PREPARATORY COMMITTEE HEARS INTRODUCTION OF DRAFT TEXT ON OUTCOME OF FIRST SUBSTANTIVE SESSION
Press Release
SOC/4510
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE HEARS INTRODUCTION OF DRAFT TEXT ON OUTCOME OF FIRST SUBSTANTIVE SESSION
19990525 According to Draft, Assembly Would Adopt Global Poverty-reduction Target To Reduce by Half Number Living in Extreme Poverty by 2015The General Assembly would adopt a global poverty-reduction target to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015, by the terms of a draft text introduced this morning in the Preparatory Committee for the Assembly's special session on the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995).
The special session, to be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June 2000, is intended to provide an opportunity for sharing experiences and identifying further concrete means of addressing the 10 Commitments of the Summit.
The working draft, entitled "Proposed outcome of the first substantive session", is in three parts. The first part contains a short draft text on the reaffirmation of the Copenhagen Declaration and the Programme of Action; The second part is on review and assessment of implementation of the Copenhagen goals; and the third part is on further initiatives for inclusion in the outcome of the special session.
By the text, the Preparatory Committee would recommend strengthening the capacities of developing countries to effectively participate in the increasingly globalizing economy. It would also encourage countries that have not yet done so to incorporate national poverty-reduction targets into their national strategies for socio-economic development. It would also recommend strengthening support for community organizations working with groups with specific needs and accelerating implementation of United Nations instruments relating to those groups.
The Committee would recommend inviting the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank to formulate a global action plan for all by the year 2015. It would also recommend inviting the World Health Organization (WHO), in consultation with the World Bank and others, to elaborate a global action plan for basic health services by the year 2015.
Also by the text, the Committee would recommend encouraging the 25 African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS to adopt a target for reducing infection levels in young people by 25 per cent by 2005. It would also recommend exploring means to strengthen coordination between the United Nations and the international financial institutions regarding the economic and social aspects of structural adjustment programmes. And, it would recommend supporting the efforts of the United Nations to develop a coherent set of basic social development indicators by the Committee's second session
Introducing the draft text this morning, Cristian Maquieira (Chile), Preparatory Committee Chairman, said the text incorporated the rich discussions held last week on the 10 Commitments of the Social Summit. All the different inputs by delegations were summed up and the draft text contained the important and essential factors of those discussions. The text would help carry the preparatory process forward and would provide a good basis for negotiations. He said the Committee would meet only once more before the special session and he urged it to work fast and efficiently to finalize the text.
The next formal meeting of the Preparatory Committee will be announced in The Journal.
Summary of Draft Text
The Chairman's working draft on the proposed outcome of the Preparatory Committee's first substantive session (document A/AC.253/L.5) is divided into three parts. Part I contains a short suggested draft text that could form a basis for the text to eventually be adopted at the special session. Part II contains a short draft text on review and assessment of implementation of the Social Summit goals for consideration and action at the current session of the Committee. Part III, on further initiatives, contains elements for inclusion and elaboration by the Committee at its second session in April 2000 and eventual adoption by the General Assembly at the special session, and also for consideration and decision at the current session.
According to the first part of the draft, there has been one major unambiguously positive development since the Copenhagen Summit: the very obvious shift towards recognizing the centrality of social development in governments and in organizations that embody the international community. That evolving perception presents a new opportunity. In reaffirming the Declaration and Programme of Action agreed on in Copenhagen, the United
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Nations was determined to give new momentum to the Programme of Action and accelerate the implementation of those instruments.
Part II of the draft states that given the nature and broad scope of many of the goals and targets set in Copenhagen, and the inevitable lag between initiation of the policies and visible results, a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of policies and programmes put in place since the Summit will take time. Information for a fuller global assessment will become available as national governments report the results of their own national assessments in the course of the year and international organizations report on their latest activities.
The draft says that the review and assessment of implementation to be undertaken at the special session could be structured around the following three topics: initiatives already taken by governments and international organizations; experience gained so far; and internal and external constraints to implementation. The review and assessment will necessarily be made against a background of continuing global change and unfolding long-term developments, as well as temporary shocks and unforeseen setbacks.
Part III of the draft contains recommendations on each of the 10 Commitments of the Summit. Relating to Commitment 1 -- an enabling environment for social development -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend strengthening the capacities of developing countries to effectively participate in the increasingly globalizing economy through means including: facilitating the transfer of appropriate technology, knowledge and information to developing countries, and supporting their accessibility to the World Trade Organization; and providing them with technical assistance to enable them to develop their capacities to more fully and equally participate in international negotiations, including trade negotiations.
