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)

The twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development was an opportunity for the international community to reaffirm the 10 commitments it undertook five years ago in Copenhagen. It was also an opportunity; however, for the 178 countries and the 600 non-governmental organizations that participated critically to assess the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.

At the outset, my delegation wishes to pay a heartfelt tribute to the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee, Ambassador Cristián Maquieira of Chile, and to the other members of the Bureau for their excellent work during the 12 months of negotiation. My delegation also congratulates the Government of Switzerland on its offer to host that session and in particular for all the facilities it provided, which allowed us to organize our work to perfection.

The twenty-fourth special session was above all an occasion to discuss the challenges of globalization, the opportunities it offers and the unprecedented constraints it places, in particular, on the developing countries.

The final document, entitled "Further initiatives for social development", which was the outcome of grim negotiations, while reaffirming the central role of national Governments in achieving social development, stresses no less emphatically the responsibility of the international community for controlling this dual-speed globalization, debt-crisis management, market access for the exports of the countries of the South and a substantial qualitative increase in official development assistance.

Mr. Ka (Senegal)

Moreover, the political declaration adopted at the special session in Geneva rightly identified insecurity, financial crises, poverty, inequality, exclusion and marginalization of a growing number of people in all countries and even entire regions as considerable obstacles to the harmonious integration in the global economy for many developing countries, in particular least developed countries.

We believe that the eradication of poverty, productive employment and social integration are basic strategic objectives for our Governments. It is therefore essential to strengthen international cooperation to that end in order to attain the goal of reducing the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by one half by the year 2015.

My delegation also feels that priority interest should be given to mobilizing additional resources for education in order, inter alia, to attain the agreed objectives adopted at the World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000. The Forum stressed the important progress made in many countries towards establishing universal education, but also emphasized the enormous needs yet to be met, in particular the facts that, today, 113 million children have no access to primary education; that, of 800 million children under the age of six, only one third have some kind of preschool education; that 880 million adults are illiterate; and that gender-based discrimination is still rife in educational systems.

If achieving the goal of universal education requires will on the part of our Governments, how can such political will be implemented if the means to do so are so sorely lacking? As was suggested in the Dakar Framework for Action, the international community must immediately launch a world initiative aimed at elaborating strategies to mobilize the resources necessary to providing effective support for the national efforts of our Governments.

In this context, we must provide more external resources for education, particularly basic education; improve the predictability of external aid flows; to ensure more effective coordination of donor initiatives; and to strengthen, expand and even expedite measures to alleviate and cancel debt in order better to combat poverty.

Achieving the goal of education for all requires increased official development assistance and debt relief of some $8 billion a year. This reasonable objective can be attained within the framework of a voluntary world initiative, because the means exist and the resources are available. All we need is the will to release them.

Similar efforts should be made in the area of health, by improving access to health care, through reasonable prices, and by a coordinated, determined global campaign against AIDS in Africa and elsewhere.

Before concluding, I wish to emphasize Senegal's commitment to make its national policy consonant with the objectives agreed in Copenhagen and reaffirmed at the special follow-up session held in Geneva. Our head of State, His Excellency Abdoulaye Wade, and the Government formed in April as a result of the democratic change that brought him to power on 19 March 2000, give high priority to the fight against poverty and to involving women in that fight.

A big social mobilization programme is under way to tackle the major challenges of poverty, endemic disease, maternal, infant and juvenile mortality and the low level of education for girls. My Government, with the support of its bilateral and multilateral partners, is striving to redefine its national anti-poverty strategy by stressing capacity-building and the promotion of empowerment, in particular by targeting young people and women in vulnerable areas. The goal is to halve by 2010 the impact of poverty on households. To that end, several specific income-generating projects are under way, including a project to combat the poverty of women and the creation of a social investment fund. Work is proceeding on another project, to create a national solidarity fund to assist disaster victims and the needy.

I turn to the subject of health. My Government organized in July a national health conference, which was an opportunity for all actors in the health system to outline the major reforms needed in our national health system, focusing particularly on questions such as the geographic and financial accessibility of care and medicines, universal health care, the development of research and the enhancement of human resources.

I reaffirm my Government's determination to do everything possible to implement in its day-to-day policies the commitments we endorsed in Copenhagen in 1995 and in Geneva in 2000.

As the Prime Minister of Senegal stressed when he was the head of our delegation at the twenty-fourth special session:

"the war on poverty must no longer be limited to speeches and good intentions. The war on poverty and underdevelopment requires concerted action by all. In that struggle we need not systems based on assistance, but genuine, responsible, mutually advantageous partnership based on consistent, open and practical reactions and mechanisms that will make a difference and will be effective and stable." (A/S-24/PV.7)

Mr. Patricio (Mozambique)

My delegation welcomes the Secretary-General's comprehensive report (A/AC.253/13) on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in March 1995. It allows us to take stock of progress made and setbacks encountered in the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action.

We are encouraged to note in the report that since 1995 there has been progress in some areas, such as literacy, life expectancy, school enrolment, access to basic services, declining infant mortality and incremental movement towards gender equality, as well as in the allocation of domestic resources for social development.

