SWITZERLAND OFFERS TO HOST ASSEMBLY'S SPECIAL SESSION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME

19 May 1998

Press Release
SOC/4447

SWITZERLAND OFFERS TO HOST ASSEMBLY'S SPECIAL SESSION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME

19980519 Preparatory Committee for Special Session Begins Work; Cristian Maquiera (Chile) Elected Chairman

Switzerland is prepared to welcome in Geneva the special session of the General Assembly on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development scheduled for 2000.

The announcement was made this morning by that country's Permanent Representative at the opening meeting of the organizational session of 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.

He said that relevant additional costs to the United Nations would be financed by Switzerland. Also, his Government was prepared to facilitate the participation of least developed countries by providing additional airline tickets to representatives of those countries and by providing offices and telecommunications facilities to those among them that had no local representation in Geneva. Switzerland would also contribute to the organization of side events, including those with the participation of non- governmental organizations. He suggested that the session be held from 26 to 30 June 2000.

After his election as Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, Cristian Maquiera (Chile) said that the central issues of the Social Summit had become a growing part of the public policy agenda in various countries in order to achieve a more broadly balanced social development. In taking a future- oriented approach, the Preparatory Committee must mobilize the entire United Nations system to contribute to the goals set at the Summit.

The Preparatory Committee should properly integrate the Summit results with the results of other conferences, said the Chairman of the Commission for Social Development, Aurelio Fernandez (Spain). The process of review of implementation should acknowledge the work of other efforts to follow-up on the Summit. Those efforts had to be more mindful of current social issues and move the goals of the Summit to the forefront when dealing with global issues.

The fulfilment of the financial commitments made by the developed countries was critical to the success of the review process, the representative of Indonesia said. Speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, he said developing countries had sought, within their means, to implement the commitments of the Summit, but they faced serious obstacles and constraints due to the lack of financial resources. Unless that issue was resolved, there would be little hope for the success of the special session.

The representative of the United Kingdom, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said a key element in assessing progress made since the Social Summit was a strong analytical report by the Secretary- General. That required a qualitative assessment of the impact of activities undertaken in meeting Summit objectives. The report should also evaluate the effectiveness of the coordination within the United Nations system in reaching the goals of the Summit.

The representative of Belarus said the aim of the session should not be to review the agreements of the Summit. It should be devoted to the discussion of concrete measures and to give new impetus to implementing its goals.

The Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, John Langmore, made an introductory statement on preparations for the special session. A Vice-President of the General Assembly and Acting Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, Christos Zacharakis (Greece), opened the meeting.

The Preparatory Committee's Secretary, Kate Starr-Newell read out a statement by the Secretariat putting forward, for consideration by the Committee, the following dates for the special session: 22 to 26 May and 26 to 30 June 2000.

Also this morning, the Preparatory Committee adopted its agenda for the session and elected three Vice-Chairmen: Abdallah Baali (Algeria), Ion Gorita (Romania), and Koos Richelle (Netherlands). The election of the fourth Vice- Chairman, to be nominated by the Asian States Group, was postponed.

The Preparatory Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to hold a panel discussion on the appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit.

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Preparatory Committee Work Programme

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 met this morning to begin its four-day organizational session to prepare for its substantive sessions, scheduled to be held in 1999 and 2000. (For background information, see Press Release SOC/4446 of 18 May.)

Statements

CRISTIAN MAQUIERA (Chile), speaking after his election as Chairman of the Committee, said that the central issues of the Social Summit had become a growing part of the public policy agenda in various countries in order to achieve a more broadly balanced social development. Social costs still needed to be addressed through social assistance programmes at the country level. Social challenges had not been adequately met, and the Summit had tried to refocus priority on certain issues to ensure the broad involvement of all the players throughout society.

The important task of the Summit was to bring those shunted to the sidelines back into the mainstream, he said. The international community should continue and take stock of the social development process at the national and regional levels. The Social Summit had an important impact on all international organizations, including the Bretton Wood institutions. The Preparatory Committee should focus on a variety of clusters of issues in order to take a future-oriented approach. It should aim to encourage the involvement of civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector in general in the social development process.

The Committee must hammer out an agreement to ensure that the Summit's goals were translated into action, he said. The specialized agencies must also be brought into the process. The Committee should use the best social statistical data available to study poverty criteria and to involve small and medium enterprises. It must mobilize the entire United Nations system to contribute to the goals set at the Summit.

AURELIO FERNANDEZ (Spain), Chairman of the Commission for Social Development, said that in its work since the Summit, the Commission had focused on the three major themes of eradicating poverty, promoting employment and sustainable lifestyles, and promoting social integration. The Commission had also taken steps to see that the results of the work done over the last three years would be available to the Preparatory Committee. The Commission had moved from reiteration of Summit goals to focus more on following through and implementing commitments. In 1999, the Commission would address the issue

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of social services for all as its major theme. The Commission would also be dedicating part of its 1999 session to considering the availability of resources for work on the follow-up and preparatory processes.

On the Preparatory Committee's work, he said the process of review of implementation should acknowledge the work of other efforts to follow-up on the Summit. One challenge for the Committee was to properly integrate the Summit results with the results of other conferences. Follow-up efforts had to be more mindful of current social issues and move the goals of the Summit to the forefront when dealing with global issues. Among the important social issues identified in the Commission were: the effects of social integration on global poverty; ethical practices in financial activities; productive employment and social cohesion; investment in social capital and strengthening social fabric such as the family; and respect for cultural diversity.