With regard to Commitment 2 -- poverty eradication -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend that the General Assembly, at its special session, adopt a global poverty reduction target to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015. The Committee would also encourage countries that have not yet done so to incorporate national poverty reduction targets into their national strategies for socio-economic development and to revise their national strategies by including, among other aspects: using employment policies to reduce poverty; encouraging rural development; and supporting means for improving the productivity of the informal sector.
Regarding Commitment 3 -- full employment -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend inviting the International Labour Organization (ILO) to prepare a programme for national and regional action plans for achieving full employment in an integrating world economy and to submit it to the Preparatory
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Committee's second session. The Committee would also recommend refocusing national macroeconomic policies so that employment growth and poverty reduction become central and are sought simultaneously with low inflation. A third recommendation would be strengthening legislation on minimum wages and promoting efficient labour-intensive methods of production.
On Commitment 4 -- promoting social integration -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend strengthening support for civil society, including community organizations working with groups with specific needs and accelerating implementation of United Nations instruments relating to those groups. The Committee would also recommend promoting the contribution that volunteering can make to the creation of caring societies as an additional mechanism in the promotion of social integration; the Commission on Sustainable Development would be invited to consider that issue in 2001, the International Year of Volunteers.
With regard to Commitment 5 -- equality and equity between women and men -- the Preparatory Committee notes that despite some progress, gender mainstreaming is not yet universal, and gender-based inequality continues in many areas of most societies. The Preparatory Committee would reiterate the commitment to ensure that gender is mainstreamed within all proposals for further initiatives related to each of the commitments made at the Summit by, among other things, evaluating the gender implications of proposals and taking action to correct situations in which women are disadvantaged.
Under Commitment 6 -- universal and equitable access to quality education and health services -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend inviting the UNESCO, the UNICEF and the World Bank to formulate a global action plan for all by the year 2015. It would also recommend inviting the WHO, in consultation with the World Bank and others, to elaborate a global action plan for basic health services by the year 2015.
On Commitment 7 -- acceleration of development in Africa and in the least developed countries -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend inviting the Secretariat, in conjunction with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to review again the proposal to establish a commodities diversification facility and to make a recommendation to the Preparatory Committee at its second session in that regard. It would also recommend encouraging the 25 African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS to adopt a target for reducing infection levels in young people by 25 per cent by 2005.
Under Commitment 8 -- inclusion of social development goals in structural adjustment programmes -- the Preparatory Committee would recommend affirming that national governments must control the setting of policy directions and priorities of anti-crisis policy measures and programmes, with
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the participation of civil society, business and other stakeholders. It would also recommend exploring means to strengthen coordination between the United Nations and international financial institutions regarding the economic and social aspects of structural adjustment programmes.
On Commitment 9 -- resources for development -- the Committee would recommend encouraging governments to undertake efforts to increase domestic resources for social development by: reallocating public resources to the social sectors; improving efficiency in the use of available funds by raising quality standards; and strengthening mechanisms and policies to attract and manage private investment.
Also under that Commitment, the Preparatory Committee would recommend supporting governments in the establishment of guidelines for policies aimed at generating domestic revenue to pay for social services, social protection and other social programmes. That effort may include: equitable and progressive broadening of the tax base; improving the efficiency of tax adminstration; and various forms of public borrowing, including issuance of bonds and other financial instruments to finance capital works.
In support of national efforts to attract additional resources for social development, international action was urgently required in several important areas, such as:
-- Accelerating current initiatives and taking additional action to reduce substantially the debt of developing countries;
--Reiterating the call to developed countries to achieve the long- standing commitment to the United Nations targets for official development assistance (ODA) of .7 per cent of the gross national product (GNP) for overall ODA and .15 per cent of GNP for ODA to least developed countries; and
-- Supporting the principle of mutual commitment between interested donor and recipient countries in the 20/20 initiative by combining their efforts aimed at resources mobilization.
Under Commitment 10 -- international cooperation for social development -- the Committee would recommend supporting the efforts of the United Nations to develop a coherent set of basic social development indicators by the Committee's second session. It would also recommend: strengthening cooperation at the regional level; inviting the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to submit a report on enhancing social development for all to the Committee's second session; further strengthening the Economic and Social Council as the body primarily responsible for coordinating international action in follow-up to the United Nations conferences and summits; and promoting South-South cooperation.
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