On the other hand, we note with deep concern that, as stated in the Secretary-General's report,

"Although relative poverty may have declined, the absolute numbers of people living in poverty globally have continued to grow ...

"Contrary to the commitment made at Copenhagen to strengthen cooperation for social development through the United Nations, resources allocated for this purpose have declined. The burden of debt has also grown markedly". (A/AC.253/13, para. 5)

Further actions have to be taken to reverse this situation, with a view to ensuring that deliberate steps forward are taken in the implementation of the decisions made at the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, on Social development, held in Geneva last June. Our heads of State and Government assembled at the Millennium Summit decided:

"To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water." (resolution 55/2, United Nations Millennium Declaration, para. 19)

This decision reaffirms the commitments by Governments to tackle the problem of poverty, in which about 1.2 billion people on our planet are living. The adoption and implementation of effective measures to promote social development and reduce poverty require a multidimensional approach by all national and international actors. The political will of all Governments is fundamental to success.

The cancellation of the external debt of the heavily indebted poor countries is one of the most important measures that must be taken. The debt burden continues to be a significant impediment to development. Fostering debt relief is crucial to ensure sustainable development, taking into account that savings resulting from such cancellations could be utilized in improving social sectors, as we are doing currently in Mozambique under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative and other debt relief measures from which we are benefiting.

Poverty is a global problem, from which Mozambique is not exempt. The incidence of absolute poverty in Mozambique is 69.4 per cent, indicating that more than two thirds of the population live below the poverty line.

The main recommendations of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action were reflected in, and indeed were part of, the five-year programme of the Mozambican Government for 1995-1999. Health, education, food security, water supply and social integration were areas in which the programme had a major impact.

The adoption of the programme led to an increase in the number of health units and improvement in the vaccination coverage of various diseases, particularly those affecting children, as well as in staff training. In the same vein, the Government also approved a strategic plan to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic and halt its rapid spread within the country.

Special attention has also been paid to the area of education. As a result of the implementation of the Government plan, first-level primary schools increased substantially, which, in turn, increased the access of children to schools, with special attention to enrolling more girls.

With regard to food security, the production of grain increased from 1,400,000 tonnes in 1995-96 to 1,500,000 in 1997. These figures illustrate trends leading to food self-sufficiency in the years to come.

Water supply is another area on which the Government of Mozambique has concentrated its efforts. In this regard, 4,000 new boreholes and wells were opened from 1995 to 1998, and 1,700 were rehabilitated. Despite notable progress in this area, only 24 per cent of the population of Mozambique has access to potable water, of whom 44 per cent live in urban areas and 12 per cent in rural areas.

Similarly, the Government focused its efforts on employment creation, which resulted in the training of over 16,000 Mozambicans in various skills, and the granting of 80,000 lines of credit to micro, small, and medium-sized entrepreneurs. Through the implementation of these policies, it was possible to secure about 54,000 new jobs, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable segments of Mozambican society.

In order to foster social development, other diversified programmes and projects have been implemented within the country with a view to assisting those in need, particularly the most vulnerable. To this end, 90,000 households in absolute poverty benefited from food aid and income-generating projects.

In spite of the Government's social development efforts, the problem of poverty is still far from being solved. It is now time to once again rededicate ourselves to this struggle and to implement all the commitments already adopted, particularly after the severe floods that ravaged the south and centre provinces of our country earlier this year, with a negative impact on our previous economic growth.

It was in this spirit that, with a view to reversing the situation of absolute poverty, the Government of Mozambique approved a five-year plan of action for the reduction of poverty in the period 2000-2004. It is a priority Government objective, aimed at developing effective, coordinated activities to reduce absolute poverty in the medium term and to eradicate poverty in the long term. It comprises the following elements: maintaining macroeconomic stability and a rapid and sustainable pace of economic growth; harmony between the action plan and other policy instruments, such as the population policy, the food security strategy, the national strategic plan to fight sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, the post-Beijing action plan and the integrated national social action, employment and youth programme; the allocation of resources to poverty reduction through a medium-term budget policy that includes the development of a medium-term fiscal framework and the harmonization of this instrument with the economic and social plan and the State budget; and guaranteeing institutional coordination and partnership between the Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), religious organizations and the private sector on poverty reduction initiatives.

We are encouraged by indications that a growing number of donor countries are considering the cancellation of debt of countries that have shown determination in taking the right decisions to provide a better life for their citizens. We consider that move to be an important contribution to development, as stated in the Millennium Declaration.

My delegation welcomes the decision taken by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund regarding the eligibility of more poor countries to debt relief within the framework of the HIPC Debt Initiative. We regard the Initiative as recognition by the international community of the continued commitment by the Governments of such countries to undertake sound political and economic reforms.

In conclusion, I commend Governments, international and regional organizations, relevant United Nations Agencies and NGOs that have spared no effort in fulfilling their task at all levels to halve poverty within the next 15 years. Our endeavours should continue vigorously until we achieve the total eradication of poverty throughout the world.

