Commission for Social Development

Forty-seventh Session

12^th & 13^th Meetings (AM & PM)

CONCLUDING FORTY-SEVENTH SESSION, COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT APPROVES

TEXTS ON AFRICA, AGEING, DECENT WORK, YOUTH PROGRAMMES

New Bureau Elected as Members Adopt Report, Provisional Agenda, Documentation

Concluding its forty-seventh session this afternoon, the Commission for Social Development adopted four draft resolutions on a wide range of issues, including the development of Africa, employment, ageing and youth.

In other actions today, the Commission opened its forty-eighth session, elected its incoming Bureau and adopted the report of its current session as well as the provisional agenda and documentation for the upcoming session.

Introducing the first draft resolution, on policies and programmes involving youth, was the representative of Senegal, who spoke on behalf of the Republic of Moldova and Portugal.  By that text, which was adopted as orally revised, the Commission called upon Member States to consider using the goals and targets proposed in the Secretary-General’s report on implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth to monitor progress in fostering the well-being of young people and their engagement with civil society.  It requested that the Secretary-General step up efforts to further develop and propose possible indicators to help States assess the situation of their youth, and urged Member States to work with youth-led organizations and other stakeholders to implement the Programme of Action.

By other terms of that text, the Commission called upon Member States to promote, with United Nations assistance, the well-being of young people through national youth policies, create effective channels of cooperation and information exchange among youth, Governments and decision makers, and support the creation of independent national youth councils or equivalent bodies.  It also urged Member States to consider including youth representatives in relevant discussions of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.

Speaking before the adoption of the draft, Syria’s representative said she would join the consensus based on the conviction that the concerns of youth, particularly those under foreign occupation, were related to armed conflict, as indicated in the World Programme for Youth and its supplementary document, and based also on the promise by the draft’s co-sponsors to pay adequate attention to youth living under foreign occupation in the General Assembly resolution on that issue.

However, following the action, the representative of the Netherlands said her delegation was not a co-sponsor, perhaps for the first time, because a new paragraph relating to youth in armed conflict had been inserted at the last minute.  While such a serious matter deserved attention, it was not appropriate to have included it in the text, which aimed to be procedural and institutional.  Still, the Netherlands supported the text’s elements overall.

Echoing those sentiments, the United Kingdom’s representative said the focus of one particular group in operative paragraph 12 detracted from the main purpose and message of the text.  While the United Kingdom reaffirmed its support for United Nations youth activities, the added remarks made it very difficult to co-sponsor the draft.

The Commission then took up a draft resolution on the social dimensions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), introduced by the representative of the Sudan on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, and approved as orally revised.

By that text, the Economic and Social Council would emphasize the critical role of the African Union and regional communities in implementing NEPAD.  It would encourage African countries and development partners alike to work together to enhance institutions and promote regional cooperation as well as African social and economic integration.  It would also ask the Council to emphasize that Africa’s increasingly unacceptable high level of poverty and social exclusion required a comprehensive approach to development and the implementation of social and economic policies.

Further by that draft, the Economic and Social Council would urge continuous support for poverty reduction and sustainable development measures such as debt relief, improved market access, support for the private sector and entrepreneurship, enhanced official development assistance (ODA), increased foreign direct investment (FDI), technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and the conclusion of the World Trade Organization trade round.  The Council would encourage all development partners to implement the principles of aid effectiveness set forth in the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development.

Speaking after the action on that text, Japan’s representative said his Government advocated the importance of ownership by, and partnership with, African countries.  Japan was willing to strengthen relations with NEPAD by promoting the NEPAD process.

By the terms of a draft on promoting full employment and decent work for all, introduced by Commission Vice-Chairperson Lilit Toutkhalian ( Armenia),the Commission decided to keep the topic under review.  It requested the Secretary-General to include in his report to the Commission’s forty-eighth session a segment on implementing Economic and Social Council resolution 2008/18 and the impact of the current global financial and economic crisis on full employment and decent work, and how it related to social integration.

Taking the floor after that action, the representative of the Czech Republic, speaking on behalf of the European Union, expressed regret that the text did not include important recent developments on promoting decent work.  The 2008 Declaration on Social Justice of the International Labour Organization (ILO) represented the most recent international consensus, but the text did not recognize ILO’s efforts to promote decent work and full employment for all.  The Commission should address that issue during its forty-eighth session.

By a draft resolution on the first review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002, introduced by Commission Vice-Chairperson Lorena Gimenez (Venezuela) and adopted as orally revised, the Commission called upon Member States to continue efforts to implement the Plan through national strategies and policies, improved data collection and the sharing of ideas, information and good practices, while bearing in mind the Secretary-General’s report and the guide created by the Economic and Social Council to help Member States further implement the Plan.  The Commission also urged Member States to consider including empowerment, awareness-raising and capacity development, as well as evidence-based policymaking and indicators in their national strategies.

Further by that text, the Commission called upon Member States to adopt legislative and other appropriate measures to provide economic security and health care, while mainstreaming a gender perspective, to promote the full participation of older persons in decision-making affecting their lives.  It recommended that they strengthen networks of national focal points on ageing, work with the United Nations regional commissions to exchange best practices and reach out to older persons and their organizations to make the national implementation process inclusive.

The Commission also took note of the Secretary-General’s report on promoting social integration (document E/CN.5/2009/2); his note on monitoring implementation of the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (document E/CN.5/2009/6); and his note transmitting the nominations of members of the Board of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (document E/CN.5/2009/7 and Corr.1).

In other business, the Commission elected Leslie Kojo Christian ( Ghana) Chairman of its forty-eighth session.  Elected as Vice-Chairpersons were Miloslav Hettes ( Slovakia), Christian Sieber ( Switzerland), Shoko Fujimoto ( Japan) and Connie Taracena Secaira ( Guatemala).

Kirsti Lintonen ( Finland) chaired today’s final meeting of the forty-seventh session, during which Brazil’s representative also made a statement.

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For information media • not an official record