General Assembly Session 55 meeting 46

Mr. Al-Absi (United Arab Emirates)

I should like to express our support for the outcome of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, which was held in Geneva, five years after the World Summit for Social Development.

Despite the interest that has been shown and the international initiatives taken over the past decade to combat poverty and illiteracy, it appears that we must take further measures to ensure social development. Reports and statistics show that more than 1.25 billion individuals live in abject poverty and are deprived of essential services such as food and potable water. Many suffer from contagious diseases, are illiterate and subject to violence, national conflicts and natural disasters. We must therefore acknowledge that efforts taken to date have not been sufficient to deal with these challenges or to enable us to take a qualitative step forward towards improving social conditions for citizens of developing countries, especially those suffering the most.

The World Summit for Social Development raised the awareness of heads of State or Government of the social and developmental problems confronting peoples and of appropriate solutions. We therefore call for the political will to implement more substantial and objective regional and international strategies to combat poverty and relieve the debt burden, particularly for the least developed countries, so as to make it possible for them to take advantage of available technology and globalization, attract foreign investment and allow access to the world market for their exports.

We call upon the international community to find innovative ways to finance development in the developing countries. This will require a pooling of efforts at the national, regional and international levels to create a just and equitable international environment conducive to the establishment of international peace and security.

For the benefit of our citizens, and in accordance with the recommendations of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the head of State of the United Arab Emirates, we are modernizing our existing institutions and developing new ones, including cultural, health-care and other social service institutions, and making efforts to provide gender equality in areas of work and education. Furthermore, efforts are being made to rehabilitate the disabled and elderly so that they can participate in sustainable development projects.

Our State's interest extends beyond our own concerns, of course, to other areas. We are interested in cooperating with bilateral, regional and multinational development organizations. The United Arab Emirates has helped to build schools, orphanages and hospitals. We have also provided concessional loans to developing countries and organized and hosted conferences and seminars in various areas.

In conclusion, we hope that the international community will implement the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit and the special session held in Geneva in order to bring about a better future for humanity.

Mr. Aboulgheit (Egypt)

I should like to begin by expressing our thanks and appreciation to Mr. Nitin Desai and Mr. John Langmore for their notable efforts in the various fields of social development, including those of poverty eradication, productive labour and social solidarity. Last June, with the special session of the General Assembly on the implementation of the outcome of the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, we witnessed the largest international gathering of governmental and non-governmental organizations in five years. They came together to reaffirm their determination and political commitment to eradicate poverty, make social progress and enhance prosperity and social development.

We, the countries that participated in the special session, pledged to make every effort to achieve social justice and improve conditions for humanity in the light of the expectations of the peoples of the world. We were requested to accord priority to the social aspects of development, since they are connected to, have an affect on and are influenced by the economic and political aspects in such a way that all three form one indivisible whole, which has both a positive and a negative impact on stability and international peace and security.

We must ask ourselves, and all the countries of the world, to make greater efforts in the field of social development. We welcome the fact that the special session reaffirmed the strong support of many countries for the obligations set out in Copenhagen, particularly those relating to the setting up of national plans, programmes and strategies to promote social development by eradicating poverty, providing increased work opportunities, developing human resources and establishing social investment funds, in addition to increasing their budgets for the social sector.

Egypt, welcomes the outcome of the special session of the General Assembly and reaffirms its commitment to carry out the recommendations of that session, as well as those of the Copenhagen summit, which remain important for the promotion of social development and the removal of obstacles that impede its implementation. There is no doubt that poverty is the greatest challenge and the main obstacle to the efforts of developing countries to fulfil their obligations to foster social development. This cannot be achieved without two important developments -- support for the process of economic and social development at the national level and the creation of an international environment of greater justice and equity.

Mobilizing and apportioning resources is the basis upon which all countries carry out their obligations in the field of social development. The concept of enabling peoples and the promotion of human rights and basic freedoms is not limited to promulgating laws and decrees. Indeed, it exceeds that to include their application through an interest in education, health, training, professional training, employment opportunities and providing basic services. This requires financial resources and technical assistance, not only by national Governments but also by the international community, as a political commitment pledged by advanced countries.