Mr. Suh (Republic of Korea)

Four months ago Governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other actors gathered at the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly in Geneva and restated their commitment to place the needs and rights of human beings at the centre of all policies and to realize a society for all in the new millennium.

In the outcome document, entitled "Further initiatives for social development", we all agreed that, while progress has been made in some areas since the Copenhagen Summit, much remains to be done to fulfil the commitments we made there. The outcome document includes various new initiatives to create an enabling environment to achieve the goals of Copenhagen -- poverty eradication, full employment and social integration. It is now once again incumbent upon us to translate this outcome document into action.

In order to fulfil three core goals established at Copenhagen and reaffirmed during the special session, we must address some of the basic challenges that we face.

The first challenge is globalization. While it has been praised on the one hand and blamed on the other, we cannot deny that we are living in a world of globalization. In such a world, the capacity of government is weakened when faced with the modern market economy, communication between nations on opposite sides of the world occurs instantly and the benefits of globalization are not evenly distributed. The responsibility is on us to ensure that globalization becomes an opportunity and that its benefits are equitably distributed among groups that have hitherto been excluded because of their lack of capacity and resources to exploit new opportunities.

Secondly, more and more we witness armed conflicts and humanitarian crises erupting in different parts of the world, threatening even the basic development of our societies. Organized crime and drug abuse are other visible obstacles that have persisted despite our efforts. It is the view of my delegation that these obstacles should be addressed through active and coordinated measures, along with enhanced technical assistance programmes.

Thirdly, it became clear to all of us during the special session that HIV/AIDS has emerged as the most devastating epidemic of our times and that firm international cooperation is urgently needed in order to address this issue. In this regard, my delegation welcomes the initiative of the special session to prevent and protect against HIV/AIDS infection, to address the consequences of HIV/AIDS transmission and to encourage the countries that are most affected by HIV/AIDS to adopt time-bound targets to reduce infection levels. Considering that HIV/AIDS is a matter of human security, my delegation believes the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS in 2001 should be an opportunity to determine all the necessary measures not only to prevent future infections, but also to care for those already suffering.

These challenges are too formidable for individual countries to go it alone. While the primary responsibility for social development lies with the nations themselves, and while each State should make every effort to create a stable, efficient and fair social and economic system through good governance, the importance of sharing best practices and lessons learned among nations cannot be overemphasized. In this respect, my delegation welcomes the outcome document of Copenhagen + 5, which places great emphasis on sharing experiences and best practices in social development in order to promote the goals of the Copenhagen Summit. The Republic of Korea is fully prepared to share with other nations its best practices and lessons learned. My delegation also emphasizes the collective and coordinated efforts of all Member States, the United Nations system and its relevant agencies.

For its part, the Republic of Korea has introduced a series of measures to foster the economic and social development of its people. The 1997 financial crisis, while striking a major blow to a large segment of Korean society, was an opportunity for us to review structural flaws in our economy and society. In particular, it reminded us of the importance of policies to protect vulnerable groups in our society, in response to which the Korean Government introduced and applied a concept of productive welfare that is focused on the capacity-building of individuals. My Government actively implemented policies to create jobs and to provide assistance for small businesses.

As for social integration, my Government has also adopted policy measures to eliminate regional differences and strengthen social welfare for underprivileged groups, such as the aged, the disabled, women, children and the homeless. Moreover, despite limited resources, the proportion of the national budget allocated to national health and welfare has been continuously increasing.

Although many see the multifaceted nature of social development as a hindrance to building a concrete plan of action, we see it as an opportunity to simultaneously address the different challenges we face in overlapping issues. Hence, a comprehensive and integrated approach is critical to addressing these challenges. Even though the special session is over, it gave us encouraging accounts of initiatives and actions that validate the commitment of nations to social development. Let us hope that this momentum is maintained in the coming years and that we will soon come to experience the merits of collaborative efforts.

Mr. Valdez (Peru)

We are discussing the subject and scope of the World Summit for Social Development separately, but the multidimensional nature of this item obliges us to analyse its objectives comprehensively together with the commitments of other world conferences, such as those of Cairo and Beijing, insofar as they incorporate specific social guidelines and measures.

The international community took on in Copenhagen the challenges of fighting poverty, creating productive employment and strengthening the social fabric. We acknowledged there the potential of civil society to contribute decisively to the effective implementation of social development policies; agreed on the importance of a socially responsible structural adjustment process; emphasized the urgent need for increased cooperation between the Bretton Woods institutions and the United Nations system; and urged consideration of the external debt problem of Africa, the least developed countries and the countries with economies in transition. But, above all, we agreed unanimously to place the individual at the heart of development and gave the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action the status of a global commitment.

One of the substantive aspects that emerged from that process was the dawn of universal awareness of the multiple effects of poverty on human development. In this context, we must emphasize the importance of overcoming poverty for the full enjoyment and exercise of the human rights of the world's children, adolescents, youth, women and men. We are convinced that such an approach will allow us to give deserved top priority, at the national and international levels, to the frontal attack on poverty.

We also point out that the basic responsibility for eliminating poverty falls on our Governments, with their respective societies imposing various priorities, with a different intensity and different nuances, in implementing social policies. This means getting all sectors of civil society to work jointly for the benefit of the majority, and particularly for the most vulnerable groups.

