PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS
Press Release
SOC/4511
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL SESSION ON WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT CONCLUDES FIRST SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS
19990601 The Preparatory Committee for the General Assembly's special session that will review the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development adopted four draft decisions on organizational matters, as it ended its first session on the morning of Saturday, 29 June.The special session of the General Assembly, to be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June 2000, is intend to identify further concrete means of addressing the 10 commitments of the Social Summit, which was held in Copenhagen in 1995. The Preparatory Committee met for two weeks to hold a preliminary review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the Summit. It considered further actions and initiatives to implement the 10 commitments, as well as organizational matters for the special session.
By the terms of texts adopted Saturday, the Committee decided that the title of the special session will be "World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalizing World". The Committee also requested the Secretary-General to arrange for the convening of its inter-sessional, open-ended, informal consultations during the week of 30 August to 3 September. It invited the Commission for Social Development at its next regular session to undertake the overall review of the implementation of the Social Summit goals and to transmit the results of its deliberations to the Preparatory Committee's second session, to be held from 3 to 14 April 2000.
Also, the Secretary-General was requested to arrange for the convening of inter-sessional, open-ended, informal consultations of the Preparatory Committee during the week of 22 to 25 February 2000, in order to consider further the new, integrated Chairman's working draft text and the compilation of the summaries and proposals taken from the documentation provided by the United Nations system.
However, no draft texts on further actions and initiatives were adopted by the Preparatory Committee. In a closing statement to the Committee, Chairman Cristian Maquieira (Chile), said nothing had been achieved by the session except a decision to meet again in September. There had been nothing of substance. The high expectations that had been invested in the process had all been forgotten. Delegates had fallen into a trap of "bureaucratization."
He added that it was shameful that nothing had been achieved on the important topic of social development, because every comma had become a subject for negotiation. He could not recall a time when there had been failure to reach agreement because one group or another felt that its concerns had not been included.
Also Saturday morning, the Preparatory Committee adopted its draft report for the current session and the draft provisional agenda for its second session to be held from 3 to 14 April 2000.
Action by Preparatory Committee
The Preparatory Committee adopted three draft decisions on organizational matters, submitted by Vice-Chairman Ion Gorita (Romania).
By the terms of the first draft, the General Assembly would decide that the special session should have a plenary and an ad hoc committee of the whole. Also, the Assembly would invite Member States to participate in the special session at the highest political level possible.
The Assembly would further decide: that observers may make statements in the debate in plenary; to invite States members of the specialized agencies of the United Nations that are not members of the United Nations to participate in the work of the special session in the capacity of observers; to call for the participation of associate members of the regional economic and social commissions of the United Nations in the special session, in the same capacity of observer that held for their participation in the 1995 Summit; and that representatives of the United Nations programmes and others in the United Nations system may make statements in the ad hoc committee of the whole.
By the second draft, the General Assembly would decide that the title of the special session will be "World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalizing World".
By the third draft, the Preparatory Committee would decide to defer consideration of the accreditation and modalities of participation of non- governmental organizations in the special session to the inter-sessional, open-ended consultations to be held from 30 August to 3 September, subject to a decision by the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, with a view to
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adopting a decision in a one-day resumed session of the Preparatory Committee before the end of 1999.
The Committee also adopted a draft decision on further preparations for the special session (document A/AC.253/L.8), introduced by the Committee Chairman, Mr. Maquieira (Chile). By the text, the Committee requested the Secretary-General to arrange for the convening of its inter-sessional, open- ended, informal consultations during the week of 30 August to 3 September. It also invited governments that have not yet done so to submit national reports, taking note of the note verbale of the Secretary-General requesting submission by 30 June.
The Preparatory Committee also invited the organizations, funds and programmes and specialized agencies of the Untied Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions, and any others which have been requested to provide reports, studies or documents to the Committee at its second session, to make that work available to the Secretary-General no later than 1 January 2000. Each of the documents submitted should contain a short, precise summary of conclusions on the assessment of issues and proposals for further action.