There is no doubt that the increasing marginalization of the developing countries' role in the international economy threatens to create new confrontation lines between the South and the North, operating on unjust economic and developmental criteria that might negatively affect international stability.

The phenomenon of globalization, with its advantages and disadvantages, imposes policies that take into account its influence on the comprehensive development of States. Here I would like to make two points that we need to be guided by when dealing with social development topics. The first is the need to respect different cultures and civilizations. There is no reason whatsoever to impose on any of them a way of life they do not accept and practices they do not wish to follow. Secondly, despite the fact that the basic pivotal role in the development process falls on the shoulders of the different Governments, the success of their efforts is linked to a conducive international environment, with all that it comprises, such as trade, investment, providing financial resources, technical assistance and the transfer of technology.

Egypt fully appreciates the importance of social development, and is committed, along with all the other countries of the world, to making the necessary efforts to face up to and overcome the problems confronting social development. This could be done by setting up an economic, political, social, cultural and ecological environment conducive to the eradication of poverty, the expansion of the labour market, combating unemployment and encouraging social complementarity and integration. Egypt has begun to draw up a new social contract and a complementary social development strategy, built on full partnership between the State and civil society. It is also based on the enhancement of small- and medium-sized projects.

In this context, I recall and affirm the proposal made by the First Lady of Egypt, Mrs. Mubarak, in her statement before the special session of the General Assembly to review and appraise implementation of the recommendations of the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development. Mrs. Mubarak referred to the need to set up a mechanism that would create a new development model for small projects. She has made intensive efforts in this field in order to achieve social progress in line with the commitments of the Social Summit and the special session.

Egypt has allocated nearly 30 per cent of the Government budget to the social sectors, in particular for health, education, and subsidies for basic needs, over and above what the Copenhagen 20/20 initiative asked for. Egypt's strategy on social development is based on the following points. The first is guaranteeing a continued increase in development rates within available resources, and constantly enhancing these rates, while correcting the rate of population increase and attempting to push it down. Secondly, we intend to make the optimum use of all manpower resources, without marginalizing any group or sect, and concentrate on human development and spreading social consciousness. The third point is deepening and supporting democratic practices and maintaining the continuity and stability of constitutional institutions; making a commitment to legitimacy and the rule of law, with special attention to the protection of human rights and basic public and private freedoms, through the guarantee of serious and effective participation of all citizens in managing national affairs; and taking and implementing the decisions that will achieve social integration and complementarity.

In conclusion, let me affirm once again the importance of the integration of national, regional and international efforts in order to enhance and support social development in all its spheres and all its aspects. I call upon all countries and States to commit themselves to implement the recommendations of the World Social Summit and international conferences, as well as the special session of the General Assembly, and to carry out their obligations in this context, particularly by mobilizing their resources and giving technical assistance to the developing countries. Social development is a comprehensive international responsibility that affects our daily lives and the future of our world.

Mr. Geete (India)

The twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, which took place earlier this year, gave Governments an opportunity to chart a road map for the future after reviewing progress in the implementation of the 10 commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration. That review made it clear that most, if not all, of the commitments remained unfulfilled. Of the many reasons for this collective failure, the inadequacy of international cooperation was the most important.

This fact is extraordinary because, between the Copenhagen Summit and the special session, globalization has strengthened, gone into crisis and come under critical scrutiny. Globalization means -- or should mean -- interdependence. The contagion effect of the financial meltdown of the mid-1990s made it clear that no country or group of countries can insulate themselves from the travails of others. It also showed that, while the first symptoms of a crisis become apparent in the financial or economic sectors, the most devastating effects are on the social fabric and political stability. Equally, the experience of those countries that have done best in the globalized economy shows that investment in social capital pays off. Both to promote globalization, and to ward off its adverse effects, social development is an absolute and urgent necessity. This has been so clearly established that it is astonishing that it remains the most neglected sector in international cooperation.

