ERADICATING POVERTY IS ETHICAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE OF HUMANKIND, OBSERVER FOR HOLY SEE TELLS SECOND COMMITTEE

Press Release
GA/EF/2795

ERADICATING POVERTY IS ETHICAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE OF HUMANKIND, OBSERVER FOR HOLY SEE TELLS SECOND COMMITTEE

Stressing that policies and strategies to eradicate poverty were required as an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind, the observer for the Holy See told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon that the eradication of poverty must now become an essential chapter of all economic theory.

As the Committee concluded consideration of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, he said official development assistance (ODA) remained an essential and necessary component of development policy. Lessons must be learned from the past, he said, noting that waste through corruption or through the pursuit of the short-term interests of the donor countries must be eliminated. Conditionalities with other political or even military interests must be severed and replaced by a process of dialogue between donor and recipient countries.

A representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that despite the considerable social progress in the world's poor countries, more people were living in absolute poverty today than in any other time in history. Eradicating extreme poverty was a realistic goal that could be achieved in the early twenty-first century, but it would require determined efforts at the national level and by the international community. Economic growth alone was not enough to eliminate poverty; changes in income and asset distribution were needed to allow poor people to contribute to and benefit from economic progress.

Benin's representative said his Government was pleased to contribute in carrying out a consensus within the United Nations system in all matters and initiatives since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) on issues concerning poverty reduction. The fight against poverty would remain a priority on the United Nations agenda until poverty was eliminated in all developed and developing countries, he added.

Second Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

The representative of Guyana said the world had the resources and the know-how to eradicate poverty in less than a generation. The international community should aim to secure an appreciable reduction in the vast numbers of people living in absolute poverty of whom women, children and indigenous peoples were especially disadvantaged. The world should agree to halving absolute poverty by the year 2015 and deploy the means necessary to achieve that goal.

The needs of developing countries were increasing, yet official development assistance had recently dropped to its lowest level since 1950, the representative of Syria said. Such assistance helped to improve infrastructure and services and to establish agricultural development. Countries must be empowered to make decisions in the world economy, and a favourable economic environment must be provided so that such decision-making processes could take place.

Statements were also made by the Philippines, Algeria, Venezuela, Kuwait, Brazil, Yemen and Bahrain. The observers for the Sovereign Military Order of Malta also spoke, as did representatives of the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Bank, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The director of the Social Policy and Development Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs, John Langmore, made concluding remarks.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 13 November, to begin consideration of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction and the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this afternoon to conclude discussion of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006), under the general heading of "sustainable development and international economic cooperation". (For background information see Press Release GA/EF/2994 issue today.)

Statements

GEORGE TALBOT (Guyana) said the world had the resources and the know-how to eradicate poverty in less than a generation. The international community should aim to secure an appreciable reduction in the vast numbers of people living in absolute poverty of whom women, children and indigenous peoples were especially disadvantaged. The world should agree to halving absolute poverty by the year 2015 and deploy the means necessary to achieve that goal.

Although poverty eradication was a responsibility of national governments, complementary international action was also required, he said. A sound understanding of individual circumstances was essential. The poor must be empowered through the creation of opportunity for economic and social development. Sustained economic growth and employment creation were crucial planks in any strategy. Persistent domestic resource constraints pointed to the need to increase resource mobilization both nationally and internationally. Agreed official development assistance (ODA) commitments must be honoured and debt relief agreements, including the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, should be expeditiously implemented.

THOMAS F. CARNEY, representative of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, said his organization was the oldest institution in the world established for the purpose of aiding the poor. Since its founding, nearly nine hundred years ago, one of the Sovereign Order's two main aims had been to provide service to the poor. Therefore, the Sovereign Order was particularly sensitive to all international efforts for the eradication of poverty and supported the efforts in the United Nations in that area.

One of the greatest scandals of the late twentieth century was that so many human beings lived in conditions which did not permit them to exercise their minimum human dignity, he said. That situation was made even more intolerable because mankind had at its disposal the financial and organizational means to deal with that very serious problem. The Sovereign Order wished to cooperate with the actions of the international institutions and other countries to find ways to coordinate its own activities, which would complement activities of the United Nations. By achieving mutual support, the goals of the United Nations would be successfully realized, and the Sovereign Order would be able to efficiently contribute to the eradication of poverty in many areas.

