PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL SESSION OPENS SECOND SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS
Press Release
SOC/4538
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL SESSION OPENS SECOND SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS
20000403The benefits of globalization have been unevenly spread and have tended to split those plugged into the world economy from those who are not, thus opening a breach that has contributed to poverty, inequality and marginalization, the Secretary-General states in one of several reports before the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2000 General Assembly special session that will review social development.
The Preparatory Committee convened this morning at Headquarters and will meet until 14 April. The special session of the Assembly will be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June. Entitled "World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalizing World", it is intended to provide an opportunity for sharing experiences and identifying further concrete means of furthering the commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995).
The consensus adoption by 186 countries of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development charted a new course towards people-centred development. World leaders pledged to eradicate poverty, attain full employment and foster stable, safe and just societies through the adoption of 10 commitments, which serve as the basis for global efforts to confront the structural causes and consequences of "profound social problems", particularly poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. The Copenhagen Programme of Action recommends measures to be taken at the national, international and United Nations levels to eliminate inequalities within and among countries and foster social development policies and programmes.
The objective of the second preparatory session is the approval of a draft outcome document and a draft political declaration to be forwarded to the special Assembly session. A proposed organization of work recommends that there would be no formal debate. Rather, members will begin informal consultations immediately on the two outcome documents. Those will be held in three working groups, as follows: working group I, on new initiatives based on 5 of the 10 commitments, identified by a proposal from the Bureau; working group II on new initiatives based on the other five commitments; Working Group III on the draft political declaration, proceeding from the Chairmans text.
At the first session of the preparatory committee, held from 17 to 28 May 1999, four decisions on organizational matters were adopted, but no consensus was reached on draft texts on further actions. At the conclusion of that
Preparatory Committee for - 2 - Press Release SOC/4538 Special Session on Social Development 3 April 2000 1st Meeting (AM)
session, Committee Chairman Cristian Maquieira (Chile) said the high expectations invested in the process seemed to have been forgotten, as delegates had fallen prey to the trap of bureaucratization. Among the issues delaying agreement had been the effect of sanctions on social development and the elaboration of social indicators.
At this mornings opening meeting, Mr. Maquieria said like Dantes Inferno, time has run out. Hopefully, everyone was ready to take up the urgent challenge. Members must strive to reach consensus on a draft outcome document as an important step towards putting a human face on social development. Poverty, unemployment, and societal inequities were becoming trans-generational in nature: the poverty suffered today would be transferred to future generations, unless something was done to stop that cycle. In fact, the inequities, even after Copenhagen, had worsened. The Preparatory Committee must recognize its responsibility to the global public good and seize the opportunity to give concrete effect to its efforts. Many had thought it time to bypass the United Nations, but it was the voice not just of the powerful, but also of the poor, who were expecting to be heard. On 14 April, the Committee should have an approved political statement and at least six commitments that were nearly clean.
Also in introductory remarks, the Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, John Langmore, said that after all was said and done, the special session should be described as the special session on social justice. It was a great opportunity to reach significant agreements that would contribute to social development. The forces of globalization, national interest, organizational structures and conventions had for the Committee, like the rest of the world, produced a kind of powerlessness. Conversely, every person, country and civil society had the capacity to advocate proposals with conviction and imagination. The Preparatory Committee should seek to ensure that the special session was memorable.
The Chairman of the Commission for Social Development, Zola Skweyiya (South Africa), said that the Committee was operating in a shifting and contested terrain as it attempted to address the critical challenge of social development in a globalizing world. Negotiations should be informed by the ethics of care and the need to build a people-centred, sustainable development process that would facilitate, among other things, social and institutional change in the interest of the most disempowered, and address issues of racism, sexism and all other forms of discrimination in society. We must act now to address the horror story of poverty and deprivation that shape the lived experiences of the worlds poorest people, he said.
In other business, the following members were designated as facilitators to assist with the negotiations: Ion Gorita (Romania), Vice Chairman; Aurelio Fernandez (Spain); and Sonia Felecity Elliott (Guyana).
The Preparatory Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 4 April, to consider a draft decision on organizational arrangements for the special session, and the accreditation of additional non-governmental organizations to the Preparatory Committee.
Reports before Preparatory Committee
The Secretary-General's comprehensive report on the implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development (document E/CN.5/2000/2) analyses challenges, obstacles and achievements to date, based on information submitted by 74 countries. It presents regional trends, discusses 11 cross-cutting issues, highlights national strategies and depicts the scope of regional and international cooperation for social development.