The Programme of Action adopted at Copenhagen set a number of targets to meet the basic social services needs of all. While there have been modest gains in education -- especially in narrowing the gender gap in primary and secondary school enrolment rates -- other targets remain to be achieved. The adult illiteracy rate was to have been reduced to half the 1990 level, but dropped only by 5 per cent, by 2000. By this year we should have halved severe and moderate malnutrition among children under five, but two out of five children remain stunted, one in three underweight and one in 10 wasted. Three million infants still die within a week after birth, and another 3 million are stillborn. Some 15 million women live with permanent injuries from childbirth-related complications. The toll in human misery is incalculable.

The estimates published by the World Bank in its World Development Report this year offer little comfort. In order to cut income poverty by half by 2015, there should have been a compound rate of decline of 2.7 per cent a year between 1990 and 1998; instead, the rate was 1.7 per cent. Universal primary education is unlikely by the target date. Reducing infant mortality by two thirds would have been possible with a 30 per cent decline between 1990 and 1998; the actual rate was 10 per cent. The World Bank argues with some emphasis that the actions of the developed countries and multilateral organizations will be crucial for success. They should listen to the voices of their development partners. What the Bank describes as the problem of voicelessness and powerlessness as the institutional basis of poverty is a challenge between, as much as within, nations.

Some of the policies that the developed world has followed are self-defeating. As the World Bank points out, agricultural subsidies in the developed world lead to $20 billion in welfare losses for the developing world, equivalent to 40 per cent of official development assistance, but the same subsidies lead to $63 billion dollars in welfare losses within the developed world. It is difficult to see whose economic or social interests are protected by these policies. On health, the World Health Organization has again reminded us that only 10 per cent of the $60 billion spent each year on medical research goes into the search for cures for the diseases that afflict 90 per cent of the world's population. More than 1,200 new medicines were patented between 1975 and the turn of the century; only 13 were for tropical diseases.

The list could go on, but these examples illustrate the collapse of a political will to work together to implement the commitments that the international community freely undertook at Copenhagen. In the meeting yesterday of the Economic and Social Council with the executive heads of the Rome-based agencies, with the theme of eliminating hunger in the new millennium, we were reminded in the President's summary that if we are to meet the target reiterated at the Millennium Summit -- to reduce by half by 2015 the number of people going hungry -- the number of the undernourished should be reduced by 20 million a year, as against the 8 million a year we achieved in the 1990s.

This is a picture of almost unrelieved gloom. Its darkest aspect is the apathy with which the more fortunate still look at these challenges and desperate needs. The Secretary-General's report has two bright spots: the commitments made by two countries to raise their official development assistance (ODA) to 1 per cent of their gross domestic product, and the deepening of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative. These are welcome measures, but nowhere close to what is needed.

The decline in international development cooperation is not just reflected in the continuous fall in ODA. Our partners in the developed world should be willing to address fundamental structural matters, such as protectionism choking developing-country exports; regulatory mechanisms to control short-term capital movements; transparency in the functioning of the international financial institutions, including transnational commercial banks; the progressive removal of the developed world's agricultural subsidies; increased access to technological innovations; and, particularly in the health sector, balancing intellectual property rights with the needs of patients in developing countries. It is against this background that we will judge the new initiatives that were agreed upon at the twenty-fourth special session to strengthen the implementation of the Copenhagen Programme of Action.

Mr. Kobayashi (Japan)

At the dawn of the new century we have to strengthen our efforts to make the world a place where every member of the international community can enjoy a life free of fear and hunger. This is one of the messages delivered at the historic Millennium Summit. In this context, my delegation considers it significant that at the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, convened in Geneva last June, further initiatives for social development were adopted, based on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit held at Copenhagen in 1995. The further initiatives will provide useful guidance, shedding light on concrete measures to be taken to further advance social development.