Second Committee - 3 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

RENATO MARTINO, representative of the Holy See, said policies and strategies to eradicate poverty were required as an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind. A vision of development centred on the human person did not allow any distinction or separation among different forms of development. Economic development could not successfully be sustained separately from human and social development or care for the environment. Sustainable development must involve a vision of the economy in which the needs of all were attended to. The eradication of poverty must now become an essential chapter of all economic theory. In addition, official development assistance (ODA) remained an essential and necessary component of development policy. It was one of the principal expressions of that ethical imperative of humankind towards the elimination of poverty which the commitment on eradicating poverty adopted by the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development had stressed.

Lessons must be learned from the past, in which serious errors had been made in the use of ODA, he said. Waste through corruption or through the pursuit of the short-term interests of the donor countries must be eliminated. Conditionalities with other political or even military interests must be severed. Rather, a process of dialogue between donor and recipient countries must be established so that the true development priorities of the people concerned were identified and given precedence. Among the specific areas to which ODA could best be dedicated, the first must be assigned to investment in human resources. That would include education for all, especially for girls, and strengthening of infrastructures, which provided the basis for health- development, such as safe drinking water, sanitation, basic hygiene and the combating of infectious diseases.

MARIA LOURDES RAMIRO LOPEZ (Philippines) said the international community must provide a favourable economic environment to enable the economies of countries with a high incidence of poverty to grow and prosper. The debt burden, the risks and cost of financial volatility affecting even those with sound macroeconomic fundamentals, the limited market access, declining ODA and the lack of equitable balance in trade liberalization did not augur well for the poverty eradication efforts of many developing countries. The international community must adopt a specific course of action with time-bound targets on those elements critical to achieving a favourable external environment.

Noting that the incidence of poverty was comparatively less in South- East Asia than in other regions of the developing world, he said poverty eradication was nevertheless an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind. The Association of South-East Asian Nations was working at the regional level to eradicate poverty through its Rural Development and Poverty Eradication Committee.

ZINEDDINE BIROUK (Algeria) said the Social Summit, held in Copenhagen in 1995, had been a turning point. Aspects of agreements reached at the Summit

Second Committee - 4 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

were based on greater fairness in the distribution of income at the national level, access for all members of society to basic social services and the strengthening of international cooperation. National efforts were needed to help countries attain the goals of the United Nations in eradicating poverty. The elimination of poverty was one of the key targets pursued by many development bodies in the United Nations system, particularly the United Nations Development Programme. Major annual summits had been devoted to that noble cause and encouraging achievements had been recorded. Yet many of the guiding initiatives and actions in the realm of poverty did not seem to be in keeping with actions in pursuit of the eradication of that scourge once and for all.

He said poverty would spread in the future without an increase in commitments to official development assistance, lightening the burden that weighed on the countries of the South, the establishment of a greater balance in trade, broader and fairer access for products of developing countries to international markets and sustained international will. The international community's collective efforts to eliminate poverty should be complemented by efforts to create sustainable economic and social development.

STEPHEN SHAFFER, a representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said access to productive and remunerative employment was a critical factor for reducing poverty. Access of the poor and disadvantaged groups to adequate employment opportunities provided the basis for earning incomes and purchasing goods and services, which were needed to maintain and improve living conditions and standards.

Under its World Employment Programme and within the framework of the Programme of Action of the Social Summit, he said, the ILO had in numerous countries initiated regional and interregional studies, supported by conceptual and methodological research, to investigate the link between employment and poverty reduction. From those studies and related activities, the ILO had learned that in order to expand productive employment, and thereby have an impact on poverty reduction and sustainable livelihood, a wide range of policy interventions and a judicious mix of such policies were required. Those included macroeconomic policies, sectoral policies, labour market policies, policies to combat social exclusion, and labour standards to protect workers' rights and improved working and employment conditions.

The ILO remained committed to providing technical assistance to its member States as they endeavoured to reduce and eradicate poverty, he said. The ILO, while working in coordination with its constituents and development partners, would strive to ensure that employment policies were formulated to address the specific needs and priorities of each country with the aim of finding enduring solutions to eradicate poverty.

