PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT BEGINS FIRST SUBSTANTIVE SESSION

17 May 1999

Press Release
SOC/4499

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT BEGINS FIRST SUBSTANTIVE SESSION

19990517 Deputy Secretary-General Opens Session; UNDP Administrator, ILO Director-General Also Speak

Four years after the World Summit for Social Development, it was important to ask how the world had addressed social development concerns and implemented the Summit's goals, said Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette this morning to the Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly that will review implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit.

The special session, to be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June 2000, is intended to provide the opportunity for sharing and comparing experiences and identifying further concrete means of addressing the 10 commitments of the Social Summit, which was held in Copenhagen in 1995.

Ms. Fréchette told the Committee it must determine what results had been achieved and where further work was needed. While some 110 countries had taken action to fulfil the Summit goals, there was a need for more tangible progress. The world could not be divided into two camps -- assistance donors and recipients -- and it needed to understand that every human being had a right to dignity.

Addressing the Committee in a video broadcast from Geneva, Juan Somavía, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said social development policies must ensure that there was equal access to opportunities of decent work for all. Also, social expenditures must be maintained at adequate levels to ensure universal access to basic social services and programmes for the alleviation of poverty. It was particularly important to give priority to protecting such expenditures during economic crises and to make every effort to reallocate public expenditures away from low-priority items to meet those essential social needs.

Preparatory Committee for - 1a - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told the Committee that today the international community was no closer to the goal of ending poverty than it had been in 1995. Almost everywhere, poverty was on the increase and unemployment was growing. More than a financial crisis, the world was facing a human crisis, a social crisis and a crisis in the governance of the global economy. Copenhagen itself provided the answers to the questions on how to return to "the spirit of Copenhagen", and it was necessary to move rapidly to broaden, deepen and speed up the moves towards debt relief.

Ian Johnson, Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development of the World Bank, said his organization was deeply concerned that the progress towards poverty alleviation had been so slow. In many areas, the process had virtually stalled -- especially in Africa and the least developed countries. If the world did not make headway now, peace, security, equity and a sustainability would become increasingly difficult to achieve and social policy objectives seriously undermined. The world could not turn back the clock on the forces of globalization. But, the international community must make sure that the enormous changes in the global economy fulfilled their promise, rather than exacted a price on the world's poorest people.

Statements were also made by Cristian Maquieira (Chile), Chairman of the Preparatory Committee; and Aurelio Fernandez (Spain), Chairman of the Commission for Social Development, who discussed the work of the Commission's February session.

Also this morning, the Preparatory Committee adopted its agenda and organization of work for the session. It also adopted a list of non- governmental organizations (NGOs) to be accredited for participation in the Preparatory Committee, with the exception of: Kazem Rajavi International Association for the Defence of Human Rights; and the Foundation for Research on International Environment, Development and Security. Participation of those two NGOs will be decided upon at a later date.

John Langmore, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, introduced a note by the Secretariat on the status of preparations for the special session.

The Preparatory Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to hold a high-level dialogue on global review and initiatives in the implementation of the Social Summit.

Committee Work Programme

The Preparatory Committee for the 2000 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 two-week session. It plans to discuss its agenda and the status of preparations for the special session. (For background information, see Press Release SOC/4498 of 14 May.)

Statements

CRISTIAN MAQUIEIRA (Chile), Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, said it was a great honour to inaugurate the first session of the Preparatory Committee. For four years, many countries had been working to implement the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995). However, many of the situations that dominated discussions during the Summit continued to apply. Throughout the world, 300 million children received no education and millions of people still lacked adequate housing, food, health care and shelter. During the Summit, it was found that poverty and social marginalization were at the heart of development problems around the world. No one could doubt that the political and social objectives of the Summit had been adopted nationally around the world. However, the Summit's momentum had been dissipated.