Now, as we begin to engage in concrete follow-up to the outcome of the special session on social development, I would like to share with the Assembly our views on several matters to which the international community should pay particular attention. I would also like to present some of the efforts being made by Japan in this respect.

First, my delegation considers it particularly timely and useful that the theme chosen for this year's special session was achieving social development for all in a globalizing world, as it helped to stimulate discussion on concrete measures to tackle the serious challenges posed by globalization. It is significant that the political declaration adopted at the special session emphasizes that no one is to be excluded from the benefits of globalization and global economic development, and that the Assembly attaches importance to international cooperation in order to achieve human-centred development.

In that connection, I wish to note that Prime Minister Mori of Japan stressed in his statement at the Millennium Summit the importance of a human-centred approach which has as its objective respect for the life and dignity of each individual, in order to realize a more peaceful and prosperous world in the twenty-first century. Further, as a concrete contribution to that end, Prime Minister Mori announced an additional financial contribution to the Human Security Fund, which was established to implement a human-centred approach in addressing major issues facing the international community today. We hope and believe that this initiative will contribute to the furtherance of the human-centred approach in promoting social development.

Secondly, my delegation would like to stress the importance of taking concrete steps in implementing the actions suggested in the further initiatives for social development, including measures that address newly emerging issues such as promoting corporate social responsibility; providing developing countries with information technology-related support; and achieving a reduction in the number of HIV-infected young people in the most affected African countries by 25 per cent by the year 2005.

In this connection, I should like to note that at the Group of Eight Okinawa Summit, held last July, the leaders agreed on the importance of addressing issues that are emerging in today's increasingly globalized world. Japan is ready to contribute to the efforts of the international community to tackle these issues through the initiatives it announced on the occasion of the Group of Eight Summit.

These initiatives include, first, a comprehensive cooperation package in the field of information technology, amounting to approximately $15 billion, to support developing countries in this field, and, secondly, measures in the area of infectious and parasitic disease, with an allocation target of $3 billion over the next five years. Along with these initiatives on newly emerging issues, Japan will contribute to support the efforts of developing countries to improve the situation relating to the basic human needs of its people.

Thirdly, in view of the wide range of areas to be covered in our efforts to advance social development, it is of crucial importance for major actors, namely the United Nations Member States, international organizations and civil society to engage in effective follow-up by strengthening coordination and sharing experiences.

As the outcome document of the special session states, it is of extreme importance for the different entities of the United Nations system to maintain coordination among themselves while giving in-depth consideration to the appropriate approaches each might take. At the same time, in view of the important role to be played by civil society, including non-governmental organizations, in advancing social development, my delegation is pleased that the next session of the Commission for Social Development will have as its subtheme the role of volunteerism in the promotion of social development.

In conclusion, in cooperation with major actors, Japan will continue to do its utmost to contribute to the promotion of social development, so that in the new century every individual member of society will be free from fear and want.

Mr. Valdivieso (Colombia)

I have the honour of taking the floor on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean countries members of the Rio Group to speak on agenda item 37, entitled "Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the special session of the General Assembly in this regard".

The year 2000 has seen social issues take on renewed importance within the United Nations agenda. During the special sessions of the General Assembly to follow up the Beijing and Copenhagen world summits and at the Millennium Assembly as well, Member States designed a roadmap for the years ahead on the main issues of interest to our peoples, and in particular social issues.

The member countries of the Rio Group remain convinced that without poverty eradication, full employment and social integration, the world cannot have lasting peace, security or due respect for all human rights. Any and all efforts that contribute to fulfilling the commitments undertaken by heads of State or Government, as set forth in the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, can only redound to the benefit all of the citizens of our countries.

The twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, which was held in Geneva under the title "World Summit for Social Development and beyond: achieving social development for all in a globalizing world", had the merit of not being a forum for theoretical discussions alone. Rather, it was a forum where innovative actions and initiatives were proposed to speed up the implementation of the agreements reached at Copenhagen. We believe that all Members should be proud of this successful achievement on the part of the United Nations.