ALFREDO SFEIR-YOUNIS, a representative of the World Bank, said while significant progress had been made in reducing poverty, too many people were

Second Committee - 5 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

still not enjoying the fruits of success. The world was confronting a paradox. Many of the traditional social indicators showed major signs of improvement while inequities between rural and urban areas and between skilled and unskilled were becoming widespread. Of the World Bank's 4.7 billion clients in over 100 countries, three billion lived on under two dollars a day and one billion and three hundred million lived on less than one dollar a day. One hundred million went hungry every day and 150 million never got the chance to go to school. In too many countries, the poorest 10 per cent of the population had less than one per cent of the income while the richest 20 per cent enjoyed over half.

Helping to minimize those disparities, he said, was a major objective of the World Bank's efforts to help clients reduce poverty and improve their living standards. The challenge of inclusion would demand continued focus on the promotion of equitable access to economic and social benefits of development regardless of nationality, race or gender. The eradication of poverty should be the central goal of development. The lack of financial resources was one dimension of poverty. In addition, poor people suffered from higher mortality and morbidity and lower educational attainment.

He said poverty eradication should involve the restoration of growth and investment; the expansion of opportunities for poor people; the expansion of basic social and economic services, especially basic schooling, preventive health care, rural roads and other core economic infrastructure; and the participation of poor communities in the design and implementation of development strategies and projects. The World Bank through its recently formed "Poverty Reduction Board" was committed to poverty eradication.

GONZALO PRIETO (Venezuela) said the developed countries must mobilize additional resources to the developing countries, transfer appropriate technology, increase official development assistance (ODA) and open their markets to strengthen national efforts aimed at eradicating poverty. Commitments made at conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Rio and Rome must be honoured. The eradication of poverty required efforts in the economic, social and political fields.

Noting that a substantial number of the Latin American population was poor and malnourished, he said the root causes of poverty must be addressed with better training, housing, health care, employment and improved living standards. Poverty eradication must be a global effort, supported by multilateral groups, such as the financial institutions, and the civil society. Women must be integrated in development. Improving economic conditions was an important way to minimize environmental degradation, he stressed.

Second Committee - 6 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

ALFATIH HAMAD, a representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the Social Summit had charged UNESCO with helping to identify and implement educational and social support action which alone could insure the long-term viability of programmes to eradicate poverty. All strategies to eliminate poverty needed to go beyond monetary and economic policies and look at poverty as social marginalization. In that context, developing human resources and strengthening capacity were vital. The UNESCO had made a sustained effort to achieve access to formal and non-formal education and occupational training for all. There was an urgent need for massive investment in education to broaden the horizons for people, open their eyes to new things and to promote the participation of the poor as citizens.

The UNESCO, in its programme design and execution, stressed the areas of education, science, technology and communication, he said. It was also working to create a research infrastructure and to create data banks and strengthen them where they existed. The UNESCO welcomed the constantly growing commitment of the World Bank to social causes, including poverty. It was also working with partners outside the United Nations to promote the concept of micro-credit for the poor. Fighting poverty was the central issue at all major United Nations conferences and demanded a demonstration of the international community's solid determination to pool available resources to help Member States refine their poverty eradication strategy and plans.

CECILIA ROSE-ODUYEMI, a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the WHO had comprehensive technical cooperation programmes in all developing countries. Special support was given to the least developed countries to strengthen their capacity to improve the health status of the poor and groups in greatest need. Programmes were under way in 30 countries and would be extended to 10 more countries by the end of 1998. The WHO also participated in ongoing system-wide initiatives, particularly the United Nations Special Initiative on Africa, in which health had a high priority.

A general improvement in health status among the poor required inter- sector coordination and collaborative action, implemented under government authority, with technical guidance from the health sector, he said. Therefore, the WHO advocated a common perspective and shared analysis of poverty and its root causes and consequences, both in individual countries and across borders. Establishing poverty eradication indicators, which included health status measurement, would greatly facilitate the closer involvement of the WHO in monitoring poverty trends. It would also enable a more integrated approach to poverty assessment.

Mainstreaming the gender perspective in activities for poverty eradication was a function of the WHO's Global Commission on Women's Health, he said. The Commission helped to increase awareness amongst policy-makers by presenting gender-specific data on women's socio-economic and health

Second Committee - 7 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

conditions. It also advocated the promotion of women's health as a component of national development policies and plans.