The Preparatory Committee must determine the best way to make progress on implementing the outcome of the Summit, he said. It must identify the deficiencies, as well as the successes in implementation. Further, it must discuss designing new initiatives for improving the implementation of the Social Summit. The recent financial crisis had lead to further stress on social development, and the international community must ensure that the crisis did not roll back development progress.

This process of evaluating the Summit should be held in the same regard as negotiations on the world financial system, because both were crucial for development, he continued. The Committee was meeting at a time when the world was going through great change. Since Copenhagen, there had been ethnic conflicts of huge dimensions, as well as economic and social crises. The international community must aspire to the strengthening and balancing of wealth and the generation of jobs.

LOUIS FRÉCHETTE, Deputy Secretary-General, said she was fully aware of the magnitude of the task ahead for the Committee. Through the Social Summit, it was decided that full employment, social integration and the eradication of poverty were key to social development. Four years after the Summit, it was important to ask how the world has addressed social development concerns and implemented the goals of the Summit. The Committee must determine which results

Preparatory Committee for - 3 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

had been achieved and where further work was needed. Some 110 countries had taken action to fulfil the commitments made at Copenhagen. Many of them had set goals and time frames for implementing social policies dealing with education, health and employment. They had also launched greater dialogues on social development.

She said the hardest part was still to come. There was a need for more tangible progress to combat social marginalization and exclusion, unemployment and poverty. There had been no miracles since the Summit, and much of the world's population was worse off now than it had been four years ago. Real gross domestic product (GDP) had declined for many countries, and poverty had increased. In developing countries, employment had increased, but those gains were being threatened by the global financial crisis. In the area of social integration, inequalities were growing within and between countries. Achieving economic growth was not synonymous with decreasing poverty. Much remained to be done, and the special session would provide an opportunity to address the chief concerns for social development.

She added that the key issues to be address included declines in official development assistance, the indebtedness of developing countries, preventing economic crises and making sure that such crises did not wipe out years of development effort. Poverty and social exclusion must concern all countries, because they threatened all societies and world peace. The world could not be divided into two camps -- assistance donors and recipients. Rather, countries must work together to address social development concerns. Every human being had a right to dignity, she said.

Addressing the Committee in a video broadcast from Geneva, JUAN SOMAVÍA, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that the international community had come a long way in understanding the dimension of the social crises, raising consciousness around the need to promote economic and social efficiency, and in having the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank give social development a much higher priority in their policies. Indeed, the international community had come a long way in analysis, thinking and perception. Yet, small steps had been made in actually changing the life of the majority of people for the better.

He said that in the work of the Preparatory Committee, it was necessary to look at technical policy issues and deal with new initiatives and proposals to make open markets and open societies work for all. The core issues of the Social Summit could not be addressed exclusively in technical terms, for they dealt with the lives of individual children, women and men. One of the important results of preparing Copenhagen had been the creation of the values caucus -- a multicultural and multi-religious effort at dialogue of values around common themes and objectives. It helped to highlight one of the Summit's main approaches, that of acknowledging that the material needs of

Preparatory Committee for - 4 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

human beings also had a spiritual dimension in terms of self-worth and human dignity.

He went on to say that the special session would have to deal with major challenges, including ensuring sustainable and sustained growth in the global economy, in order to increase the resources available for social development and raise living standards. A wave of financial crises, especially in East and South-East Asia, Russia and some Latin American countries, had caused serious setbacks to social development, which had led to sharp increases in unemployment, underemployment and poverty. There was also a growing concern throughout the world that economic restructuring was causing widespread social dislocation, and that inequality was increasing between those better equipped to benefit from globalization and those who were less advantaged. Income and employment insecurity were also increasing.

To deal with those problems, a combination of cooperation international action and a reinforcement of social policies at the national level were needed, he said. It was beyond the power of a single nation or group of nations to find an efficient and equitable solution to the problems of global economic governance. From the standpoint of employment and social concerns, it was extremely important to find ways of resolving financial crises in time, without having to go through the currently typical route of severe economic contraction, all the attendant social costs and strong contagion effects.

