WOMEN MUST BE ARCHITECTS OF PROGRAMMES TO ERADICATE POVERTY, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL IS TOLD
Press Release
ECOSOC/5653
WOMEN MUST BE ARCHITECTS OF PROGRAMMES TO ERADICATE POVERTY, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL IS TOLD
19960701 The importance of providing women with more choices as a key aspect to meet the challenge of eradicating poverty was stressed by the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as the Economic and Social Council continued this afternoon its coordination segment, focusing on United Nations poverty eradication activities.The international community had heard about the "feminization of poverty", Kerstin Trone said, adding that what was needed was a "feminization of policy". Women must be architects of programmes to eradicate poverty. It was critical to meet the reproductive health needs of all people, especially adolescents, since when children had children that only perpetuated the cycle of poverty, she added.
In a globalized economy, trans-global actors wielded, in some cases, greater influence than individual governments, the observer for the Holy See said. He wondered if the fundamental thrust of such actors was in tandem with the governments' goal of poverty eradication. Asking what measures could be taken to facilitate private investment in the poorest countries, he said globalization should be accompanied with global solidarity.
Noting that a number of speakers had addressed the need for a harmonization of the policies of the United Nations, its specialized agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions, the representative of Uganda said, "While we associate ourselves with those sentiments, my delegation feels like a household infested by mice. The inmates of such a household are not bothered whether a cat is black, red or white, as long as it catches and kills mice. Poverty is like mice."
The representative of Argentina called on the Council to build a bridge between intergovernmental decision-making and the actual implementation of policy by development agencies. Cooperation was essential in conceptualization at the Headquarters level, not just implementation at the country level.
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Also this afternoon, responding to points raised in the discussion, the Director for Policy Coordination and Economic and Social Council Affairs, Miles Stoby, said that the report of the Secretary-General had made clear that new and additional resources would be required for multilateral development agencies to undertake poverty eradication. Regarding the United Nations development-related conferences, he said that the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) would undertake a review of the results of those conferences with a view to providing policy guidance to task forces charged with operationalizing their follow-up in the field.
Also making statements were the representatives of Colombia, Pakistan, China and Indonesia. A representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also spoke.
The Council will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 2 July, to continue discussing the coordination of United Nations poverty- eradication activities.
Council Work Programme
The Economic and Social met this afternoon to continue its coordination segment, focusing on United Nations activities in the area of poverty eradication. (For background, see Press Release ECOSOC/5652, issued today.)
JAIRO MONTOYA (Colombia) said the issue of inter-institutional collaboration in the area of poverty eradication should not be limited to activities at the field level, nor to operational activities for development. He said the voluntary character of the country-strategy note should be emphasized. It should not become a condition for the system's support to programmes and strategies on poverty eradication, nor be translated into preferential treatment for allocation of resources.
The possible complementarity between the policy framework papers and the country-strategy note required more clarification, he said. Intergovernmental consideration of poverty eradication should start from the basis that the General Assembly was the organ with the competence to adopt policy guidelines for the United Nations system, and the role of the Council was to support it and to perform coordinating tasks that were assigned to it. Moreover, the Commission for Social Development should be assigned the leading role in poverty eradication.
MUHAMMAD NAJM AKBAR (Pakistan) said that the various United Nations programmes dedicated to the eradication of poverty should be guided by the Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. United Nations agencies and international financial agencies focusing on poverty eradication faced declining levels of resources. Total official development assistance (ODA) of the members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as a percentage of their combined gross national product (GNP), dropped to O.3 per cent in 1994 -- the lowest level in 20 years. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had also failed to attain the targets of its fifth programming cycle of 1992-1996 because of reduced allocations.
His Government noted with satisfaction that foreign direct investment to developing countries was constantly increasing, but was concerned that only eight developing countries accounted for two thirds of such investment in the period from 1990 to 1993 and that half of all developing countries received little or no investment. Foreign direct investment was not a substitute for resource allocation.
SADIG RASHEED, a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that poverty was the principal reason why every day over 20,000 children under the age of five died from preventable disease, and why there were over 100 million child labourers. Universal access to basic social
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services, such as education, primary health care, reproductive health programmes, nutrition, water and sanitation, was essential to the eradication of poverty. A sustained commitment to invest in children had been a common feature of countries in which remarkable social progress had been achieved.
At the time of the World Summit for Children in 1990, it had been estimated that an additional $20 billion per year over the course of the decade would be required to achieve basic social services for all, he said. Research had shown that countries which rapidly improved their social indicators had devoted at least 20 per cent of public expenditure to basic social services.
