POVERTY ERADICATION, DEBT RELIEF, EMPLOYMENT, DEVELOPMENT FINANCE FOCUS OF DISCUSSION IN COMMISSION ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Press Release
SOC/4532

POVERTY ERADICATION, DEBT RELIEF, EMPLOYMENT, DEVELOPMENT FINANCE FOCUS OF DISCUSSION IN COMMISSION ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Recent debt-relief initiatives from governments and international financial institutions actually trapped economies in a cycle of indebtedness and underdevelopment, the Commission for Social Development was told this morning.

During his opening remarks in today's dialogue with representatives from non-governmental organizations, the representative of the International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity also said the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Group of Seven industrialized countries should pay reparations for their responsibility in creating the debt burden for countries from the South. Further, as speculative currency crises had become "a major form of human disaster", there was need for a currency transaction tax on the world's foreign exchange markets. The ways were there for revamping the international financial structure, he stressed. What was missing was the political will.

The morning's dialogue focused on: poverty eradication; employment; financing for development; and an enabling environment for the implementation of the international community's commitments to social development.

The representative of the International Council on Social Welfare called for: a global campaign to implement an anti-poverty pact; identification of international standards for social development; strengthening the effectiveness of the Economic and Social Council; and strengthening civil society participation. He said the events in Seattle, at the Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), showed the need for a more balanced process for weighing interests, such as trade, environment and poverty. The Economic and Social Council was the body for enabling different interests to be involved in identifying priorities. The Council must play its proper role.

Full employment was a cornerstone for eradicating poverty, the representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) said. Consequently, sustainable, comprehensive and active labour market policies must be developed. Also, economies must have a strong, productive, dynamic base that would provoke employment growth. Those must be underpinned by global coordination that would support, not undermine, the efforts of governments. If poverty and unemployment persisted, it was because international trade restricted domestic efforts, she said.

Commission for Social Development - 1a - Press Release SOC/4532 7th Meeting (AM) 14 February 2000

A declaration by the United Nations on extreme poverty and human rights could be a step forward for freedom from want and fear, the representative from the International Movement ATD Fourth World noted. However, he hoped that it would not take 30 years before it was adopted, as had been the case of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. The proposed convention must be adopted before the end of the Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006). Also, monitoring that instrument must not be done as if it were a courtroom, where governments were condemned for tolerating the persistence of poverty. Instead, the monitoring process should take place in an atmosphere of cooperation.

The dialogue today was held as part of the Commission's consideration of follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995). In June, the General Assembly will be holding a special session in Geneva to review the results to date and develop further initiatives to put the Copenhagen pact into action.

In 1995, representatives from 186 States distilled and committed to agreements for social development as primary objectives in economic and public policy. The World Summit culminated in the adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration, with 10 commitments to social development goals, and a Programme of Action.

In other business this morning, the Commission decided that Vice-Chairman Didier Le Bret (France) will also be Rapporteur for the current thirty-eighth session. Further, it agreed that the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the upcoming Assembly special session, Cristian Maquieira (Chile), would be an ex officio member of the Bureau, to help ensure coordination between the two bodies.

The Commission will meet again at a time to be announced.

Commission Work Programme

The Commission for Social Development met this morning to hold an open dialogue with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on four themes: poverty eradication; full employment; financing for development; and an enabling environment for the implementation of the Copenhagen commitments and further initiatives. The 10 Copenhagen commitments were made at the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995).

The Commission -- a functional body of the Economic and Social Council -- is currently halfway through its thirty-eighth session, for which the priority theme is: the Commission's contribution to the overall review of the implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit. The dialogue today is being held in the context of the Commission's consideration of follow-up to the World Summit. In June, the General Assembly will be holding a special session in Geneva to review the results to date and develop further initiatives to put into action the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.

Statements

JEAN TONGLET, International Movement ATD Fourth World, said it had taken much time and work, but what had been expressed in 1948 as the highest aspiration of humanity –- freedom from fear and from want –- was presently closer to fulfilment. But, was there enough progress for full enjoyment of those rights by all?

The Commission on Human Rights was working on a proposed declaration by the United Nations on extreme poverty and human rights, he stated. That could be a step forward. It had taken 30 years before the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been adopted in 1989, and he hoped that would not be the case now. In some countries, 30 years was the average life expectancy. Therefore, the proposed convention must be adopted before the end of the Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006). A lesson that could be learned from the Convention on the Rights of the Child was that monitoring must not be a courtroom where governments were condemned for tolerating the persistence of poverty. Instead, the proposed monitoring process should be fostered in an atmosphere of cooperation, not of confrontation.

GEMMA ADABA, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), said that a strong focus on full employment was needed, as a cornerstone for eradicating poverty. Consequently, sustainable, comprehensive and active labour market policies must be developed. Also, economies must have a strong, productive, dynamic base that would provoke employment growth. Those must be underpinned by global coordination that would support, not undermine, the efforts of governments.

She stressed that, if poverty and unemployment persisted, it was because international trade restricted domestic efforts. Trade and investment must support domestic efforts. Capital flows and currency speculation must be regulated through support for micro-entrepreneurship, encouraging domestic investment in joint arrangements with foreign direct investment and by establishing social income support policies to assist vulnerable groups. The mandate of the International Labour Organization (ILO) must be strengthened to deal with core labour practices. In the multilateral framework, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the rules and regulations governing core labour standards should be incorporated.

BART BODE, International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity, said that according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), humankind, for the first time, had the means to eradicate world poverty in one generation. If all major donors had fulfilled their promise regarding official development assistance (ODA), extreme poverty could be eradicated. Governments should increase their development aid in quality and quantity. Particular attention must be paid to liberalization and development, sustainable solutions to the external debt problem, and stabilizing the world economy. Responsible international organizations should issue concrete recommendations on how to establish a new financial architecture, and how to curb excessive financial speculation, such as through a tax on currency speculation.