Greater weight must be given to social considerations in what had been largely technocratic discussions of the issue, he said. That would involve further consolidation of collaboration between the international financial institutions and international agencies, with a social mandate which had been called for by the Social Summit. In the case of the ILO, it would be facilitated by the recent invitation by the Interim Committee of the IMF to participate in its work. The organization had also been active with the World Bank in areas of mutual interest.

Closer collaboration between economic and social ministries at the national level was also needed, he continued. The underlying requirement, however, was to put in place mechanisms for greater social dialogue on economic policies and social issues at both the national and international levels. A significant advance in that respect had been the adoption by the International Labour Conference in June 1998 of the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which provided mechanisms for giving effect to the commitment adopted at Copenhagen "to freely promote respect for relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, including those on the prohibition of forced and child labour, the freedom of association, the right to organize and the principle of non-discrimination". That was an important contribution of the ILO to the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration.

Preparatory Committee for - 5 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

Sound and sustainable policies for full employment, in the context of a growing economy, would best ensure the widest sharing of the fruits of economic progress and alleviate poverty, he said. Policies needed to be supported by the strengthening of institutions and policies, to ensure that there was equal access to opportunities of decent work for all. Another strategic intervention was to ensure that social expenditures were maintained at adequate levels, to ensure universal access to basic social services and programmes for the alleviation of poverty. It was particularly important to give priority to protecting such expenditures during economic crises and to make every effort to reallocate public expenditures away from low-priority items to meet essential social needs.

Finally, he added, there needed to be a sense of urgency about strengthening the institutions for social protection in an era of growing economic change and uncertainty. In most developing countries, social safety nets needed to be strengthened, in order to provide basic income support to the growing numbers who would lose their livelihoods during a process of economic change and adjustment.

IAN JOHNSON, Vice-President, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, World Bank, said his organization was deeply concerned that the progress towards poverty alleviation had been so slow. In many areas, the process had virtually stalled -- especially in Africa and the least developed countries. If the world did not make headway now, peace, security, equity and sustainability would become increasingly tough to achieve and social policy objectives seriously undermined.

The world was quickly changing, he continued. It could not turn back the clock on the forces of globalization -- nor did it want to. But the international community must make sure that the enormous changes in the global economy fulfilled their promise, rather than exacted a price on the world's poorest people. To succeed, the world must think more holistically and in a longer term about development. It must also put developing countries where they belong -- in the driver's seat, accompanied and assisted by a multiplicity of partners.

Before the financial crisis hit in the summer of 1997, most of the world was on track to achieve the goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, he said. Since then, however, projected GDP growth rates had slipped below the level necessary to achieve that target for all areas, except South Asia and China. Problems such as poverty, infant mortality and environmental degradation continued. It was clear that the old ways of doing business had not led to poverty reduction. The Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action pointed to the need for a more inclusive, comprehensive approach to social development. It required an expansion of partnerships, and greater transparency and accountability -- with leadership firmly in the hands of developing country governments.

Preparatory Committee for - 6 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

JAMES GUSTAVE SPETH, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said that the Social Summit had sent a clear message to the world that poverty, unemployment and exclusion would no longer be tolerated in a world of prosperity. Five years after Copenhagen, it was "the golden age of global promise, but it remained the dark ages of missed opportunities, of inaction and, indeed, of indifference to the plight of the poor".

True, there had been some progress, he said. In fulfilment of its mandate, the UNDP had focused its work on capacity building-for poverty eradication. Today, four out of five of its programme countries had prepared poverty profiles, and more than half had developed national plans of action to meet the Copenhagen commitments. The progress and setbacks were analysed in the UNDP 1998 publication Overcoming Human Poverty. However, it was necessary to recognize that today the international community was no closer to the goal of an end to poverty than it had been in 1995. Almost everywhere, poverty was on the increase and unemployment was growing. More than a financial crisis, the world was facing a human crisis, a social crisis and a crisis in the governance of the global economy.