According to the document, one of the most important changes that has taken place since Copenhagen is the increased priority which social development has been given vis-à-vis other policy objectives. Negotiations on international trade or foreign direct investment are no longer viewed as purely economic or technical concerns to be left to experts in those fields. Instead, increased attention is now given to the social dimensions of economic policies. The post-Copenhagen period is also characterized by greater openness and public debate around such policies.
The Secretary-General emphasizes the need for an integrated approach to social development. For example, the key to good health might be found in decent work, and the key to full employment might be found in access to education for all. Successful implementation of the Copenhagen commitments requires political will and action, and the courage to forge integrated partnerships for social development.
The report states that progress has been made in such areas as literacy and life expectancy, increased school enrolment and access to basic social services, and declining infant mortality. There has been incremental movement towards equality between men and women around the world, despite the persistent tendency for women to be the "first losers" in times of crisis and restructuring. But, in other areas, the world has regressed. Relative poverty declined, but the number of people living in poverty globally has grown. The world has become a more unequal place, within and between nations, in terms of income, employment, access to social services and opportunities for participation in public and civil society institutions. Local and regional conflicts have caused setbacks to social integration in many countries.
Contrary to the commitments made at Copenhagen, resources allocated for social development purposes have declined, the Secretary-General reports. The burden of debt has grown markedly, further squeezing resources available for social development. With the liberalization of capital flows, the world has become more vulnerable to sudden financial shocks with severe social and economic consequences. Furthermore, the real victims of such shocks are increasingly powerless to rectify their social situation.
The report analyses trends by region, with sections on South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America and the Caribbean, West Asia and Northern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. In South Asia, for example, there is urgent need for resources for education, with 395 million illiterate adults -- 60 per cent of whom are women -- and 50 million children not in school. The report also highlights the need to examine defence allocations in that region. With 40 per cent of the world's poor, South Asia is spending $12 billion on defence.
For Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the report emphasizes the need for more accountable and efficient government. The general weakness of States and governments in the transition period has permitted small groups to capture the benefits of change for their personal benefit, with enormous economic and social development costs. In West Asia and northern Africa, globalization is perceived by many as potentially threatening to the social and cultural integrity of societies, and there is need to acquire capacity to profit from globalization without renouncing values and culture.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the report continues, weak or dysfunctional governments have resulted in an absence of the rule of law, which, in turn, undermines peace and security, and raises transactions costs so high as to inhibit all but the simplest and most short-term of investments. Countries of the OECD have high income levels, robust economic growth and functioning institutions, yet, poverty, unemployment and social disintegration persist. Many people earning low wages are living in poverty, and programmes for transitioning from welfare to workfare have not been simple or easy to implement.
The report also discusses the need to mobilize additional official development assistance (ODA). Despite the commitment made at the Summit for countries to devote 0.7 per cent of their gross national product (GNP) to ODA, there had been a continued decline in levels. Not only has the absolute amount of ODA been decreasing in the midst of growing need, but also the allocation has been changing. Many least developing countries have seen their share of ODA decrease due to urgent requirements of transitional countries hard hit by financial crisis or by the negative impact of economic reform. An additional squeeze on ODA has been created by the humanitarian needs arising from the growing number of local conflicts and natural disasters.
The Secretary-General states that new modalities are required for increasing the mobilization and allocation of ODA. New initiatives are needed to mobilize additional resources for ODA and ensure that existing resources are used efficiently to have the utmost impact on social development. While greater accountability for end-results and impact in development cooperation is viewed by many as a positive development, there is also a danger that development cooperation may neglect those countries where the capacity for development is the weakest. This could result in further marginalization of least developed countries and further accentuation of inequality across the globe.
The Preparatory Committee also has before it the Secretary-General's report on implementation of United Nations resolutions concerning the right to self- determination (document A/AC.253/17), which deals with the review by the Commission on Human Rights of the question of Western Sahara, the situation in occupied Palestine and mercenaries. In a special session in 1999, the Commission considered the situation in East Timor.
Regarding Western Sahara, the Commission's most recent resolution noted with satisfaction the progress made since December 1997 towards the implementation of the Secretary-General's settlement plan for the territory, the report says. On Palestine, it has repeatedly stressed the right of the Palestinian people to achieve their national rights, particularly their continuing and unqualified right to self- determination, including the option of a State.
