Commission’s 2010 Session to Promote Social Integration, Examine Obstacles

Hindering Goal of ‘Society For All’, 3-12 February

 

The Commission for Social Development is to address social integration when it holds its forty-eighth session at United Nations Headquarters from 3 to 12 February.

Fifteen years after Governments made a commitment to promote social integration at the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen, the Commission will explore why the goal of creating “a society for all” remains elusive, while discussing strategies to accelerate progress.  The 2010 session aims to focus international attention on the essential role of social integration in achieving development goals, particularly in the areas of poverty reduction and full employment and decent work.

With preparations underway for the September Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, the Commission will work on making the case that socially inclusive policies -- which promote the full participation of all segments of society, from youth and older persons to indigenous persons -- are necessary for the success of all Millennium Goals.

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, 3 February, a high-level panel discussion will commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development.  The panel will focus on charting the way forward on the social development agenda, especially in light of the mixed progress made in achieving the 10 commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development.

A second high-level panel discussion (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, 4 February) will address the challenges and lessons learned from promoting social integration and its relationship with poverty eradication and full employment and decent work for all.  The Commission will also look at the emerging issue of Government responses to the employment and social consequences of the recent financial and economic crisis, including their gender dimensions.

Also on the Commission’s agenda are matters relating to social groups, a review of various reports of the Secretary-General, including on the social dimensions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), on mainstreaming disability in the development agenda, and on the first review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002.

A civil society forum, co-sponsored by the NGO Committee on Social Development, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, will convene on 2 February under the theme “Copenhagen + 15: Achieving a Society for All”.  It will present its conclusions to the Commission the following day.

Overview of Commission

Established in 1946, the Commission is a functional body of the Economic and Social Council.  Its 46 members are elected for terms of four years on the following basis:  12 from African States; 10 from Asian States; five from Eastern European States; nine from Latin American and Caribbean States; and 10 from Western European and Other States.

As a result of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995), the Commission’s mandate was reviewed in 1996 and its membership expanded from 31 to 46.  It has been the key United Nations body in charge of the follow-up to and implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.  Each year since 1995, the Commission has taken up key social development themes as part of its follow-up.

Commission Membership

The Commission’s current members are:  Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Venezuela.  (It has a vacancy for an Eastern European Member State).

For more information, contact:  Wenyan Yang, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, tel.:  +1 212 963 4714, e-mail:  yang@un.org; or Franck Kuwonu, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel.:  +1 212 963 8264.

On the web:  http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/csd/2009.html.

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For information media • not an official record