ASIA-PACIFIC MINISTERS TO DISCUSS SOCIAL POLICY GOALS, AT MANILA MEETING, 5-11 NOVEMBER
Press Release
REC/13
ASIA-PACIFIC MINISTERS TO DISCUSS SOCIAL POLICY GOALS, AT MANILA MEETING, 5-11 NOVEMBER
19971105 BANGKOK, 31 October (UN Information Service) -- The Fifth Asian and Pacific Ministerial Conference on Social Development, hosted by the Government of the Philippines and organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia ad the Pacific (ESCAP), will meet from 5 to 11 November in Manila, Philippines. The high-level United Nations conference will allow Asia-Pacific governments to assess the progress made in achieving social development goals set three years ago.The meeting comes at a crucial period in the region's economic life, which threatens to set back some of the gains and plans made to improve social conditions. The Conference will provide an opportunity for an exchange of experiences regarding the progress achieved in implementing the Agenda for Action on Social Development in the ESCAP Region, in the context of the Programme of Action of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. The Manila meeting is being held in response to ESCAP and General Assembly resolutions referring explicitly to the need for active multi-sectoral implementation of the outcome of the World Summit.
The 60 member and associate member countries of ESCAP will examine goals they set three years ago at a regional meeting held in 1994 before the landmark 1995 World Social Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. At that meeting, governments of the region formulated a detailed plan -- the Agenda for Action on Social Development in the ESCAP region -- which they presented to he Summit. The regional social development Agenda focuses on the three core themes of the World Summit: poverty alleviation; expansion of productive employment; and social integration.
Despite the advances in Asian and Pacific economies in the past five decades, the region is still home to three quarters of the world's poor. The number of people living in absolute poverty in the region grew from some 960 million in 1987 to 1.3 billion in 1993. Asia has approximately 374 million poor, rural women, which is more than the population of western Europe. Economic growth in the region remains unequal and its benefits continue to be unevenly distributed. Many economies have been unable to meet the mounting demand for employment. Significant portions of the population either have no jobs or are stuck in occupations that do not pay enough to buy basic
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necessities. Many women remain locked out of employment, while young, first- time job-seekers are swelling the ranks of the unemployed. Recent economic turmoil, environmental problems and natural disasters have only drawn more attention to these shortcomings.
Enshrined in the Agenda for Action are a series of specific goals in the areas of population, health, education, employment, shelter, environment, disasters, crime, social protection and the family. Governments have pledged to attain these goals in order to advance the cause of social development. One of these is the eradication of absolute poverty in the region by the year 2010. The Agenda emphasizes the role of governments, non-governmental groups, employers and workers, local communities, transnational bodies and, above all, the people themselves in achieving social progress.
Another important objective of the Conference is to provide further guidance on meeting national social development goals and targets, and the additional measures to be undertaken at the national and regional levels to accelerate progress toward their attainment.
The Conference will be held in two segments: a four-day meeting of senior officials (5 to 8 November); to be followed by a two-day Ministerial Meeting (10 to 11 November).
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