During the meeting of the heads of State or Government of the Rio Group, held in June at Cartagena, Colombia, the Cartagena de Indias Declaration Rio Group 2000: Commitment for the Millennium was adopted. That Declaration explicitly set forth the commitment of our region to the human dimension of development and established mechanisms for reducing economic inequality and the high incidence of poverty in our nations. In order to achieve this objective, we wish to state our intention to allocate adequate levels of resources for social programmes, especially those relating to human resources, with the additional purpose of achieving gender equity.

On that occasion, we also argued for an increase in international trade flows and rejected the protectionist measures of the industrialized countries, particularly in the agricultural sector, which bear no relation to the policy of open trade practised by the countries of our region. It is therefore necessary to ensure access to external markets and to insist on the elimination of the subsidies granted by the developed countries. We hope to see an expansion in international trade and hope also that our exports will contribute to the creation of employment and of conditions that are conducive to social development.

At the Cartagena Summit, the Rio Group also issued an appeal for a just and lasting solution to the growing problem of the external debt, with particular emphasis on the highly indebted countries of the region. The external debt cannot be allowed to remain an obstacle in the way of addressing the pressing social needs of our people.

One additional aspect we have stressed is the universal access to basic education and a substantial improvement in its quality. Both of these elements are the fundamental basis for productive human development and for the exercise of democracy. We consider it important to strengthen occupational training and apprenticeship programmes in the use of new scientific and technological instruments. This task, together with the creation of opportunities for productive employment, will be the basis for greater social and cultural participation by our young people.

The countries members of the Rio Group reaffirm today before this Assembly the decision of their Governments to pursue economic and social policies that would place people at the centre of their concerns and lead our countries along the path to sustainable development. We also reaffirm our commitment to integrating social development programmes into our economic policies and to promoting positive interaction between environmental, economic and social policies.

We have emphasized this in the past, but would like to stress it once more. The members of the Rio Group have a commitment to applying effective and transparent forms of government, subject to oversight by our citizens. We also pledge to continue the fight against corruption, a scourge that affects developed and developing countries alike.

In Latin America as a whole, we have made significant progress towards finding solutions to the current situation of poverty. However, there remain considerable sectors of the population that have been unable to benefit from that progress or from the opportunities offered by the globalization of markets. That is why we feel it necessary to step up our national efforts and to make better use of international cooperation in order to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the number of people living in extreme poverty, as agreed at the special session held in Geneva. In this regard, we hope to build solid bridges of cooperation and dialogue with the spokesmen and organizations of civil society in our country.

Before concluding, I wish on behalf of the countries members of the Rio Group to thank the people and Government of Switzerland for the generosity and hospitality extended to us during the special session held in Geneva in July of this year. We are particularly grateful for the very helpful attitude of the Swiss authorities in permitting representatives of civil society to be heard in the Geneva 2000 Forum, whose work successfully complemented the intergovernmental deliberations.

Now that the review of the implementation of the commitments contained in the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action has been completed, it is up to the States Members of the United Nations to assume the obligations that we have accepted to hasten the social development of our peoples. As has been said so often, the time for words is over. It is now time for action. We, the members of the Rio Group, have been inspired by the Copenhagen process to take action in the years ahead.

Mr. Ka (Senegal)

A problem occurred in a Python script. Here is the sequence of function calls leading up to the error, in the order they occurred.

<type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'>: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe1' in position 639: ordinal not in range(128)
      args = ('ascii', u'\n\t<p id="pg007-bk01-pa01">The twenty-fourth spec... increase in official development assistance.</p>', 639, 640, 'ordinal not in range(128)')
      encoding = 'ascii'
      end = 640
      message = ''
      object = u'\n\t<p id="pg007-bk01-pa01">The twenty-fourth spec... increase in official development assistance.</p>'
      reason = 'ordinal not in range(128)'
      start = 639