There are no rigid strategies, unique formulas or easy measures for eliminating poverty, an objective involving all aspects of human development. Cultural, ethnic and historical identities, as well as the political and economic stability of peoples and countries, are important in determining viable policies and actions.

The all-out attack against poverty also requires solid institutions, adequate financing to make it sustainable, specific programmes that identify regions and pockets of poverty, and the firm political will of Governments. Lack of some of these elements will impede efforts to break the vicious circle of poverty and to achieve a better quality of life for citizens.

In May 1999 we began our work to evaluate implementation of the Copenhagen Social Summit commitments. It took about 13 months to reach a consensus document in Geneva last June. The negotiations were complex and slow, despite the efforts of all delegations and the notable contribution of Ambassador Cristián Maquieira of Chile, Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session.

Globalization and structural adjustment were kept at the centre of the discussion, and they will certainly remain there in the medium term, because of the need to acknowledge their positive and negative aspects. Countries' material conditions are different, and the imbalance between them is clear.

Foreign debt, mechanisms to control capital flows, good governance and labour rights emerged once again during the course of our work. If we are indeed facing a new environment marked by globalization, then we should enter into a dialogue about economic models and appropriate institutions and mechanisms to respond to that new situation. That does not mean imposing, or being rigidly bound by, the rules of a particular model, for there is no single set of rules for overcoming, for instance, financial crises. What is true is that financial crises have in many cases had serious negative impacts within and outside regions, which has meant that resources earmarked for social development have been significantly reduced.

We also saw rigid positions on the issue of financial resources and the decrease in official development assistance, something that will no doubt be a topic for substantive discussions during the current round of negotiations on financing for development and at next year's Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries and at other meetings. Strictly speaking, however, this is an issue that is yet to be solved, before donors and aid recipients can jointly undertake the tasks of social development.

My delegation has simply sought to highlight just a few elements of our discussions about this sensitive topic. We are aware of the fact that those discussions will continue. Nevertheless, we wish to point out the inherent value of those discussions for the major commitments made at Copenhagen in 1995, which are still in effect. It is our hope that the recent appraisal undertaken at Geneva will serve as a renewed commitment by our Governments to continue to invest in the social development of our peoples.

Mr. Kuchynski (Ukraine)

The 1995 Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development marked a turning point in the perception of social development. For a long time, political leaders had not paid due attention to what is now called development with a human face. In Copenhagen, for the first time, the international community focused on making material improvements in important but often neglected areas of social concern, such as poverty, unemployment, disease, illiteracy and the condition of the poorest.

Despite the efforts of the international community, there has been little change in the overall situation since Copenhagen. The richest countries are becoming richer, while the poorest are being reduced to misery. Globalization and opportunities for growth have not resolved the disparities that exist among and within countries. In spite of the advances in knowledge and the technological revolution, hunger, disease and poverty have not been eradicated.

This year, five years after the historic adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, the international community took another step forward in its efforts to achieve social development for all by successfully holding the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly and adopting a political declaration and an outcome document. This has been further strengthened by the Millennium Summit Declaration, which set quite ambitious goals, in particular with regard to the achievement of sustainable development and the eradication of poverty. We should ask ourselves how those goals can be reached. The answer lies in providing social security for all within democratic States with market economies and civil societies in which human rights and freedoms are respected and each individual can actively shape and influence her or his life.

However, in the globalized and interdependent world in which we now live, that is not enough. A single State cannot achieve sustainable development by itself. Today we are faced with an urgent need for much higher levels of international cooperation based on the principles of non- discrimination, open competition, transparent access for all to global markets and fair and just rules for international trade. Only collective efforts can ensure a better standard of living and greater dignity for all human beings. At the same time, every State should play its own crucial role in developing and maintaining policies to eradicate poverty and enhance productive employment, universal and equal access to basic social services, social protection and support for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

In their aspiration to achieve tangible results on this road, the President and Government of Ukraine are working consistently to translate international strategies and policies in the social sphere into national programmes. The development of a socially oriented economy and the enhancement of social policy based on the efficient use of existing resources were among the ideas incorporated in the presidential initiative entitled "Ukraine: the road to the twenty-first century -- strategies of economic and social development for the years of 2000-2004".

Poverty eradication remains at the centre of my country's national policy agenda. In order to solve this problem, we recently adopted a new programme on poverty prevention that includes the protection of citizens' constitutional rights through a system of national minimum standards, motivating work efficacy, entrepreneurial and business activities, increasing citizens' levels of income, increasing minimum wages and improving the social security system.

Understanding that the best way to emerge from poverty and to take a dignified step towards social cohesion is to ensure full employment, we have responded to these needs by introducing an integrated investment programme and by taking various technical, financial and social measures. Specifically, a general plan has been developed to create new employers and to develop legislation on tax benefits for businesses that help to establish new jobs in the demographically disadvantaged areas.

