World Summit for Social Development

At the Copenhagen Social Summit in 1995, heads of State or Government from 117 countries pledged to implement 10 commitments to alleviate poverty, promote employment and ensure social integration. But progress towards achieving the goals set by Copenhagen has been uneven. Advances in some areas coexist with setbacks and deterioration in others. In some countries, improvement of social conditions has been slowed down because of resource constraints or lack of capacity to implement positive change. Others have been negatively affected by natural disasters and other unforeseen calamities. The global financial crisis has reversed social gains made in a number of countries and has increased human suffering and deprivation. Growing economic difficulties in many parts of the world have precluded the fulfillment of the Copenhagen commitments.

FIVE YEARS AFTER COPENHAGEN

The General Assembly special session, to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 26 to 30 June 2000 will evaluate implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Program of Action, its commitments and related policy measures. It will also identify additional innovative and concrete proposals for the millennium.

PREPARATIONS

The United Nationals Commission for Social Development has been entrusted with monitoring the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development. It has devoted its priority themes to the core issues addressed by the Summit. At its session in 1996, it addressed the theme "strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty"; in 1997, "productive employment and sustainable livelihoods"; and in 1998, "promoting social integration and participation of all people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons." For 1999, the Commission considered two themes: "social services for all" and "initiation of the overall review of the implementation of the outcome of the Summit." In February 2000, the Commission devoted its work to "contribution of the Commission to the overall review of the implementation of the outcome of the Summit."

The Preparatory Committee for the General Assembly special session, established by the General Assembly in 1997, held an organization meeting in May 1998. At its subsequent meetings held 17-28 May 1999 and 3-14 April 2000, it discussed the issues to be addressed by the special session, participation of non-governmental organizations and other organizational matters.

CREATING AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

Around the world, democratically elected Governments continue to increase in number. However, successful democratization requires an adequate level of education of the population; wider access to knowledge, technology and information; an accessible system of health services' and sustainable economic progress and social development. National progress reports submitted to the United Nations reflect a myriad of activities carried out by Governments and organizations of civil society to meet those needs.

An enabling environment, which calls for respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, has been marred in some countries by economic or political instability. The social impact of the recent financial crisis in Asia has been felt in many countries around the world.

ERADICATING POVERTY

Of 130 countries surveyed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), only 38 have set targets for poverty reduction. Another 40 countries are in the process of developing such plans and strategies. According to the UNDP publication Overcoming Human Poverty, access to microfinancing is one common strategy pursued to achieve economic empowerment of the poor, particularly women.

PROMOTING FULL EMPLOYMENT

There have been several encouraging indications of the degree of commitment to the employment objective set at the Social Summit. For example, the Group of Seven (G7) economic conferences have involved the participation of ministers responsible for employment and labor policies along with those for finance or economic affairs. In addition, several other countries have held "job summits" or high-level national meetings on employment problems and ways to improve employment conditions.

PROMOTING SOCIAL INTEGRATION

As of January 1998, there were a total of 1,016 ratifications or accessions to major international human rights treaties relating to social integration. Some countries have incorporated human rights components into their formal education and community training programs. Other countries have taken steps to promote the cultural integration of immigrants and migrant workers. Advocating the importance of family values has been recognized as one way to ensure the proper socialization of children in society.

ACHIEVING EQUALITY AND EQUITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN

There is generally greater awareness of the problems encountered by women, and a number of countries have taken remedial actions at local and national levels. Although many countries have set up "gender mainstreaming" units in their governments, concrete progress has been slow and erratic. Moreover, in the critical area of poverty alleviation, women's problems have intensified in the wake of the global fiscal crisis and economic recession.

ACCESSING HEALTH AND EDUCATION SERVICES

Over 100 countries have set up specific goals and plans to achieve education for all by 2015. Some have placed emphasis on promoting equity in education by providing financial incentives, such as provision of scholarships to the poor. However, close to 900 million adults remain illiterate, two thirds of them female.

In the field of health, emphasis on primary health care has become a blueprint for the formulation of health policies at the national and international levels, as suggested by the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care in 1978. In both developing and industrialized countries, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had grave, multiple long-term social consequence, affecting families and children.