On the issue of mercenaries, the report states, the Commission has considered their use as a means of impeding the exercise of peoples to self-determination. In a resolution adopted in 1999, the Commission reaffirmed the right of peoples to choose their political status without external intervention and stated that the activities of mercenaries continue to increase and take new forms.
According to the report, the Commission recalled the 5 May 1999 agreement between Indonesia and Portugal providing for a popular consultation to ascertain whether the East Timorese people accepted or rejected special autonomy status within the unitary Republic of Indonesia. The popular consultation was held on 30 August 1999, when the people of East Timor voted for a process of transition leading to independence. The Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly accepted that outcome on 19 October 1999.
The Secretary-General's report on development guidelines on the role and social responsibilities of the private sector (document A/AC.253/21) contains a discussion of the definitions and concepts related to the social responsibilities of the private sector. It also contains an overview of initiatives taken, a brief review of trends, issues and intergovernmental initiatives taken and some recommendations for the developmental guidelines at the United Nations.
The report finds that the social or corporate responsibility of the private sector goes beyond the day-to-day operation of producing a certain range of products and services in the most efficient and economical matter. Social responsibility, in that regard, concerns the relationships of a company with its clients, suppliers and employees, as well as with other groups and with the needs values and goals of the society in which it operates. All of these groups have an interest in the behaviour of the company both within and outside its normal mode of operation. They, therefore, establish the company's societal responsibility, or at least their perception of what that should be. Corporate responsibility, therefore, requires dialogue between companies and their stakeholders.
Further to the report, one of the most compelling arguments for developing guidelines on global social responsibility is the spectacular growth of corporate wealth, benefits and influence in political decision-making that has resulted from the current unprecedented period of strong economic growth in large parts of the industrialized world. It could be argued that expanding markets are only sustainable if they are complemented with a social response, but the development of guidelines that aim to promote the concept of the social responsibility of the private sector is a complex task involving a large number of cross-cutting issues, as well as consultations with many different constituencies and stakeholders.
Preparation of such guidelines to enhance global corporate citizenship in the Member States, according to the report, requires a process of intergovernmental consultation. The General Assembly, at its special session, may therefore propose that the development guidelines for social responsibility be a priority theme for the fortieth session of the Commission for Social Development in 2002. The objectives of such guidelines would be twofold: first, to promote social responsibility of the private sector; and second, to stimulate activities by the private sector that directly support both the goals of the World Summit and the Secretary-General's Global Compact. The guidelines would primarily serve to provide a policy framework for action by governments via the private sector. Those guidelines would therefore draw on experience learned from governments in enhancing partnerships with the private sector for development.
No guidelines can be implemented without the participation of the private sector, the report continues. Appropriate modalities would therefore need to be sought to enhance the active engagement of the private sector in the development of the guidelines on global corporate citizenship. Measures taken by the private sector itself should also be included in those guidelines. Many of those corporate initiatives have been beneficial to the social development process in many countries. Overall, global corporate citizenship goes beyond philanthropy. The guidelines should therefore include polices in three primary areas: poverty alleviation; employment generation; and the promotion of social integration. Guidelines must also include the three core concerns of the Global Compact, namely, the protection of human rights, labour standards and environmental protection.
Also before the Preparatory Committee is the Secretary-General's report on the impact of globalization on social development (document A/AC.253/25). It describes globalization as referring primarily to the forces pushing the extension of the free market worldwide, and to hitherto regulated sectors of the economy, particularly the international financial markets, where its impact on social development has arguably been most questionable.
According to the report, globalization has created a world of "winners" and "losers" cutting across individuals, groups, nations and entire regions. In addition, there are genuine fears about the consequences of survival in a highly competitive global market for the environment and for those without the skills and bargaining power to negotiate better terms for themselves. There is concern that the values and pressures of the globalized market are eroding those social restraints without which the gap between the rich and poor may become unsustainable, jeopardizing the social fabric itself.
The report says that globalization has also exposed a crisis in governance in which the concerns of those excluded, bypassed or impoverished by the process are not being adequately considered, leading to alternative, sometimes violent, forms of expression and protest. The rules governing the international economy are seen as heavily skewed in favour of those setting the pace of globalization rather than of society at large.
