Press conference by social development commission

 

Focusing on such core issues as poverty eradication, social integration, and the promotion of full employment, the convening of the Commission on Social Development would form an important part of the social development debate in the lead-up to the General Assembly’s mid-term high-level review of the Millennium Development Goals, the Commission’s Chairperson, Dumisani Kumalo, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Outlining the activities of the Commission’s forty-third session, which opens tomorrow and concludes on 18 February, Mr. Kumalo, who is also South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said negotiations were under way on the substantive proposals that would comprise the session’s outcome document.  That document would be conveyed, through the Economic and Social Council, to the Assembly’s high-level event.

Some 40 high-level delegations would be participating in the session, which would include a high-level plenary meeting on 10 and 11 February, he said.  He was pleased with the number of high-level delegations attending the Commission, including at the ministerial level.  Three simultaneous round tables would address the implementation of the ten commitments of the 1995 Social Summit and their linkages with the Millennium Development Goals.  Round-table participation would include ministers, academics, civil society and perhaps the private sector.  Such broad participation was essential, as governments alone would not be able to implement social development goals.

Regarding the Commission’s future work, he said the Commission would present a proposal on how to revamp and reorganize its work and to ensure that it was in sync with some of the regional forums addressing social development.  He hoped the Commission, the first United Nations commission to meet in 2005, would be able to adopt an outcome that would significantly contribute to the September review of the Millennium Development Goals.

Asked to describe the outcome, he said the Commission would reaffirm the Copenhagen Declaration.  It would also address issues such as social exclusion, unemployment, youth and the ageing.  Social development was about people’s everyday experiences.  It also addressed the catalysts of conflict, including discrimination, human rights abuses and poverty.  By focusing on such issues, the Commission would remind the upcoming September event of the need to address the core issues of conflict.

Responding to a question on the challenges faced by Africa in implementing the Copenhagen Declaration, he said without resources and international partnerships it would be impossible to implement social development policies.  Globalization, while it had benefited many, had also sharpened social inequalities.  The Commission was trying to bring coherence to global efforts to address such issues.

Responding to question on the recent tsunami, he said most people had forgotten that the tsunami had also affected the African coast.  Focusing on big global issues often meant that the everyday realities of ordinary people were missed.  That was what made the Commission’s work so relevant.

The Commission would also follow up on the issue of ageing, he said, in response to another question.  While many countries faced the challenges of population ageing, Africa faced the opposite problem.  The Commission would seek to address the social realities of all groups.

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