japan and Russian Federation), a provision recommending that the Council should distribute the seats of the increased membership as follows: 12 from African States; 10 from Asian States; nine from Latin America and Caribbean States; five from Eastern European States; and 10 from Western European and Other States.

Speaking after action, the representatives of China, Mongolia, Iran and the Philippines, stated their support for the increase in the Commission's membership and expressed disappointment over the geographical distribution agreed, particularly the number of seats allocated to Asian countries. The representative of Japan said that her abstention on the increase of the Commission's membership did not mean that she considered its task less important than that of other subsidiary commissions of the Council. The representative of the Russian Federation said the question of the Commission's enlargement was not directly relevant to its work.

Further, a paragraph recommending that the Council decide that the Commission's sessions should be held annually -- instead of biannually -- and last eight working days was approved by a vote of 24 in favour to 1 against (United States), with 3 abstentions (Japan, Russian Federation and Ukraine).

The Commission also decided by a vote of 25 in favour to 2 against (Japan and United States), with 2 abstentions (Russian Federation and Ukraine) to remove the brackets around the words "within existing resources" in a provision of the draft requesting the Secretary-General and United Nations bodies to take appropriate measures to strengthen, within existing resources, the United Nations capacity for gathering and analysing information and developing indicators of social development.

Acting on the same text, the Commission -- by a vote of 24 in favour to five against (Belarus, Japan, Russian Federation, Ukraine and United States), with no abstentions -- decided to delete a paragraph which would have it recommend to the Council that it should agree to review the Commission's functioning following the special session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit to be held in the year 2000.

A motion to retain that paragraph in the draft had been introduced by the representative of the United States. Speaking against the motion were the representatives of China -- who asked why the Commission for Social Development had been singled out for review -- and Iran.

Social Development Commission - 3 - Press Release SOC/4405 15th Meeting (PM) 3 June 1996

Acting without a vote, the Commission adopted, as orally amended, a draft resolution on strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty, submitted by the Chairman of the working group on that subject, Sten Arne Rosnes (Norway). By that text, the Commission urged governments to integrate poverty eradication strategies into overall development policies, stressing that such strategies, at the national and international levels, should have the human being at the core, regardless of any political, economic, social and cultural considerations.

By other action, the Commission recommended to the Economic and Social Council the adoption of a draft decision by which it would establish an open- ended support group to assist the Commission in the preparation of the observance of the International Year of Older Persons (1999).

The Commission also adopted, as orally revised, the report of its special session, which was introduced by the Sileshi Shewaneh (Ethiopia), the Rapporteur. It decided to include in the report the summary prepared by its Chairman, Koos Richelle (Netherlands), of the three panel discussions on poverty eradication held as part of the Commission's special session along with the explanation that the summary was neither negotiated nor adopted by it. The Commission also adopted an orally revised provisional agenda for its thirty-fifth session.

The special session, which began on 21 May, dealt mainly with a review of the Commission's mandate, terms of reference and scope of work. As the body with the central role in the follow-up to the Social Summit, the Commission also focused on the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, particularly Commitment 2 of the Declaration and Chapter 2 of the Programme of Action, both of which deal with the goal of poverty eradication through decisive national actions and international cooperation.

Action by Commission

Under the approved version, as orally amended, of the draft resolution entitled "follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development and the future role of the Commission for Social Development" (document E/CN.5/1996/L.5), the Economic and Social Council would decide to increase the Commission's membership to 46 members and also decide that its sessions should be held annually. The membership would be distributed as follows: 12 from African States; 10 from Asian States; nine from Latin America and Caribbean States; five from Eastern European States; and 10 from Western European and Other States.

Also by the draft, the Council would adopt the Commission's multi-year programme of activity to the year 2000, consisting of the consideration of the following themes: productive employment and sustainable livelihoods (1997);

Social Development Commission - 4 - Press Release SOC/4405 15th Meeting (PM) 3 June 1996

promoting social integration and participation of all, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons (1998); social services for all and initiation of overall review of the implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit (1999); and the Commission's contribution to the overall review and appraisal by a special session of the Assembly (2000).