For the large majority of developing countries, the report states, the revenue base on which social development depended has been eroded, as has the limited social protection that existed. Economies in transition that adopted market economies with high expectations have faced an abrupt decline of their previously elaborate social support systems, as well as the handicap of competing in a more open global economy with incomplete and underdeveloped market institutions. The process has also plagued the advanced industrial world, where employment insecurity caused by trade globalization and restructuring of firms, rising inequality and the environmental consequences of liberalized trade have been the focus of particular attention.
According to the report, those and other developments illustrate the risk of hasty liberalization, particularly financial liberalization. They also highlight the challenge posed to the goals and commitments adopted by the Social Summit to eradicate poverty, promote employment and foster social integration by generalized free market-oriented economic policies predicated on the unrestricted movement of goods and capital worldwide, without adequate safeguards for poorer countries and vulnerable populations.
The report proposes four sets of recommendations deemed imperative to reconcile the competitive economic philosophy of the market and the social philosophy of inclusion. It is necessary to reframe, wherever necessary, the market economy's rules so that they incorporate and integrate better the concerns of both those in the forefront of the technological and entrepreneurial revolutions and the goals of the Social Summit. It is also necessary to improve the mechanisms for the concerns of the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized to be adequately reflected in the decision-making processes that affect them.
The Secretary-General's report on social impact assessments (document A/AC.253/27) notes that an appropriate financial architecture could well have prevented the financial crisis which struck a number of Asian, Eastern European and Latin American countries in 1997/98. Once unchained, the crisis caused an inevitable fall in the gross national product, which in turn triggered a massive decline in employment and income levels, particularly in countries lacking solid social protection legislation and strong trade union movements.
The report says that social impact assessment could have helped distribute the pain more fairly and spared the vulnerable groups the most severe distress. The data needed to target the most affected population groups. Emergency programmes to meet their priority needs were not available and institutions charged with formulating those programmes did not have the data-collection capacity. As a result, the emergency programmes designed in the immediate aftermath of the crisis sometimes went to people and regions where need was not greatest and provided goods and services which were not in short supply.
Countries at all levels of development, the report proposes, should create capabilities for social assessment. At the international level, technical and financial assistance should be provided to strengthen the capabilities of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in social impact assessment, particularly in the context of the follow-up to the Social Summit. Countries lacking the capabilities to report accurately on progress achieved in the implementation of the Summit should be assisted to complement the information available from formal statistical sources with qualitative information from social assessment.
The Secretary-General's report on post-conflict social integration (document A/AC.253/23) stresses the importance of three areas of action. They are: prioritizing the healing of individual and group relationships; designing practical projects and programmes that bring polarized groups together and integrate marginalized ones; and cultivating conflict management capabilities and institutions throughout civil society, local and national government, as well as within the relevant international organization.
In conclusion, the report recommends embedding social integration in post- conflict recovery processes; cultivating civil society's capabilities for social integration; expanding and institutionalizing capabilities of governing diversity; and enhancing the international community's awareness of social integration as a vital component of socio-economic development.
A report of the Secretary-General on the acceleration of development in Africa and the least developed countries (document A/AC.253/22) reviews the performance of African countries, in general, and least developed countries, in particular, based on their capacity to attain the developmental objective of reducing poverty by half by the year 2015. It also identifies essential structural domestic constraints to the development of those countries and highlights the kind of catalytic action to overcome them. It further identifies future action to improve the prospects for long-term structural development.
The report finds that African and least developed countries have seen significant improvements in their economic performance compared with the previous decade. While there was some decline in gross domestic product (GDP) -- due mainly to erratic weather conditions and armed conflicts and instability - there are now increasing signs that the countries are pursuing policies which have contributed to reducing underlying macroeconomic imbalances and a better environment for private- sector activity. Recent economic growth has not been strong or sustainable enough, however, to reduce the unacceptable high rates of poverty, particularly in the sub- Saharan region. Furthermore, social indicators continue to remain stagnant and in a few cases, to deteriorate. An estimated 44 per cent of African, as a whole, and 51 per cent of Africans in the sub-Saharan region live in absolute poverty.
The report finds that the ability of African countries to become more integrated into the global economy is now increasingly determined by their ability to expand exports and attract foreign investment. But because of the widening technological gap, those countries have become marginalized from the centre of global economic activities as reflected in their share of world trade and capital flows. In order to address the structural weaknesses that undermine their productive capabilities and competitiveness, African countries and least developed countries will have to continue to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment, improve governance and maintain a transparent and stable regulatory environment that reduces the risks that currently discourage private domestic and foreign investment and ends armed conflict. Without those basic conditions in place, the impact of special measures will be very limited.