Copenhagen itself provided the answers to the questions on how to return to "the spirit of Copenhagen", he continued. It was necessary to move rapidly to broaden, deepen and speed up the moves towards debt relief. The level of debt today had reached $2.2 trillion, representing 40 per cent of developing country gross national product (GNP). It was unconscionable that poor countries were forced to reduce spending on health and education -- on the future of their peoples -- to satisfy creditors and to increase the wealth of those who held their debt. He said that, in 1995, he had offered UNDP's services to assist with partnership funds to ensure that resources saved from debt relief were channelled into social spending. The 20/20 initiative could be part of the solution, and partnership funds were another. It was necessary to ensure that debt relief was not undertaken at the expense of the already declining flows of ODA. It was necessary to stop the "budget-slashing" declines in ODA. There were signs that a corner was being turned in that respect; the last funding meeting of the UNDP had demonstrated that growing contributions to its work could be expected. He encouraged countries to increase their ODA and saluted those that had done so.

It was necessary to return to the political wave of support for social development, he said. That should include the strong participation of the organizations of civil society everywhere. That objective implied the strengthening of role of the United Nations in globalization. The General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council must truly become the forum where issues of development, of globalization and its management, of poverty and unemployment were discussed by governments and the organizations of civil society.

Preparatory Committee for - 7 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

Within the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council should be entrusted with the follow-up to the conferences and summits held under United Nations auspices during the decade of the 1990s, he continued. Creating an ongoing United Nations forum for those issues could be most easily achieved by restoring the Economic and Social Council to the role that had been originally envisioned in the United Nations Charter. The new Economic and Social Council would ensure effective United Nations support for the implementation of international-agreed goals and objectives, as reflected in the programmes of action and declarations adopted by the General Assembly and international conferences and summits. A strengthened Economic and Social Council would, in turn, strengthen the role of the General Assembly, bringing to it key issues of development policy and international economic and social concern for review, approval and action.

AURELIO FERNANDEZ (Spain), Chairman of the Commission for Social Development, said the Commission had acted as a forum for the exchange of national experiences in implementing the Summit goals. Its last meeting was in February, and the report of that meeting was made available to delegations. The Commission took into account social services for all as a priority theme. The financing and the delivery of social services were discussed and the conclusions adopted by the Commission allowed it to define consensus on some points, which included the importance of providing social services in times of instability and social chaos. There was also consensus on emphasizing that health strategies were effective in the context of general national plans.

The Commission had also found that it was essential to prepare countries and groups for the preparatory process, he said. It was also necessary to focus discussions on specific areas without rewriting the Copenhagen Declaration in any way. It must be realized that the achievements since the Summit had been very modest. Further, both in and out of the United Nations, there was talk that the financial crisis was resolved. The crisis would not be resolved, however, until the situation and factors that created it were changed. That should be addressed at the special session.

Adoption of Agenda

The Preparatory Committee adopted its agenda for the session, as amended. It decided that the consideration of agenda item 3, regarding the preliminary review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the World Social Summit, would start on Tuesday, 18 May, instead of Monday afternoon, due to a large number of delegations wishing to participate in the high-level dialogue.

Preparatory Committee for - 8 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

Participation of NGOs

REZA AFSHAR (Iran) reaffirmed the importance of the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the activities of the United Nations and the significance of their work in the Preparatory Committee. Regarding the list of NGOs proposed in document A/AC.253/10, he said that his delegation had reservations on the participation of an organization that was affiliated with a recognized terrorist group. That organization was listed under number 36, under the title of Kazem Rajavi International Association for the Defence of Human Rights. He also requested its exclusion from the list.