Ukraine spares no effort in its pursuit of its development policy and in reforming labour, employment and social legislation, while doing its utmost to minimize the adverse social impact of the transformation process that is taking place in our country. However, despite all our efforts, our nation currently faces considerable hardships in its social development. Establishing a democratic society based on the principles of a socially oriented market economy is, unfortunately, not an easy task. It has been accompanied by a decline in living standards, a situation that is further aggravated by the environmental crisis and the need to overcome the negative consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The latter requires billions of dollars every year.

Another urgent problem is the repatriation and social integration of victims of Stalinist repression, particularly Crimean Tatars. The Government of Ukraine is taking concrete steps to address these and other problems.

A system of anti-crisis measures aimed at stabilizing the country's economy, restructuring enterprises, improving the taxation and banking systems, overcoming the crisis of non-payments and supporting national production has been developed and is being implemented. As we overcome the financial and economic crisis, we will be able to address vital social problems, in particular normalizing State payments and increasing pensions and other social benefits.

In that regard, we would like to stress the importance of eliminating obstacles to our participation in global economic processes by increasing the openness of international markets to our production, removing tariff barriers, expanding the universal scope of multilateral trade and ensuring the transparency and accountability of financial institutions.

The special session and the Millennium Summit are past history now. The synergy that was demonstrated by Member States, the Bretton Woods institutions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector provide a common platform on the basis of which we can move ahead; this all gives rise to hope.

Mr. Rodríguez Parrilla (Cuba)

During the special session of the General Assembly held at Geneva last June to consider, five years on, the implementation of the commitments undertaken by a great number of heads of State at the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development, we sadly realized that the real possibility of meeting those commitments is more remote today than ever before. Doubts about the real possibility of social development have become general among developing countries; the recent Millennium Summit provided an excellent example of that. In the statements by many of our heads of State during the Summit, it was made clear in one way or another that the gap and disparities between developing and industrialized countries, and between high-income and disadvantaged groups in every corner of the Earth have become wider rather than narrower.

All this is taking place in the context of neo-liberal globalization, a phenomenon that was supposed to be able to bring about progress and increased well-being. But it has only expanded and globalized injustice and social marginalization. In today's world, everything is globalized except wealth and economic and social development.

In the developing world, health, safety and nutrition statistics continue to deteriorate, while poverty and unemployment, among other evils, are on the increase. Paradoxically, that is taking place alongside a continuing decline in official development assistance and at a time when structural adjustment policies continue to bring social devastation to many developing countries, when investment flows to many third-world countries are declining and when the foreign-debt payment burden is growing heavier.

How will mankind overcome the horrible situation faced by the third world if the Copenhagen commitments are not met? How will we cope with the dreadful situation faced by the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty, mainly in developing countries? How will we save the 200 million children under age five who suffer from the scourge of malnutrition? How will we save the 12 million children who die annually without even reaching age five? How will we educate the 130 million children who have no access at all to education, plus the 840 million adults who are illiterate? How will we prolong the lives of the 654 million people in the South who will not reach their fortieth year? The wealthier inhabitants of our planet must shoulder their proper commitments undertaken in Copenhagen, and must not evade their responsibilities.

There is no need to formulate new commitments different from those undertaken five years ago. The lack of compliance with the Copenhagen commitments certainly does not mean that those commitments have ceased to be the only real guarantee of social development for developing countries and for socially disadvantaged sectors within the industrialized countries themselves. In that respect, it was significant that the outcome document of the Geneva special session, especially its new initiatives, did not call into question the Copenhagen outcomes, and that by the end of the follow-up process it was clear that the Summit had an indisputable leading role to play with respect to social development.

How can we advance beyond Copenhagen if official development assistance continues to be reduced, if conditions placed on assistance to third-world countries continue to grow harsher, if structural adjustment programmes and prescriptions that ignore social priorities continue to be imposed and if a proper international framework within which to change the existing unjust international economic order fails to be created? Only by providing a proper international landscape for social development can developing economies make the structural changes that will enable them to implement policies leading to social progress.

Cuba has been successful in implementing social development policies and strategies on the basis of a more just and equitable distribution of our resources. As a result, our country has been able to attain outstanding results vis-à-vis the Copenhagen commitments, and was able to do so long before the holding of the World Summit for Social Development. It is worth mentioning, for example, that 100 per cent of the Cuban population enjoys free access to health and education; that life expectancy is 75 years; that the infant mortality rate is 6.4 per 1,000 live births; that 100 per cent of our children are protected against 11 preventable diseases; that we have one physician per 169 inhabitants; that 99 per cent of our children of primary school age and 95 per cent of those of secondary school age are in school; that one out of five Cubans is a student; that 600,000 students have graduated from our universities; and that illiteracy no longer exists.

The Cuban Government's priority allocation of resources to social activities and its commitment to improving the welfare of its citizens have undoubtedly been a key factor in our having been able to attain social indicators that are better than those seen in many countries with more resources and a higher level of development. All of this testifies to the validity of our approach.

It is worth mentioning, however, that this social progress has been made despite the negative effects of economic war waged by the United States Government against Cuba. That war is most clearly exemplified by the economic, commercial and financial embargo, which has caused more than $67 billion in economic damage to the Cuban economy.