In addition, the Council would call upon relevant organs of the United Nations system to be involved in the follow-up to the Social Summit, and decide that the task forces established by the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) for the follow-up to United Nations development-related conferences should inform the Commission and the Council of the progress of their work. It would stress the importance of the participation in the Commission's work of high-level representatives on matters related to social development, and reaffirm the need for an effective partnership and cooperation between governments and the civil society.

By the resolution on strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty (document E/CN.5/1996/L.4), the Commission urged governments to integrate poverty eradication strategies into overall development policies that took into account people-centred and equitable process with the ultimate goal of improving the human condition. Such strategies, at the national and international levels, should have the human being at the core, regardless of any political, economic, social and cultural considerations.

International organizations, in particular the international financial institutions, were encouraged to support the efforts of governments to promote goals of illiteracy eradication and universal and equitable access to quality education and the highest standard of physical and mental health. The Commission reaffirmed that international financial institutions should contribute to the mobilization of resources for the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the Social Summit. All States were called upon to contribute substantially to the Trust Fund for the Follow-up to the Social Summit.

Also by the resolution, the Commission called on the international community to mobilize additional financial resources adequate and predictable to contribute to poverty eradication. The Commission took note with interest of the consensus reached at Oslo, on 25 April, on the mutual commitment between interested developed and developing partners to allocate 20 per cent of official development assistance (ODA) and 20 per cent of the national budget, respectively, to basic social programmes.

The need for implementation of sound and stable macroeconomic, micro- economic and sectoral policies that encouraged broad-based, sustained economic growth and development was stressed. It was emphasized that governments and relevant international institutions should examine the effects of rapid

Social Development Commission - 5 - Press Release SOC/4405 15th Meeting (PM) 3 June 1996

globalization and increased liberalization of trade on the abilities of States to implement effective strategies for poverty eradication. The Commission recommended that States consider more operational ways to address social exclusion. The need for strategies to address inadequate income, lack of access to resources and basic social services were also urged.

Highlights of Special Session

At the just concluded special session, the Commission, which was established on 21 June 1946, held, for the first time, panel discussions. That was an attempt to open its debate to experts and main actors of civil society in the field of social development. The focus of the discussions was poverty eradication, the priority theme of the session. Three panels of experts discussed the following topics: integrated strategies for poverty eradication; meeting the basic human needs of all; and the promotion of self- reliance and community based initiatives.

During the panels, the Commission was told that the participation and involvement of the poor were prerequisites for the success of poverty alleviation efforts. Panellists called for a shift from traditional development and said poverty could be tackled by creating new ways of earning livelihood, by increasing labour productivity and by redistribution through fiscal measures. The importance of diversifying the economy, of education and of training was stressed. Experts emphasized that economic growth did not automatically bring employment or reduce poverty.

It was also stated that no single development model applied to all societies. Emphasizing the role of financing and governance, panellists said it was difficult to integrate the requirements of structural adjustment demanded by international financial institutions with meeting the basic human needs of all. Moreover, the imposition of taxes, such as the value added tax, demanded by international financial institutions, imposed undue burdens on the poor. Basic human needs were much wider than basic social services, and major education programmes to ensure understanding among non-poor about the problems of the poor were necessary, it was emphasized.

A panel of senior United Nations officials discussed the follow-up to major development-related conferences by the inter-agency task forces established by the ACC. The facilitator of the discussions was the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth.

Participants stressed the need to develop national capacity-building, coherent policies and partnerships among the United Nations, the international financial community and donors in order to achieve the goals of those

Social Development Commission - 6 - Press Release SOC/4405 15th Meeting (PM) 3 June 1996

conferences. The need for the United Nations system to translate the results of conferences to the country level was stressed, as was the need for effective incorporation of gender concerns in the implementation of recent conference goals.

Officers; Membership

The Commission Chairman was Koos Richelle (Netherlands). Ruth Limjuco (Philippines) and Julia Tavares de Alvarez (Dominican Republic) were Vice- Chairmen. Sileshi Shewaneh (Ethiopia) was the Rapporteur.

The 32 members of the Social Development Commission are: Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, France, Gabon, Germany, Iran, Japan, Malta, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sudan, Togo, Ukraine, United States, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

* *** *