While an enabling environment is being created, the report concludes that a number of additional measures will be needed to encourage and strengthen the role of small and medium enterprises: upgrade skills and access to technology; integrate regional cooperation; increase and coordinate development assistance; and mobilize foreign direct investment. Africa and least developed countries should also continue to put in place special measures to encourage development in micro-economic policies designed to stimulate growth, encourage investment and improve overall economic efficiency. In addition, African Governments should put in place special measures to encourage the development of micro-enterprises by facilitating access to new technologies and providing training to improve management skills.
The Secretary-General further calls upon donor governments to support the efforts of African countries by giving targeted support to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of critical infrastructure services. The rehabilitation of countries emerging from conflict should be considered part of post-conflict relief. Finally, major upcoming international events will give least developed countries and their developed partners a chance to evolve new strategies of development cooperation from which all may benefit.
A report of the Secretary-General on additional and innovative resources for social development (A/AC.253/28) explores both the potential benefits and drawbacks of various proposed means of securing and retaining additional resources for social development, in many cases with the help of international action. It finds that the mobilization of resources for social development remains an acute challenge in many countries. The share of public expenditure in GDP and the composition of expenditure can vary significantly across countries, reflecting, among other things, the level of importance attached to the social development objectives.
The report presents a summary of proposals for consideration by individual governments and by the world community relating to whether international action is required and their degrees of political difficulty. From within those groups, some of the proposals are concerned with tightening government revenue systems in the face of globalization, corruption and international crime. Other proposals cover opportunities for taxation with peculiar advantages that are often not fully exploited; ways of channelling labour and capital into social development; and mobilizing existing research resources and technology for meeting the health needs of the world's poor.
Also before the committee is a note by the Secretary-General (document A/AC.253/16) circulating, as a series of addenda, reports provided by relevant organizations and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other concerned groups. That is in response to an invitation by the preparatory committee, at its first session, to those bodies to elaborate and submit review reports and proposals for further action and initiatives to the second preparatory committee session.
Additional reports were received from the following groups: the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (Add.1); United Nations Secretariat (Add.2); note from the Secretary-General on assistance to countries with economies in transition (Add.3); United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) (Add.4); World Health Organization (WHO) (Add.5); United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (Add.6); United Nations Volunteers Programme (Add.7); United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Add.8); Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) (Add.9); International Labour Organization (ILO) (Add.10); United Nations Development Programme (UNDEP) (Add.11); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNICEF (Add.12); UNDP and the World Bank (Add.13); World Bank (Add.14); UNDP (Add.15); and the International Monetary Fund (Add.16).
A note by the Secretary-General on the symposium on States, markets and social progress: roles and cooperation of the public and private sectors (document E/CN.5/2000/5) transmits the report of the symposium.
The note recommends that, at the special session in Geneva in June, the General Assembly should make an appeal to governments to make national plans to achieve the Copenhagen commitments. In addition, better international cooperation is needed, and the Assembly should suggest specific initiatives and measures to provide new impetus for achieving those commitments, as well as to promote social progress.
Another note by the Secretary-General transmits the report of the regional symposium on socio-economic policies during marcoeconomic stabilization in countries with economies in transition, focusing on the Commonwealth of Independent States (document A/AC.253/15). The symposium, held at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from 9 to 11 November 1999, brought together government officials, experts from the United Nations system and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The
report of the symposium states that even though the countries with economies in transition in the region differ with respect to their specific trajectory and stage of transformation, and the results obtained, the social cost of the reforms is evident in all of those countries. The social costs, in terms of high unemployment, declining real incomes, wages and pensions, increasing income differentiation, social exclusion and deteriorating services, have fallen disproportionately on the poorest individuals and groups within the population.
The report identifies the priorities for action, which were recommended at the symposium, as follows: the integration of macroeconomic and social policy, by which growth of unemployment and reduction of poverty should be adopted as central goals of macroeconomic policy, together with economic growth and low inflation; turning social protection into an instrument of progressive income redistribution, possibly requiring reform of social protection systems to ensure support for the poor, older persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups; reforming education and health care in order to provide universal access to those vital services; mobilization of additional resources for social development; and improving the governance over, and effective use of, available financial resources.
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