Cuba is willing to share its experience. Progress towards a world of social justice for all will be unlikely without the promotion of cooperation and solidarity. That is the basis for action taken by the Cuban people and its Government. In that respect, let me note that more than 26,000 Cuban health professionals have served in third world countries. Likewise, more than 1,800 Cuban physicians are at present providing free specialized health care in 13 countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia. This is part of a programme that we intend shortly to extend to seven further African countries, as well as to other countries of that continent whose Governments have requested our assistance. Under this programme, nearly 5 million people have received medical care; more than 42,000 surgical operations have been performed and 23,000 babies delivered.

To ensure the sustainability of the programme in the countries in which we are providing assistance, human-resources training programmes have been set up. Thus, a Latin American school of medicine has been opened; 6,000 students will graduate over a 10-year period, and 3,100 students from 20 third-world countries are currently studying there. A Caribbean school of medicine has also been opened with an enrolment of 250 Haitian young people, and new opportunities are also being made available to students from other countries in the region. In our brother continent of Africa, we have continued to promote the establishment of medical schools with Cuban lecturers who will teach without charge.

Unless all the members of the international community, especially the industrialized countries, become involved in promoting and pushing forward the Copenhagen commitments, social development for the third world will continue to be an impossible dream.

Mr. Shen Guofang (China)

At the successful twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, held in Geneva last June, Member States jointly reviewed the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action that was adopted five years ago, summarized their achievements and experiences in the field and proposed a series of initiatives on poverty eradication, full employment, social integration and other issues, setting goals for the next stage of global social development. We appreciate the report of the Secretary-General on this special session.

The United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted at the Millennium Summit in September, set out specific objectives regarding global social issues, such as development, poverty eradication, education, drug control and HIV/AIDS. The international community should work together to translate these objectives into realities.

In recent years the international community has been attaching more importance than ever to the issue of social development, which has increasingly become a priority in the development strategies of all countries, resulting in various degrees of progress. However, work in this field still faces many problems and challenges. Because of the long-standing inequity of the international economic order, countries have not had equal access to the benefits of the globalization process, the gap between the North and the South is widening and poverty is still a huge problem that directly hinders global social development.

According to the Secretary-General's report, the 1 billion people living in the developed countries earn 60 per cent of the world's income, while the 3.5 billion people in the low-income countries earn less than 20 per cent. At present some 1.2 billion people in the world are living on less than $1 a day each. For economic reasons, more than 130 million primary-school-age children in developing countries cannot afford to go to school, and many who do attend drop out. Even worse, diseases of all kinds are damaging people's health while draining the already limited funds available for economic and social development. The spread of HIV/AIDS is further hampering global social development. In 1999 alone, 5.6 million people were infected with HIV, half of them under the age of 25. These appalling figures demonstrate that it will take sustained and strenuous efforts by all Governments and peoples, as well as by the international community as a whole, before the goal of social development and common prosperity for all humankind can be achieved.

The outcome document of the twenty-fourth special session, on social development, in Geneva was not easily achieved. The specific objectives set by the United Nations Millennium Declaration reflect the political will of Governments of all countries. It is now our shared responsibility to take concrete steps to fulfil these commitments. The issue of social development is multifaceted, and Member States made 10 major commitments for further initiatives at the twenty-fourth special session. At this stage, we should direct our limited resources to priority areas. To this end, I would like to highlight the areas on which we should focus our work on social development.

First, poverty eradication is the priority task of social development. At the twenty-fourth special session in Geneva the Assembly made a commitment to reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty by one half by 2015. All countries should work hard to achieve this very concrete objective. It is the responsibility of all Governments, and of peoples themselves, to eradicate poverty and promote development. However, the help and support of the international community are also needed. Developed countries should act for the common good of all humanity and provide, without attaching any political conditions, financial and technological assistance to developing countries and help the latter to achieve their development goals at an early date. This would also be conducive to the further development of the developed countries themselves.

Secondly, education is a basic condition for social development. The quality and pace of a country's social development will be determined by the quality and level of education of its people. Giving priority to education, therefore, and increasing investment in education, is a necessity for the vast number of developing countries if they are to promote social development. In the same spirit, we call on the developed countries to give sincere and real support to developing countries in this regard.

Thirdly, better health is an important component of social development. Diseases and poverty form a vicious cycle that hampers development. All Governments, particularly those of developing countries, should give priority to improving people's health, and especially to curbing the rampant spread of HIV/AIDS. At a time when disease is consuming resources and destroying lives in developing countries, the international community, and the developed countries in particular, should show more concern and provide greater support.

In the five years since the Social Summit, China has overcome many difficulties, achieved rapid economic development and made a great deal of progress in social development. However, like all other developing countries, China still has a long and difficult way to go in the field of social development. Accelerating economic growth, improving living conditions, eradicating poverty, increasing investment in education and providing better medical and health care so as to enhance the quality of people's lives, are the arduous tasks confronting the Chinese Government, which is now making greater efforts in all these areas. The Chinese Government is confident that it will fulfil its commitments and continue to implement coordinated and sustainable economic and social development. We are willing to work together with all the other countries in the world to achieve social development for all in a globalizing world.

