PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION CAN LEAD TO UNEMPLOYMENT AND INJUSTICE, REPRESENTATIVE OF CUBA TELLS COMMISSION ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

10 February 1999

Press Release
SOC/4486

PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION CAN LEAD TO UNEMPLOYMENT AND INJUSTICE, REPRESENTATIVE OF CUBA TELLS COMMISSION ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

19990210 Commission Continues Discussion of Topic, Social Services for All

The world of neo-liberal globalization was also one of exploitation and social disparity, the representative of Cuba told the Commission for Social Development this afternoon, as it continued its discussion of the topic social services for all.

While the process was inevitable, globalization could lead to unemployment and injustice, as well as to imposing cuts on social programmes and leaving unprotected an increasing number of people. Poverty was the summary of deterioration of and inaccessibility to every basic social service. Full access to primary social services would only be realized with the development of a strategy based on a balanced and fair distribution of resources worldwide.

Poverty was increasing and worsening the situation of developing countries, said the representative of Algeria. Disparities between developed and developing countries had deepened due to factors such as the deterioration of trade, foreign debt, declining official development assistance levels and the negative effects of globalization. The latter, which was to have been a vehicle for prosperity, had increased impoverishment and called for the international community to adopt measures to counter its backlashes.

The representative of Turkey said that strengthening the international financial system and ensuring the availability of international funds in a stable environment was important for financing development and releasing funds for social service. One of the most plausible, productive and beneficial ways in which developed countries could contribute to the enhancement of social services for all in developing countries was through assistance and cooperation in the area of new technologies and related infrastructure.

The representative of Manitese, an Italian non-governmental organization, said that one year ago she had raised a question that the late President of France, François Mitterand, had asked the international community during the 1995 World Summit for Social Development: "Will we allow the world

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to become a global market without any laws other than those of the jungle, and with no objective other than to make profit in the minimum time, a world where speculation ruins in few hours the work of millions of men and women and threatens the result of long negotiations like these"? Up to now there had been no clear answer from the international community on that issue.

The representative of Iraq said that while the United Nations was adopting a strategy to find national and international bases for social services, it imposed economic sanctions on States without paying heed to the adverse effects on civilian populations. The Commission should impartially study the effects of sanctions imposed by the United Nations on civilian populations and then submit recommendations. That would help provide basic social services to children, women and the elderly.

Statements were also made by the Secretary of State for Social Protection of Romania, and the representatives of Nepal, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Foundation for the Rights of the Family.

The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 11 February, to conclude its discussion of the topic, social services for all.

Commission Work Programme

The Commission for Social Development met this afternoon to continue its discussion on social services for all. (For further background, see Press Release SOC/4485 issued this morning).

Statements

YUSUF ISIK (Turkey) said that a government's responsibility and accountability in ensuring the provision of social services for all needed to be increased independently of whether it managed those services directly or let other actors, including the private sector, deliver them. In that context, public management reform based on good governance and comprising an effective mechanism of interaction with beneficiaries was essential. The only feasible combination of relevant policies was one which simultaneously ensured macroeconomic stability and the increase of social services, based on budgetary and delivery strategies on which the actors agreed.

He said that increased foreign direct investment and the participation of large corporations in infrastructure projects provided a favourable opportunity for enhancing social services directly or indirectly, while not forgetting that the scope for domestic resource mobilization was often greater than anticipated, especially once a growth path was sustained. Strengthening the international financial system and ensuring the availability of international funds in a stable environment was also important from the point of financing development and releasing funds for social service. One of the most plausible, productive and beneficial ways in which developed countries could contribute to the enhancement of social services for all in developing countries was through assistance and cooperation in the area of new technologies and related infrastructure.

RAFAEL DAUSA CESPEDES (Cuba) said the world of neo-liberal globalization was also that of exploitation and social disparity. While the process was inevitable, globalization could be about unemployment and injustice, and about imposing cuts on social programmes and leaving unprotected an increasing number of people. "We must work for the prevalence of a globalization of fraternity and cooperation among peoples: one of sustainable development, fair distribution and rational use of abundant material." Poverty was the summary of deterioration of and inaccessibility to every basic social service. Full access to primary social services, which today was just a dream for a great part of humankind, would only be realized with the development of a strategy based on the strength of an economic foundation and on a worldwide balanced and fair distribution of resources.