JOHN LANGMORE, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that the Assembly's special session should serve two functions: to review and appraise the implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit, and focus on further action and initiatives. In preparing for the special session, the role of national reports would be essential because much of the implementation of the Social Summit was the responsibility of Governments. However, to prevent that from becoming too onerous or repetitive a task, delegates may want to suggest the principal issues on which to structure the reports. A contribution by the Secretariat to the process of evaluating social trends would be the preparation of the next report on the world social situation, which it aimed to have published by 2000 instead of 2001.

The principal purpose of the special session would be the preparation of additional concrete initiatives, he said. Although there had been progress in relation to some of the commitments, terrible poverty, high unemployment and traumatic social disintegration remained the norm in many places and for many people. The central challenge was to think of additional means of effectively tackling those issues. The difficulty was in finding the most readily feasible means of doing that. The Preparatory Committee's organizational session offered an opportunity for the articulation of issues on which delegates felt that background work should be undertaken. Such suggestions would guide the Secretariat's activities before the preparatory session next year.

JENO STAEHELIN, Permanent Observer for Switzerland, said his Government was prepared to welcome in Geneva the special session of the Assembly on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development, which was scheduled for 2000. He had submitted to the Secretary-General his Government's offer to host the special session (document A/AC.253/4).

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In that letter, Switzerland stated that the United Nations bodies should plan to meet at their respective established headquarters, he said. The schedule of events was of a special character, resulting in a concentration of meetings at United Nations Headquarters in New York. His Government was ready to contribute to a more even burden sharing in hosting international conferences in inviting the special session to Geneva.

Relevant additional costs to the United Nations would be financed by Switzerland, he said. His Government was prepared to facilitate the participation of least developed countries by providing additional airline tickets to representatives of those countries and by providing offices and telecommunications facilities to least developed countries that had no local representation in Geneva. Switzerland would also contribute to the organization of side events, with the participation of non-governmental organizations, social partners, and representatives from international and national economic sectors. Regarding the date of the special session, Switzerland proposed that it should be held from 26 to 30 June 2000.

ARIZAL EFFENDI (Indonesia), speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said the preparatory process for the special session should be seen as an opportunity to re-energize the political will of Member States to further implement the commitments of the Social Summit. The process should come up with further actions and initiatives to facilitate the implementation of the Summit goals. Civil society should play a role in the review process and their experiences should help enrich the process.

Developing countries had strenuously sought, within their means, to implement the various commitments of the Summit, he said. Unfortunately, they also faced serious obstacles and constraints particularly due to the lack of financial resources. Therefore, the fulfilment of the commitments made by the developed countries in the field of financing was of critical importance for the success of the review process. Unless that issue was resolved, there would be little hope for the success of the special session, particularly in the areas of the new initiatives and actions.

PETER GOODERHAM (United Kingdom), speaking on behalf of the European Union and Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, said the objective of the session must be to ensure the establishment of a process that would allow the United Nations to achieve a meaningful review of national and intergovernmental implementation of the Copenhagen outcome. That would allow ideas to emerge at the special session on ways to further implement the objectives of the Declaration and Programme of Action and to identify and agree on concrete initiatives for enhancing and strengthening their implementation. The Social Summit was not up for renegotiation. Its three core issues -- poverty eradication, social integration and expansion of employment -- were still critical.

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A key element in assessing progress made since 1995 was a strong analytical report by the Secretary-General, he said. That required a qualitative assessment of the impact of activities undertaken in meeting Summit objectives. The European Union was interested in seeing an evaluation of the effectiveness of the coordination within the United Nations system in reaching the goals of the Summit. A report should also include what plans the Secretariat had to involve the United Nations system in the preparatory process leading to the special session in the year 2000. The reporting burden placed on Member States and organizations within the United Nations system should also be considered. There was a vast amount of information available in the United Nations system which should be used in the production of the report.

It was important that the best use was made of the necessary interaction between the Preparatory Committee and the Commission for Social Development, he said. The participation of civil society in debates and discussions was also important to ensure that an even broader range of views was heard.

IGAR GUBAREVICH (Belarus) said practical activities to implement the Social Summit goals had encountered difficulties and the special session may help to address those problems. The aim of the session should not be to review the agreements of the Summit. It should be devoted to the discussion of concrete measures and to give new impetus to implementing goals. In the organizational session, efforts should be made to determine problem areas in implementing Summit goals and to issues that the Committee should concentrate upon. Analysis of national experiences in the implementation of Summit goals would aid the work of the Committee. The Commission for Social Development should prepare a summary analysis of national experiences for use in the special session. Recalling that last week the Economic and Social Council had held a session devoted to the coordinated follow-up to major conferences, he said the Preparatory Committee should rely on the Council for direction on implementation of further actions on follow-up to the Summit.

KATE STARR-NEWELL, Secretary of the Committee, read out an oral statement by the Secretariat. She said that if the Preparatory Committee decided to recommend that the special session should be held in Geneva, there would be no programme budget implications for the regular budget of the United Nations for the biennium 2000-2001. The Secretariat also put forward, for consideration by the Committee, the following dates for the special session: 22 to 26 May and 26 to 30 June 2000.

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