Mr. Fonseca (Brazil)

I am pleased to take the floor, on behalf of the countries of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) -- Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay -- and the associated countries, Bolivia and Chile, to address the Assembly on the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the special session of the General Assembly in this regard.

Five years ago, heads of State and Government and senior officials from 186 countries, meeting in Copenhagen, adopted a Declaration and a Programme of Action considered to be a new social contract at the global level. The commitments taken on at Copenhagen are still valid. Just over three months ago in Geneva, we had the opportunity to reaffirm these commitments at the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, which was convened to review the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit on Social Development and to propose new initiatives with regard to social development.

Although five years is a short time to evaluate the progress made, when it comes to implementing the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, it is also true that since the World Summit international reality has greatly changed, and not necessarily always for the better. Since that time, the international community has experienced the opportunities and the risks of globalization and seen a world that is becoming increasingly interdependent. The financial crisis has created serious difficulties for social policy. The international scene continues to be plagued by chronic problems, such as protectionism, especially when it comes to exports of basic products from developing countries, foreign debt, which consumes a great chunk of the resources needed for development, and the reduction in international official development assistance.

The political declaration and the appraisal and implementation of the outcome of the special session, adopted in Geneva, confirm this diagnosis. Nonetheless, the best achievement of the special session was that it reaffirmed the determination to fully implement the commitments taken on at the Copenhagen Summit, while at the same time it approved a complementary agenda designed to promote that implementation.

With this in mind, the MERCOSUR countries, plus Bolivia and Chile, subscribe wholly to the idea that in order to achieve social development, we must integrate economic and social policy, as well as ensure full democracy, the rule of law and the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. At the same time, we remain convinced that, through the active participation of all sectors of civil society, this effort is an indispensable ingredient in our quest for solutions and in the implementation of social projects and programmes. National efforts to make such proposed solutions effective require a favourable international framework, whereby we have a more equitable distribution of the benefits of economic growth and opportunities generated by globalization and through free and non-discriminatory international trade.

The challenges facing us are enormous. Eradicating poverty, ensuring full and productive employment and fostering social integration are objectives that our countries support and which are a part of our common agenda. The draft commitment dealing with social development, signed this past September by the Ministers and senior officials of the MERCOSUR countries, plus Bolivia and Chile, shows the determination of our countries to achieve social development.

We realize that the main responsibility for ensuring social development is that of the States. But we are also convinced that a collective undertaking on the part of the international community is essential. For this reason, it is essential that all Governments, particularly those of the developed countries, as well as the United Nations system, substantially intensify international cooperative efforts aimed at sustainable social development.

The MERCOSUR countries, plus Bolivia and Chile, are convinced that if we are to join our efforts at the national, regional and international levels, we will be able to achieve the objectives outlined at Copenhagen and reaffirmed once again in Geneva for a much fairer, more equitable and democratic world. In this way, we will be able to concentrate on one of the central objectives of the United Nations Charter -- in other words, "to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom".

Mr. Mohammad Kamal (Malaysia)

Our leaders pledged to place people at the centre of sustainable development when they met in Copenhagen in 1995 at the World Summit for Social Development. They discussed the enhancement of social integration, particularly the involvement of the more disadvantaged and marginalized groups, the elevation and reduction of poverty and the expansion of productive employment. Five years later, when they met again last June at the special session in Geneva to review the implementation of these commitments, they found that the achievement of the goals of the Social Summit had been uneven between different countries and even between sectors within a country. They also noted that sustainable development could not be achieved without the integration of economic and social policies.

The special session, nevertheless, provided an excellent opportunity for us to take stock of lessons and experiences of the past and to move forward equipped with new ideas and future directions. The review showed that the problems of unemployment, poverty, inequality, social exclusion, discrimination, infectious and parasitic diseases, systemic economic crises and civil conflicts have become more acute, not improved, in the five years since the Copenhagen Summit.

Clearly, in a globalized world, poverty and social disintegration constitute a real threat to international peace and prosperity. If we want peace and prosperity, the international community has no alternative but to shoulder a shared responsibility in managing worldwide economic and social development.

My delegation is pleased to note that despite the deep political differences between Member States on international issues such as human rights, governance and globalization, the special session managed to reach agreement on a range of issues so as to produce a comprehensive outcome document. The agreements included a global campaign against poverty, implementation of debt-relief arrangements, empowerment of the poor through access to microcredit schemes, ensuring access to social services, even during times of financial crisis, and seeking new and innovative sources of development finance. At the session it was also agreed to encourage corporate social responsibility and to combat corruption, bribery, money-laundering and the illegal transfer of funds, and to attack the use of tax shelters that undermine national tax systems.

The review undertaken at the Social Summit showed that poverty is still our greatest challenge. Thus the eradication of global poverty must be accorded a high priority in the international agenda. It must be addressed in a multi-pronged manner. Both the public and private sectors must be galvanized to achieve growth with equity. The reality is that we have yet to adequately meet the needs even for decent standards of living, food, housing, literacy and education, health and employment for our societies, particularly for the marginalized and disadvantaged population. The income gap between the rich and poor is widening, not narrowing.