Despite the difficult economic conditions his country was faced with and which had worsened due to the strengthened United States imposed embargo, Cuba continued to allocate a growing and very significant part of its budget for

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social services, he said. In its recently approved national budget for 1999, 39 per cent of all expenditures in the budgeted activity were allocated for education and health. There was not one single illiterate person and the country had the greatest teacher per capita rate in the world. Funds allocated to health care supported the continuity of fundamental programmes that had enabled Cuba to be at the vanguard of third world countries, with higher indicators than those reached by many countries with better developmental levels and greater resources.

Cuba had demonstrated, and reiterated today, its willingness to humbly contribute to the movement towards a world of social services for all, he said. "We could contribute the valuable human potential of our doctors, who are already rendering their service, free of charge, in several Latin American countries hit by most recent natural disasters". Cuba had expressed its readiness to send up to 20,000 doctors to the needier places in Latin America and to contribute to save the lives of 400,000 children who died every year of curable diseases on the continent, sometimes because of lack of access to medicines worth just cents.

DALILA SAMAH (Algeria) said that by adopting the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action four years ago, the international community had expressed its intent to put social concerns at the heart of its policies. The scope of poverty was constantly expanding, thus worsening the situation of developing countries. Disparities between developed and developing countries had deepened due to the impact on economies of factors, such as the deterioration of trade, foreign debt, declining official development assistance (ODA) levels, and the negative effects of globalization and its backlashes. Globalization, which was to have been a vehicle for prosperity, had in fact increased poverty. She called for the international community to adopt measures to counter its negative aspects.

Cooperation with the United Nations was necessary to further integrate the human dimension into policies, and to ensure that the human being was at the centre of development, she said. There could be no lasting economic development if it was not accompanied by social development. Since regaining its national sovereignty, Algeria had placed the social dimension at the heart of its development policies. Sustained efforts and committed financial resources had led to appreciable results. The education system and training benefitted from one fourth of the national budget. The number of schools had increased, school canteens that assured meals for students had been created, and school transportation was being used. Also, the Government's policies in the area of adult literacy had decreased illiteracy rates. The role of non- governmental organizations in that sector had been particularly important. In addition, access to health services had been assured for all segments of the population. In conclusion, for national efforts to be lasting, they had to be supported by a more equitable international economic environment.

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BIENVENIDO ROLA, Chief of the Disadvantaged Groups Section, Social Development Section of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said that countries of the region had made progress in all areas of social and economic development. Indicators for areas such as education, employment and health had shown clear improvements. Also, the role of women had been enhanced, and there had been encouraging developments in the extension of democracy. High rates of economic growth, technological innovations and the allocation of resources had contributed to progress in socio-economic development. At the same time, growth rates had varied among countries and there had been wide diversity in income levels. Alongside some of the greatest concentrations of wealth in the region were some of the greatest concentrations of poverty.

High rates of economic growth had not brought with them commensurate social benefits to the area, he continued. The recent economic crisis had worsened the situation further for the population, particularly the poor and disadvantaged groups. In many countries, emerging issues, such as good governance and disaster preparedness, had been added to the traditional problems of education, health and employment. In its regional social economic agenda, ESCAP had accorded priority to the provision of social services for all.

BHOLA NATH CHALISE (Nepal), Member Secretary of the National Planning Commission, said the major goal of development was to fashion an enabling environment for people to lead long, healthy and creative lives. Access for all to social services would require political will and a clear recognition of the right to inclusion, accountability and participation. Also, it was vitally important to integrate economic and social policy in such a way that social service provision promoted both social and economic objectives. The education sector in Nepal, like in many other countries, was the primary vehicle of human resources development.

He said the long-term objectives for the education sector were to provide equal opportunity to all sectors of society, to expand education programmes as the mainstream of national development, ameliorate quality and prepare an enlightened, dedicated, competent, productive, disciplined and socially responsible citizens. Free and compulsory primary education was one of Nepal's major policies. There was also an emphasis on increasing the literacy rate. Nepal's National Ninth Plan (1997-2002) had emphasized increase in the enrolment of girls in school and their continuity in the classrooms.

The social development agenda for health aimed to improve the health status of the people with special emphasis on the quality of life of children, women, people with disabilities and excluded social and ethnic groups, he said. The Long-Term Health Plan -- 1997 to 2016 -- and the Ninth Plan had 25- year and five-year visions respectively. The future vision was to provide

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equitable access to coordinated quality health care services characterized by self-reliance, full community participation, decentralization, gender sensitivity and effective and efficient management.