SALEH AL-MULLA (Kuwait) said it was disheartening to know that despite humankind's giant strides in the economic, technological and scientific fields, over one billion people were still living in abject poverty. Sustainable development was critical to poverty eradication. The developed countries must therefore honour commitments made at the various United Nations conferences by providing financial and technical assistance to the developing countries.

Reaffirming Kuwait's contributions to the eradication of poverty, he said his country had provided funds and technical assistance to a number of Arab, Asian and African countries through the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development. From 1973 to 1990, it had provided $18.6 billion in development assistance. Despite the devastation wreaked on the country as a result of the Iraqi invasion in 1990, the Kuwaiti Government continued to provide assistance to many developing countries. At the domestic level, there were a number of voluntary organizations providing assistance to the needy. The international community must mobilize funds for the eradication of poverty. Resolutions were meaningless in the absence of concrete efforts.

ENIO CORDEIRO (Brazil) said economic reforms in the region had brought about increased economic stability and renewed growth. Yet a persistent gap still existed in income distribution. There were signs in Brazil, however, that the equity gap was beginning to be redressed. Containment of the formerly explosive rates of inflation had been achieved, and the accumulated growth had generated an increase of 14 per cent in gross domestic product (GDP) in 1996. Unemployment was kept to rates near 5 per cent for the same period.

The persistence of growth was a new phenomenon in Brazil, and it had led to considerable advances in poverty elimination, he said. The rate of poverty had declined from 33 to 25 per cent. That rate was still high but it gave an encouraging sign that the mix of macroeconomic and social policies might be working in the right direction. Those positive trends were also reflected in increased demand for consumption goods, particularly from those households with lower income. In addition, infant mortality had dropped from 41 in 1,000 births in 1992 to 17 in 1,000 births in 1996.

His Government had also established the "Community in Solidarity" programme, he said. The implementation of that programme was a success story about building partnerships between the government and civil society in the common struggle against poverty and social exclusion. The programme acted on two fronts: improving the effectiveness of government spending, and promoting better coordination and closer collaboration between the government and civil society. "Community in Solidarity" illustrated Brazil's firm belief in partnerships to improve the living conditions of future generations and to

Second Committee - 8 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

build the world envisaged by the international community in the proclamation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty.

ABDULAZIZ KAID (Yemen) said commitments made at the various United Nations conferences should be honoured. Poverty was a humanitarian problem. It was not the concern of individuals alone but of humanity. It affected the social, health and educational development of people. It could limit the creative ability of people. Poverty deprived the human being of a dignified life. Its eradication required urgent solutions.

He said the resolution of the external debt problem of developing countries was crucial to poverty eradication. Thus far, no effective solution had been found to the debt problem. The least developed countries continued to be marginalized in the globalized world economy. The international community must seriously look into that. The ambitious poverty eradication programme instituted by the Yemeni Government had been hurt by the Persian Gulf crisis and recent natural disasters. If the world wanted to live in peace and security, it must address the problem of poverty. It could not be wished away.

ROGATIEN BIAOU (Benin) said his Government was pleased to contribute within the United Nations system in carrying out a consensus in all matters and initiatives since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in matters concerning poverty reduction. The fight against poverty would remain a priority on the United Nations agenda until poverty was eliminated in all developed and developing countries.

Benin had undertaken concrete measures at the national level to eradicate poverty. In 1995, his Government had set up the Agency for Managing the Social Dimension of Development to implement projects to combat poverty at the rural level. One of the key principals was to involve people who lived in poverty and other vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. In 1996, Benin adopted the National Employment Programme as a tool to combat poverty at the national level. Without constant and permanent revenue generating activities no person could escape the cycle of poverty.

He said Benin had also organized the International Colloquium on the Common Social Minimum, which discussed a package of goods and services necessary to allow people to survive and contribute in the economic and social development of society. The Colloquium had benefited from strong participation by United Nations programmes and funds. The concept of Common Social Minimum and the objectives of the Colloquium were responses to the commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development. One could not put a price tag on human beings. Nor could one do too much nor overlook any initiative in order to guarantee that absolute poverty be eradicated within the first decades of the twenty-first century.