WANG XUEXIAN (China) said it was impossible to improve the quality of life, to enhance women's status and to improve the environment without tackling the problem of poverty. It was important, therefore, to strengthen coordination. However, coordination should not be confined within the United Nations system. Coordination between relevant organs of the United Nations system and recipient countries was also crucial.
Widespread poverty in developing countries had been caused by unfortunate historical experiences and unfavourable international environment, he said. To eradicate poverty in a lasting manner, effective measures should be taken to alleviate the debt burdens of the developing countries and to provide them with necessary financial and technical resources to improve their economic development. Official development assistance was now the lowest in 20 years, which was disappointing. The developed countries should realize that both from the humanitarian point of view and for their own well-being, they had a responsibility to assist developing countries in eradicating poverty.
SEMAKULA KIWANUKA (Uganda) said poverty eradication strategies called for a bottom-up and participatory approach which fully involved the poor. "Such an approach highlights the fact that the central purpose of development is human well-being, especially that of the poor." Peasant farmers should be equipped with advanced technologies and must be educated in methods of soil conservation. It was critical to provide people with cheap alternative sources of energy, otherwise, deforestation was bound to continue.
Access to adequate food was another area requiring urgent attention, he said. To overcome food security, measures such as land reform, improved farming and increased education were needed. Women should receive priority attention in poverty-eradication programmes. Host governments must be key players in all such programmes.
Noting that a number of speakers had addressed the need for a harmonization of the policies of the United Nations, its specialized agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions, he said, "While we associate ourselves
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with those sentiments, my delegation feels like a household infested by mice. The inmates of such a household are not bothered whether a cat is black, red or white as long as it catches and kills mice. Poverty is like mice."
KERSTIN TRONE, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) had broken new ground in the area of poverty eradication. A key aspect to meeting the challenge of eradicating poverty was providing women with more choices. "We have all heard about the 'feminization of poverty'; what we need in order to redress the imbalance and make the playing field more level is a 'feminization of policy'." Women must be architects of programmes to eradicate poverty. It was critical to meet the reproductive health needs of all people, especially adolescents, since when children had children that only perpetuated the cycle of poverty.
Recognizing the multisectoral nature of poverty-eradication strategies, she said the UNFPA stood committed to collaborating with all concerned partners in the United Nations system and with non-governmental organizations. Frequently, non-governmental organizations were in closer touch with people at the grass-roots level. "Often, non-governmental organizations are more innovative, experimental and flexible in tackling issues, including more sensitive issues such as reproductive health and rights for youth and adolescents. Such experience can make a valuable contribution in complementing the work of governments and international agencies."
HERIYANTO SOEPRATO (Indonesia) said his country associated itself with the statement made by Costa Rica on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. According to a recent report of the World Bank, the number of people living on the equivalent of less than one dollar a day continued to rise in the developing countries, despite a decade of structural adjustment. In addition, 40,000 children continued to die of poverty-related causes each day. The acceleration of the globalization of the world economy and the liberalization of trade and investment, as well as adjustment programmes, could adversely affect the development efforts of some countries and reduce them to marginalization.
The United Nations should be more focused on mobilizing its capacities to deliver technical assistance in national efforts to eradicate poverty, he said. A comprehensive thematic multi-year programme designed for poverty eradication should be established by the Council, as well as by its subsidiary organs. It was disappointing that despite the recognition of poverty eradication as a priority concern, the general trend over the last few years had been one of declining resources to multilateral development institutions.
OSCAR AVALLE (Argentina) said that poverty alleviation required both intergovernmental and inter-agency cooperation. He agreed with the representative of Chile that the interface between the development agencies
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and the intergovernmental institutions was missing. If the Council wanted to be more than a venue for speeches, it should build a bridge between intergovernmental decision-making and the actual implementation of policy by development agencies. Cooperation was essential in conceptualization at the Headquarters level, not just implementation at the country level.
DIARMUID MARTIN, observer for the Holy See, said he associated himself with the comments of the representative of UNICEF on reaching the unreached, especially in the field of education and more particularly girls. It was clear that market forces were determinant actors in shaping the current international economic environment. That situation had to be taken into account in measures aimed at poverty eradication. A pertinent question was how far was globalization being accompanied with global solidarity. In a globalized economy, trans-global actors wielded, in some cases, greater influence than individual governments. Was the fundamental thrust of such actors in tandem with the goals that governments had set? How could such big actors be absolved of any social responsibility?
He also wondered what measures could be taken to facilitate private investment in the poorest countries. Also, how could it be ensured that economic growth took place in an environment where labour laws, women's right and environmental laws were respected. Moreover, there were short-term losers whose needs had to be addressed. He stressed that ODA should not be reduced due to increasing private investment and said a new political will in favour of solidarity in developed countries should be created.
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