ABDUL MUNIM AL-KADHE (Iraq) said it was clear that the United Nations was adopting a strategy to find national and international bases for social services. On the other hand, the Organization, through the Security Council, resorted to imposing economic sanctions on States without paying any heed to the adverse effects emanating from those sanctions on civilian populations such as children, women and the elderly. A case in point was the sanctions on Libya and Sudan. An even greater example was the sanctions imposed on his own country for more than eight years. That blockade had resulted in adverse consequences to basic social services to the children and women of Iraq and threatened the very survival of humankind in the country. The right to survival was a fundamental principle of human rights, he added.

As stated this morning by the representative of Canada, it was necessary to introduce useful technological means in countries, he said. Yet, the United Nations was preventing Iraq from importing even papers and pencils into the primary schools. It also hampered the importation of hospital beds and ambulances for emergency situations. He did not even want to touch on the subject of restrictions on foodstuff. Despite the tragic situation in Iraq, however, the Government, despite a zero hard currency budget, was making great efforts to maintain sustainability and life in Iraq through the health and educational sectors. The Commission should impartially study the effects of sanctions imposed by the United Nations on civilian populations and then submit recommendations. That would help provide basic social services to children, women and the elderly.

SIMONA MARINESCU, Secretary of State for Social Protection, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Romania, said Romania had experienced the social costs of the transition to a market economy. Economic reform had often been accompanied by difficulties in the area of social welfare, affecting the living standards of people and sometimes leading to social protests. Romania's commitment to providing universal coverage for all and access by all to basic social services was challenged by the financial restraints imposed by the current austerity budget. Therefore, the Government, while assuming its primary responsibility for ensuring the provision of social services, was encouraging the relevant actors of civil society and the private sector to get involved in that area.

Romania had reinforced its actions devoted to improving the living standards for the most vulnerable groups, she said. For example, programmes for poverty eradication and for the development of social services, at the level of families and communities, had been undertaken in conjunction with the PHARE programme and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Aware of the direct linkage between the target of social services for all and

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employment, the Government had also used innovative solutions to encourage job creation. In addition, convinced that gender equality was a prerequisite for sound economic and social development, Romania had set up a national machinery for the advancement of women. To ensure an appropriate environment for promoting social protection, the national efforts of governments and other actors needed to be reinforced by international cooperation. A major role could be played by the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, including at the regional and sub-regional levels.

LUIS ALBERTO PETIT HERRERA, Chairman, Foundation for the Rights of the Family, said the principles contained in the document entitled "basic principles of the family" referred not only to each family member, but also to the collective entity of the family unit and its procreative, educational and socializing functions and responsibilities. The basic principles enunciated the free and full consent of partners to enter a union as a basis for a family, the respect for the dignity of the family, the freedom of family members to manifest -- as a family or a community -- their culture and religion, family autonomy and the right to freely organize internal functioning, including gender equality.

He said the document made special references to those with problems such as disabled families and dependent ageing mothers, unemployment, large and single parent families. Those guiding principles, presented to all interested non-governmental organizations, governments and United Nations bodies as a working instrument, should precipitate the study of a possible declaration, of universal projection, on the functions, responsibilities and rights of the family. Since it was felt that the United Nations could not ignore the rights of social groups such as the family -- the natural and fundamental group unit of society as described in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- then, as such, it constituted a situation deserving of juridical protection.

MARINA PONTI, a representative of Manitese, said that one year ago she had quoted a question that the late President of France, Francois Mitterand had asked the international community during the Social Summit: "Will we allow the world to become a global market without any laws other than those of the jungle and with no objective other than to make profit in the minimum time, a world where speculation ruins in a few hours the work of millions of men and women and threatens the result of long negotiations like these"? Up to now there had been no clear answer from the international community on that issue. Governments were meeting in different forums, but no solution had yet been formulated.

She asked "how long do we need to wait"? How many more financial crises would occur before a solution was taken? How many more countries would be ruined? How many more people would be denied social services? That was why Italy, with the strong support of the organization, Action Pour Taxation des

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Transactions Financiers d'Aide aux Citoyens, advocated the implementation of a "Tobin Tax" -- a very small tax on currency transactions. If such a tax was put into operation, governments must, of necessity, take a more active role in the financial market system, acting not alone, but in a coordinated manner with other governments. In addition, the tax would give to national governments and international bodies such as the United Nations, financial resources that could be used to address basic needs and social services which were the principle concerns of the Commission.

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