The Committee requested the Secretary-General to make available to all delegations a compilation of all the summaries and proposals for further action contained in those documents no later than the end of January 2000. It invited the Commission for Social Development, at its thirty-eighth regular session (8 to 18 February 2000), to undertake the overall review of the implementation of the Social Summit goals and to transmit the results of its deliberations to the Preparatory Committee's second session.
Also, the Secretary-General was requested to arrange for the convening of inter-sessional, open-ended, informal consultation of the Preparatory Committee during the week of 22 to 25 February 2000, in order to consider further the new, integrated Chairman's working draft text and the compilation of the summaries and proposals taken from the documentation provided by the United Nations system. Based on the results of that informal session, the Committee Chairman was requested to provide further, revised working draft text to the Committee at its second session.
The Committee also decided, by the text, to coordinate with the Commission on the Status of Women, acting as the Preparatory Committee for the General Assembly special session, "Women 2000: Gender Equity, Development and Peace in the Twenty-first Century".
The Preparatory Committee also adopted its draft report for the current session (A/AC.253/L.6) and the draft provisional agenda for its second session (A/AC.253/L.10).
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The Committee decided to postpone action on a draft text containing the proposed outcome of the Preparatory Committee's first substantive session (document A/AC.253/L.5), which was formally introduced on 25 May. That draft contains recommendations on the review and assessment of implementation of the Social Summit goals. It also contains further initiatives to be taken by the United Nations system, governments and others to implement each of the 10 commitments of the Summit.
Committee Highlights
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, opening the Preparatory Committee's first substantive session. She added that while some 110 countries had taken action to fulfil the Summit goals, there was a need for more tangible progress.
That statement was echoed by many other speakers throughout the session, who said the international community needed to make more of a commitment to social development goals. James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said 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.
The session, begun on 17 May, included five days of debate on various issues related to the Social Summit. The afternoon of the first day was dedicated to the high-level segment, with 14 State ministers addressing the Committee on global review and initiatives. General discussions were held on the second day and the remaining meetings focused on each of the 10 Summit commitments.
Many delegates said social development efforts had been stagnant or reversed due to the financial crises and other problems of globalization. The representative of India, for example, said globalization produced economic development, but destroyed social systems. It had aggravated global inequalities and the marginalization of some countries. Within nations, it had created disparities that were unsustainable. Those disjunctions should be at the core of the discussion in assessing the outcome of the Summit and considering further initiatives.
Poverty and unemployment were also key factors hindering social development, delegates said. If poverty was to be eradicated, national policies must stress respect for the individual, socialization, decentralization and the participation of all, Germany's State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development said, during the Committee's high-level segment. The human being was at the centre of
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development and, therefore, social policies must have the individual as its priority.
Also during the high-level segment, the Minister of Labour, Social Security and Sport of Jamaica said a balanced and credible macroeconomic policy was a key ingredient for eradicating poverty. Businesses should adopt a culture of social responsibility, where they returned some profits to the communities in which they operated. Also, it must be recognized that economic and social policies were mutually reinforcing; social policy should, therefore, be considered as a productive factor that could have a positive impact on development.
Background on Social Summit
At the World Social Summit (Copenhagen, 1995) governments adopted a Declaration and Programme of Action, which represented a new consensus on the need to put people at the centre of development. The largest gathering yet of world leaders -- 117 heads of State or government -- pledged to make the conquest of poverty, the goal of full employment and the fostering of stable, safe and just societies their overriding objectives.
The Copenhagen Declaration contains a set of commitments that serve as the basis for the international community's drive to confront the structural causes and distressing consequences of "profound social problems", particularly poverty, unemployment and social exclusion -- the core issues of the Summit. The Programme of Action recommends measures to be taken at the national, international and United Nations levels aimed at eliminating inequalities within and among countries and fostering social development policies and programmes.
Membership, Officers
The Preparatory Committee is open to all Member States.
At its organizational session in May 1998, the Committee elected Cristian Maquieira (Chile) as its Chairman; and Bagher Asadi (Iran), Abdallah Baali (Algeria), Ion Gorita (Romania), Koos Richelle (Netherlands) as Vice- Chairmen. Mr. Asadi was also designated to serve as Rapporteur.
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