Speculative currency crisis had become a major form of human disaster, he continued. Preventing those involved reforms that extended beyond domestic financial institutions. Through interbank foreign exchange netting and settlement, a currency transaction tax could be imposed on the whole of the world's foreign exchange markets. A two-rate currency tax could be used with the upper rate applied only in objectively defined circumstances that might threaten the onset of a currency crisis, to prevent rapid speculative runs on currencies, while a lower rate would be applied, raised and lowered experimentally, to discover the best means to generating revenues.

The billions spent by developing countries to service the debt burden should be freed, he continued. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Group of Seven industrialized countries had primary responsibility for the debt burden of most of the countries of the South. There should be some form of reparations from those institutions. The poorest countries' debt should be cancelled to give them a fresh start, while the debt of middle-income countries should be reduced. The effectiveness of recent debt- relief initiatives initiated by governments and the international financial institutions was questionable. They were essentially meant to create creditor relief, by recycling uncollectable loans among southern countries.

Further, he continued, those initiatives were all tied to structural adjustment programmes that imposed macroeconomic policies, such as liberalization and privatization, and trapped economies in a cycle of indebtedness and underdevelopment. They also did not address structural inequities in the market. What was lacking was the political will to reduce debt. So, the question was how the Commission generated the necessary political will.

JULIAN DISNEY, International Council on Social Welfare, talked about four matters: a global campaign to implement an anti-poverty pact; identification of a core group of international standards for social development; strengthening the effectiveness of the Economic and Social Council within the United Nations; and strengthening involvement of civil society.

On the first, he said the pact should be specific, time-bound and balanced. The outcomes should be balanced by inputs, including: improved ODA and debt relief; action to strengthen financial market regulation and improved tax reform; and the development of a strengthened mechanism for anti-corruption and enforcement.

The events of Seattle, at the Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) showed the need for a more balanced process -- not an ad hoc process -- for weighing interests, such as trade, environment and poverty. There must be a structured process to ensure that a wide range of interests were taken into account. As for global standards, some existed -- such as the human rights treaties -- and should be implemented, not renegotiated. But, there was a need to draft further international standards in three areas: tax reform; financial market regulation; and a code of international conduct.

The Economic and Social Council was the body for playing the key role in identifying which groups should be involved in identifying priorities, he said. The Council had been meant to do that, according to the United Nations Charter. It should play its role. As for civil society, its practical expertise and experience must be used, as well as its ability to develop and monitor effective indicators. More financial support should be provided to civil society entities, and they should play an advocacy role for interests and for individuals.

Open Dialogue

The representative of Portugal, also on behalf of the European Union, asked the NGOs what aspects of the Secretary-General’s report should be highlighted in the current discussions, as well as during the special session, and what were their expectations for the sessions. How could an operational framework for participation be built through cooperation between States and NGOs and how could civil society become involved?

The representative of Jamaica noted that the many recurring themes of the NGO dialogue had already been mentioned in national presentations, particularly the urgency of reducing the debt burden. She believed that regulation of the international financial markets and international standards for tax reforms were also important and should receive some attention. Also, an international code of conduct for corporations was another issue to be taken up by the Commission.

She pointed out that developing national policies to create employment opportunities presented a great challenge, as job creation was integrally linked with the performance of the national economy. The financial crises currently being experienced by a several countries seriously affected efforts in that area. The informal sector, as the major contributor to national economic growth, often did not lend to the creation of jobs. Furthermore, employment opportunities had to be linked with the overall economic development package.

The role of NGOs themselves had not been sufficiently discussed, the representative of India remarked. Governments, the international community, local civil society and the private sector were the major actors in determining efforts for eradicating poverty. However, the onus for delivering on the commitment usually rested on the developing country’s government. How would transnational corporations redress that imbalance? What was the linkage between those corporations and the NGOs? Many of them required countries to issue development indicators, but many of the indicators measured only the performance of the developing countries, and not that of developed countries.

Response by Non-governmental Organizations

The worst outcome of the current session and of the special session would be to decide on vague commitments without making specific references to timetables, an NGO representative noted. He agreed that civil society must be involved in the consultation process which should be structured, detailed and ongoing. Also, it was important to distinguish between transnational corporations and non-governmental organizations. The tendency was for the corporations to be dominated by developed countries, but balanced interests must be reflected by both sets of bodies.

The need to develop a counterbalance to the global power of transnational corporations was stressed by one speaker. She emphasized the importance of developing a force that systematically protected workers, harmonized policies for workers worldwide, and eliminated situations of exploitation and low wage labour conditions.

Non-governmental organizations, often very small and lacking a United Nations presence, worked amidst the world's poorest, one representative said. The question was how those "frontline soldiers" could be helped to become actors in the world campaign against poverty. They were the ones that must be heard. They must provide the elements for an international response that could produce results.

The representative of France noted that debt relief and ODA had been repeatedly mentioned. Those had costs to governments. The Commission should study the ways to address those two matters in an acceptable way. But, an NGO representative responded that most donor governments had already foreseen the possibility of not having debt repaid, and had provisions to insure against that in their budgets. The real issue, he said, was the problem of political will.

Election of Officers

Commission Chairman Zola Skweyiya (South Africa) announced that Vice- Chairman Didier Le Bret (France) would also serve as the Commission's Rapporteur for its current session.

The Commission then decided that the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the upcoming Assembly special session, Cristian Maquieira (Chile), would be an ex officio member of the Commission's Bureau, to help ensure coordination between the two bodies.

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