Second Committee - 9 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

ABDULLAH AL-KHALIFA (Bahrain) said the United Nations had an important role to play in the global efforts to eradicate poverty. Bahrain was aware of its responsibility in the drive to end poverty. Bahrain had always adopted the principle of dialogue to ensure the success of its development plans. The promotion of women's rights was also fundamental to development. Women now constituted a significant proportion of the Bahraini labour force.

As part of its poverty eradication efforts, he said, Bahrain provided free education and free medical services to its citizens. The provision of decent housing units was also a priority. The government had made it possible for any Bahraini to obtain a well-paying job. Manpower training was also being promoted. Bahrain wanted to become a centre for the training of manpower. The economy was also being restructured to reduce the dependence on oil and diversify into other productive sectors. Bahrain was trying to empower its citizens.

HUSSAM EDIN A'ALA (Syria) said the Social Summit had defined the precise means and priorities for reducing poverty, particularly with respect to education, health care, hunger and malnutrition. International cooperation must support national efforts to reduce poverty. The recent drop in ODA going to developing countries, which recently had hit its lowest level since 1950, must be dealt with. Such assistance helped to improve infrastructure and services and establish agricultural development. The needs of developing countries were increasing, including the need to alleviate external debt. There needed to be an initiative to assist countries in easing their debt burden and debt service burden.

Countries must be empowered to make decisions in the world economy, and a favourable economic environment must be provided for that decision-making process to take place, he said. In addition, the gap between the North and the South continued to increase at an alarming rate. At the eve of the twenty-first century the poor and the rich were living in two separate worlds. All countries must work together to find practical solutions to the world phenomenon of poverty.

Given the geographic and climatic conditions of Syria, as well as its high population growth, his Government had geared its development efforts toward the agricultural sector and toward human resource development, he said. Considerable success had been achieved in education, health and the combating of hunger and malnutrition. Due to its remarkable performance in those areas, Syria had been classified among the 10 pioneer countries in human resources development. The participation of women in the process of sustainable development was of primary importance to his Government. It was also analysing and determining the causes of poverty in order to prepare programmes and strategies to reduce it.

THIERRY LEMARESQUIER, Director of the Social Development and Poverty Division of the United Nations Development Programme, said that despite the

Second Committee - 10 - Press Release GA/EF/2795 39th Meeting (PM) 12 November 1997

considerable social progress in the world's poor countries, more people were living in absolute poverty today than in any other time in history. That phenomenon undermined economic growth and jeopardized peace and security. Eradicating extreme poverty was a realistic goal that could be achieved in the early twenty-first century, but it would require determined efforts at the national level and by the international community. Each country needed to establish time-bound goals and targets for eliminating poverty. Economic growth alone was not enough to eliminate poverty; there also needed to be changes in income and asset distribution to allow poor people to contribute to and benefit from economic progress.

The eradication of extreme poverty required the harnessing of the strengths and capacities of the poor people themselves, women as well as men, he said. It was also needed to secure contributions from the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other actors. The UNDP supported the goals of the Poverty Eradication Decade, the Social Summit and other United Nations conferences on social issues. An overwhelming number of the UNDP's country cooperation programmes were focused on poverty eradication. It also worked to improve data collection and the formulation of national strategies. In addition, the UNDP played strong advocacy roles to ensure that poverty eradication was placed at the top of national development strategies. More than 100 countries are producing human development reports with assistance from the UNDP.

An enabling international environment must be fostered so that developing countries and the least developed countries would have a chance to benefit and participate in the global economy, he said. The forces of economic globalization were further marginalizing some countries and regions and were bypassing a significant proportion of the population in a number of countries. Globalization was also increasing the gap between rich and poor in many countries, which made the task of poverty eradication even more difficult. The ODA resources need to be available in sufficient quantities, and, therefore, the UNDP supported the goals of the 20/20 initiative. The quality of the ODA also needed to be improved to allow for more efficient use of those resources.

JOHN LANGMORE, Director of the Social Policy and Development Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs, in concluding remarks, said that the lively debate on poverty eradication had shown that a number of countries were determined to end poverty. The Committee heard of individual national initiatives. Those initiatives must be shared. Beyond individual efforts, international support was needed. Sustained action was necessary to steadily reduce poverty. It was hopeful that many countries were taking action to eradicate poverty.

* *** *