ACCELERATING DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA AND IN THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

World leaders at Copenhagen committed themselves to accelerating the economic, social and human resource development of Africa and the least developed countries. With the assistance of the UN organizations and the international community, many of these countries are undertaking various actions to support the Summit's commitment for Africa.

Initiatives have been taken, for example, through the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF), the Program of Action for the Least Developed Countries in the 1990s; and special measures to ensure that communicable diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, do not restrict or reverse the progress made by African countries in economic and social development. Overall, many African countries have attempted to implement economic reforms, including 22 countries that have agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Extended Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF).

INCLUDING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS

The concern of Governments about the negative social consequences of structural adjustment programs sponsored by the multilateral financial institutions prompted countries to commit themselves to include social development goals in their own structural adjustment programs, including poverty eradication, promotion of full employment and the enhancement of social integration.

The World Bank has since taken further measures to address the adverse social impact of its structural adjustment programs. Poverty eradication has become a major goal for the Bank, which now favors reallocation of public expenditures towards such priority sectors as education and health. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also recognizes that with increasing democratization and participation of civil society, popular support for adjustment programs is a precondition for their success. Local ownership of economic reform programs and the need for greater flexibility in negotiations have also become important for the IMF.

ALLOCATING RESOURCES FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Several countries have come up with innovative ways of generating funds for social programs. For example, some countries have undertaken reforms to increase gross domestic savings as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) and to enlarge and rationalize their tax base. However, allocation of resources for social development continues to be highly sensitive to macroeconomic fluctuations and hence suffers when there is instability.

Within the context of adjustment programs, several countries have established social emergency funds to mitigate the adverse impact of adjustment measures on vulnerable groups. The external indebtedness of developing countries, particularly low-income countries, is a source of concern since it constrains their growth prospects.

The importance of the availability of resources for social development is behind the 20/20 initiative, which encourages Governments and donors to allocate resources for the provision of basic services, and to use such resources more effectively and equitably. The initiative calls for the allocation of, on average, 20 percent of public budgets in developing countries and 20 percent of official development assistance (ODA) to basic social services. In this connection, the continued decline in ODA is also a source of great concern.

COOPERATING FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

International cooperation has placed a crucial role in helping countries address their financial crises. The current crisis, however, has made it clear that the International Monetary Fund's financial ability to provide resources to crisis-ridden countries is limited. It has also exposed the deficiencies of existing regulatory and surveillance mechanisms, in both developed and developing countries. The Fund has since set up financial mechanisms to assist countries in crisis, such as the Emergency Financing Mechanism and the Supplemental Reserve Facility. Support has also been given by the international community to those countries with economies in transition to aid them in transforming their economies and integrating them into the global system. Substantive dialogue on this issue between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions culminated in the Economic and Social Council high-level meetings held in April 1998 and April 1999, with a focus on the impact of global financial integration, and on international financial markets and financing for development, respectively.

FURTHER INITIATIVES TO BE DISCUSSED

The UN General Assembly special session in June 2000 will undertake an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the Social Summit. Among the further actions and initiatives to be considered are:

·Preparation of principles of socio-economic policy for responding to financial crises;
·Preparation of guidelines on the social responsibilities of business;
·Adoption of a global target for poverty eradication of halving the number of people living in absolute poverty by the year 2015;
·Establishment, strengthening and improvement in management of national social protection systems;
·Mandating preparation of a global action program for full employment in an integrating world;
·Refocusing macroeconomic policies so that social goals and priorities become central and are sought simultaneously with economic priorities;
·Strengthening procedures and institutions for social dialogue by, among other actions, encouraging growth of civil society organizations and guaranteeing freedom of association;
·Strengthening gender mainstreaming and promoting gender equality nationally and internationally;
·Mandating preparation of a new global plan of action to achieve access to education for all by 2015;
·Mandating preparation of a global plan of action to achieve access to basic health services for all by 2015;
·Strengthening support for activities to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS;
·Preparation of guidelines for policies aiming to collect sufficient revenue to pay for national social services, social protection and other social policies in the context of globalization;
·Identification of effective forms of international cooperation and coordination of taxation policy between countries so as to contain tax competition;
·Further initiatives to substantially reduce the debts of the heavily indebted low-income countries;
·Reversing the current decline in ODA and efforts to reach the agreed international targets for such assistance;
·Standardization of development indicators.