EMPLOYMENT ISSUES TO DOMINATE NEW ROUND OF TALKS FOR REVIEW OF 1995 SOCIAL SUMMIT

Press Release
PI/1251
SOC/4547

EMPLOYMENT ISSUES TO DOMINATE NEW ROUND OF TALKS FOR REVIEW OF 1995 SOCIAL SUMMIT

A debate over strategies to create jobs, reduce unemployment and promote workers’ rights will dominate the resumed negotiations that get under way today in preparation for the United Nations General Assembly special session on the follow- up to the 1995 World Summit for Social Development.

The special session, which will be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 June, will suggest further initiatives to promote implementation of the commitments made at the Social Summit, such as the eradication of poverty, the achievement of full employment and the inclusion and participation of all people in society.

Employment issues, especially the enforcement of labour standards which caused a major controversy during the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle last December, are again on the table. However, since the special session will result in a consensus agreement, many believe the Geneva meeting can constructively promote those issues by balancing the needs of developing countries, which desperately need jobs, with the need to actively promote workers’ rights.

"There are valid concerns by all sides on these issues", according to John Langmore, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development. "But we also have to recognize that there are some who want to use these concerns for protectionist purposes, and some who would choose to ignore abhorrent worker conditions." Mr. Langmore added that the purpose of the Social Summit, as well as the five-year review, was to improve people's lives, by allowing them to work their way out of poverty through decent jobs with decent working conditions.

Other issues, such as providing resources for social development, also remain to be resolved. No longer a debate focusing mainly on assistance -- although that remains an important issue -- the negotiations have included topics ranging from promoting fair and effective tax collection systems, limiting tax havens and shelters, repatriating illegally acquired funds, stabilizing commodity prices, eliminating tax write-offs for bribes and studying the feasibility of an international currency transaction tax.

Negotiators will also tackle issues of corporate social responsibility. Proposals under review call for an endorsement of the Secretary-General's Global Compact for Business and for the development of a framework for voluntary guidelines for corporations. The special session will also decide whether to

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promote a process that would adopt a set of global social principles that would guide international financial institutions in their decision-making processes.

Countries have already completed an evaluation of the progress made in promoting the social development agenda over the past five years and have found the progress mostly disappointing. The final document that emerges from Geneva will consist of a political declaration, an assessment of the progress since Copenhagen and further initiatives. At present, about half of the document section on further initiatives remains to be negotiated.

The new round of talks will run from 17 May to 24 May, and another week of informal negotiations will be held from 14 to 20 June.

For further information, please contact Dan Shepard, Development and Human Rights Section, Department of Public Information, tel. (212) 963-1887, fax (212) 963-1186, or e-mail shepard@un.org.

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