PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR ASSEMBLY SESSION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL SUMMIT OUTCOME TO HOLD ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS, 19-22 MAY
Press Release
SOC/4446
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR ASSEMBLY SESSION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL SUMMIT OUTCOME TO HOLD ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS, 19-22 MAY
19980518 Background Release The Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and Further Initiatives will begin a four-day organizational session at Headquarters on 19 May to prepare for its substantive sessions, scheduled to be held in 1999 and 2000.The Preparatory Committee was established by General Assembly resolution 52/25 of 26 November 1997 to prepare for the Assembly's special session in 2000, which will be an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Social Summit outcome. At the Summit, held in Copenhagen in 1995, governments pledged, among other commitments, to adopt time-bound national plans to eradicate absolute poverty, to promote full employment as a basic policy goal and to promote social integration by fostering societies that are stable, safe and just. Those are among the provisions of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the Summit.
At the forthcoming session, the Preparatory Committee's will decide on the process to be followed with respect to an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the Summit. It will also consider issues such as documentation, national contributions and input from the United Nations system to the 2000 review. In addition, it will elect its bureau, decide on matters related to the participation of non-governmental organizations, the dates for the special session and other organizational issues.
The Preparatory Committee has before it a report of the Secretary- General containing proposals on the preparatory process of the special session (document A/AC.253/3). The report addresses the question of the scope of the review by the Preparatory Committee, participation in the preparatory process and suggests dates for the Preparatory Committee's substantive sessions and for the General Assembly's special session.
According to the report, the objective of the special session should not be to renegotiate existing agreements from the Summit. Rather, it should provide an opportunity for governments and other actors in the development process to adopt concrete measures and identify additional means for
implementing the Summit's goals and to renew the political impetus to foster social progress in all societies. The special session could also extend the relevance and practical implications of the Copenhagen agreements into the new millennium, and focus on identifying innovative and concrete proposals in light of new and evolving circumstances.
In the area of national reporting on social development, the Secretary- General suggests that the Preparatory Committee consider ways in which national implementation of Summit commitments could be promoted and supported, including through international cooperation. It may also wish to request governments to provide national reports outlining progress made and obstacles encountered in realizing the commitments. Based on those national reports, the Secretariat would undertake an analysis of the overall level of implementation of the Summit, identifying constraints, obstacles, successes and lessons learned. It would also propose measures for strengthening national capacities of countries to achieve the goals of the Summit. That information would be contained in a comprehensive report to be submitted to the Preparatory Committee in 2000.
To provide the Preparatory Committee with up-to-date information on global trends in social development, the report proposes to publish the next quadrennial report on the world social situation in 2000 instead of 2001. A restructured and streamlined report would focus particularly on significant changes in trends perceived since the Summit, thus facilitating consideration of possible future actions and initiatives at the special session.
As the Preparatory Committee will need to decide on topics for debate during its substantive sessions, the report suggests using the 10 commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration as the framework for discussions. Those 10 commitments call for actions in the areas of: poverty, employment, social integration, equality between sexes, education and health care, the least developed countries, resources for social development, and international cooperation.
The report also suggests that the Preparatory Committee consider issues relating to each of the commitments, including the following:
-- What are the most serious national and international constraints on social development and how can they be most effectively eliminated or reduced?
-- What are the implications of increasing international integration for social policy and development?
-- What additional steps can be taken to offset the more serious forms of market failure?
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-- How can the effectiveness and efficiency of delivery of public services be further improved?
-- How can programmes and policies that increase the capacity of the poor to help themselves be most effectively supported? and
-- What policies for reducing discrimination and ethnic conflict have worked most effectively?
In its organizational session, the Preparatory Committee may also wish to propose topics that could be the subject of background papers, the report suggests.
The substantive work of the Preparatory Committee will be conducted with the input of the Commission for Social Development and the Economic and Social Council. The report suggests that the Preparatory Committee consider entrusting the Commission with the responsibility of acting as the forum for national and regional reporting. The Preparatory Committee may also wish to consider the results of the Council's session on follow-up to major international conferences, which was held from 13 to 15 May.
The report also states that the Preparatory Committee may wish to invite relevant bodies, such as the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization, to be actively involved in preparations for the special session. The Preparatory Committee could also request the holding of regional and sub- regional meetings and follow-up meetings on the implementation of the Social Summit, as well as invite the regional commissions to identify and share best practices in the area of social development.
The report asks the Preparatory Committee to invite organizations of civil society and the private sector to play an active role in the overall process of preparation. It may also consider encouraging governments to include representatives of such organizations in their delegations to the preparatory processes and to the special session.
According to the report, to contribute to the preparatory process, the Secretariat is commissioning experts to prepare substantive background papers on selected subjects. The Preparatory Committee may also wish to encourage the convening of expert group meetings, seminars, symposia and workshops on the issues of relevance to the special session. It may also wish to encourage all actors to contribute to the Trust Fund for the Follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development.
The report proposes possible dates for the holding of the Preparatory Committee's substantive sessions and dates for the General Assembly's special session. It suggests that the Preparatory Committee should hold its first and
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second substantive sessions in New York from 17 to 28 May 1999 and from 3 to 14 April 2000, for a duration of 10 working days each. Possible dates for the special session in 2000 are: 22 to 26 May, 19 to 23 June, or 28 August to 1 September.
A note by the Secretariat contains proposals on the participation of non-governmental organizations (document A/AC.253/2) at both the substantive sessions of the Preparatory Committee and the special session. According to that note, more than 1,300 non-governmental organizations were accredited to attend the Social Summit. Since the holding of the Summit, non-governmental organizations and other actors of civil society have played a major role in supporting follow-up activities to the Summit, including at the field level.
The Preparatory Committee might wish to explore ways and means to facilitate the attendance of non-governmental organizations at the special session, the note states. It could be guided by the experience gained during the nineteenth special session of the General Assembly on an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21, the programme of action adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The Preparatory Committee might also wish to be guided by the example of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in its actions as the preparatory body for the Assembly's twentieth session on illicit drugs. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs decided to invite for participation in the session the non- governmental organizations that had been accredited to meetings of the preparatory body or are in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council.
The Preparatory Committee will also have before it the reports of the Commission for Social Development at its special session, thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth sessions. At its special session in 1996, the Commission discussed "Strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty"; at its thirty-fifth session in 1997, the theme was "Productive employment and sustainable livelihoods"; and at its thirty-sixth session, the theme was "Promoting social integration and participation of all people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons".
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