GAUTAM MUKHOPADHAYA (India) said that his delegation also wanted to confirm its strong support for the participation of NGOs in the work of the Committee. He then drew the attention of the Committee to the anomaly in document A/AC.253/10: the participation of NGOs should be guided by the decisions of the organizational session of the Economic and Social Council and general principles of NGO participation in the work of the United Nations. On a previous occasion, the participation of the organization listed in the document under number 25, the Foundation for Research on International Environment, Development and Security (FRIENDS), had not been recommended. That decision had been endorsed in the report of the Economic and Social Council. For that reason, it was not appropriate for that organization to participate in the work of the Committee.

MARINE DE CARNE DE TRECESSON (France) asked how the Committee intended to proceed with the decision on the matter. Her delegation also wanted to seek clarification on the criteria of NGO participation.

MUNAWAR SAEED BHATTI (Pakistan) joined the others who had reiterated their commitment to the participation of NGOs in the work of the United Nations. Those organizations had one of the most important roles to play in the efforts of the international community to implement the decisions of the Copenhagen Summit. He asked for a clarification regarding the list before the Committee. Had it been compiled on the basis of applications from NGOs? he asked. His delegation wanted to check the allegations against the NGOs in question and, for the time being, the decision on their participation should be suspended.

ROSS HYNES (Canada) joined the representative of France and said that any decisions should be well considered. The assertions by Iran were very serious and warranted serious attention. The list had been recommended by the Secretariat, and the aims of the NGO spelled out in the document seemed appropriate, so the decision should be postponed pending clarification. Regarding the allegation by India, he said that further clarification was also needed.

Preparatory Committee for - 9 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

Mr. MUKHOPADHAYA (India) confirmed that he was talking about the organization listed under number 25 in the document. All that he was asking for was the compliance with the decision by the Economic and Social Council.

JOHN LANGMORE, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that it had been decided that the work of the Preparatory Committee should be open to NGOs. The Preparatory Committee had invited the NGOs in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and on the roster, as well as those accredited to the World Summit for Social Development and other major conferences and summits. Sixty- seven organizations were listed in the document on the participation of NGOs before the Committee.

Mr. MAQUIEIRA (Chile), Chairman of the Committee, proposed that all organizations contained in the document should be accredited, except for the two that had been the subject of objections and reservations. Following informal consultations, agreement would be reached regarding those two delegations.

Ms. CARNE DE TRECESSON (France) endorsed that proposal, but said that it could put in question the principles of NGO participation. The principles should be followed as established. If they were not respected, it would "start a game which was difficult to stop".

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said that there was a strong merit in the Chairman's proposal. It would be a very concrete decision.

The Chairman, Mr. MAQUIEIRA (Chile), then said that he wanted to clarify that, in proposing not to decide on the organizations listed under numbers 36 and 25, the selection criteria were not being questioned. It was necessary to resolve the problem, and the decision on the NGOs in question would be delayed and completed in due time. The Committee then decided to accredit for participation in the work of the Preparatory Committee the organizations listed in documents A/AD.253/10 and Add.1, with the exception of the organizations listed under number 36 (Kazem Rajavi International Association for the Defence of Human Rights) and number 25 (FRIENDS).

Other Matters

The Committee Chairman, Mr. MAQUIEIRA (Chile), said that Ion Gorita (Romania) would chair the open-ended working group on participation of NGOs and other organizational arrangements; Koos Richelee (Netherlands) would chair the informal consultations on agenda items 3 and 4; and Bagher Asadi (Iran) and Abdallah Baali (Algeria) would have special responsibility for other matters which might arise during the course of the session.

Preparatory Committee for - 10 - Press Release SOC/4499 Special Session on Social Development 17 May 1999 1st Meeting (AM)

Mr. LANGMORE, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, introduced a note by the Secretariat on the status of preparations for the special session (document A/AC.253/6). The document describes the main activities in preparation for the special session. Among the subjects discussed are the work of the Commission on Social Development, social development trends, the work of the United Nations system, and resource mobilization. On resource mobilization, so far only six governments had contributed to the preparatory work financially, he said.

* *** *