The surest way to eliminate global poverty is to promote sustainable and equitable growth worldwide. The international community at the special session in Geneva committed itself to halving by 2015 the proportion of people living on $1 a day. Collective and coordinated efforts must now be made to fulfil this commitment. Obviously international funding and resources are urgently needed to assist the efforts of the developing countries. The developed countries must fulfil their commitments to ensure that 0.7 per cent of their gross national product is channelled to the development needs of developing countries.

At the Millennium Summit recently, our leaders pledged that the responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development must be shared among the nations of the world. Global challenges must be managed in accordance with the basic principles of equity and social justice: those who suffer or who benefit the least, deserve help from those who benefit the most.

My delegation is also concerned that social violence against minorities, women and children continues unabated all over the world. The scourges of drugs, transnational crime and killing diseases such as HIV/AIDS do not stop at borders and are spreading rapidly. These are challenges that are beyond the capacity of any one State to counter on its own. There is therefore a need, at the international level, to forge genuine partnerships for the successful implementation of the aspirations of the Social Summit.

In this regard Malaysia urges developed countries to continue to assist developing countries in implementing their social programmes, human-development programmes, education, health training and so forth. We strongly believe that a country's economic progress should not be negated by social problems such as child abuse and neglect, drug addiction among youth and juvenile delinquency.

Malaysia promotes the concept of balanced development as a major feature of its national development programme. The Government gives serious attention to strategies for generating sustained rapid economic growth and for ensuring that the benefits of economic growth are equitably shared among Malaysians of all ethnic groups in both rural and urban areas. Apart from providing equitable growth, the Malaysian National Development Plan also focuses on the need to balance growth with the protection of the environment and of Malaysia's natural resources.

Malaysia practices a holistic approach to development, by which the Government has taken up all aspects of social development, so as to include all citizens -- men and women, the poor, the unemployed and the disadvantaged groups. This philosophy has been mainstreamed in all our major public policies. Malaysia is also working assiduously towards the eradication of hard-core poverty by lowering its incidence to 0.5 per cent this year, so as to fully eradicate absolute poverty in Malaysia by 2005.

In this globalized world of ours, it is now recognized that a diverse range of actors is needed in the development process. This includes civil-society organizations and the private sector playing a role. In this regard, Malaysia welcomes the partnership established by the United Nations, the private sector and civil society in the Global Compact. My delegation concurs that members of civil society -- particularly the non-governmental organizations (NG0s) and the private sector -- should be encouraged further to collaborate with governments in addressing social ills. We have acknowledged that the NG0s that attended the special session in Geneva made some important contributions to the session, particularly in providing technical expertise.

While international and regional organizations and NG0s can play a pertinent role in complementing and supplementing the efforts of national Governments to address the social-development issues, the primary responsibility for ensuring the success of social programmes for development remains in the hand of governments. Only governments can effectively institute measures to realize the goals of global programmes. The global plans of action can only succeed if States honour their commitment to work concertedly at the local level to achieve the global aspirations.

The three-part outcome document issued by the special session in Geneva was not produced in the one-week meeting in Geneva. It was indeed the result of protracted discussions and deliberations among Member States. It is a culmination of concerted efforts, negotiated positions, compromises and innovations to accommodate the concerns of all. It is our solemn duty now to ensure that follow-up actions are taken to implement the commitments we made in that document. Malaysia, for its part, remains committed to uphold these commitments and will continue to work to strengthen its capacities and capabilities to achieve these goals.

Our task ahead, though challenging, has perhaps been made less difficult now, since 150 of our world leaders, from nations large and small -- at the recent, historic Millennium Summit last September -- rededicated themselves to supporting all efforts to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character. But, as it is said, the proof is in the pudding.

Ms. Elliott (Guyana)

On behalf of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member States, I have the honour to speak on agenda item 37, "Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the special session of the General Assembly in this regard".

The important contribution made by the World Summit for Social Development to the international debate on the social imperatives of development in a globalizing world is unquestionable. Its Programme of Action addressed a number of issues of great concern to both developing and developed countries: the scourge of poverty, which was affecting millions of people despite evidence of a dynamic world economy; the blight of unemployment and underemployment, which was constraining the full contribution of all peoples to their societies; and the increasing social exclusion of those without the mobilizing force or voice to draw attention to their particular situation.

At the international level, it was evident that countries and regions were being marginalized in the world economy. Structural adjustment programmes and high debt-servicing bills were having a devastating effect on the social fabric of most developing countries. Moreover, all these developments were taking place concurrently with the reduced capacity of the state, in most developing countries, to provide basic social services to its citizens and to protect the most vulnerable.

It was therefore with determination and high political will that Member States, over the past five years, have sought to achieve the goals set by our heads of State or Government at the World Summit. In CARICOM member States, special attention is given to an integrated socio-economic approach to national policy-making, in recognition of the fact that economic growth and effective social policy are mutually reinforcing, particularly to achieve poverty eradication, full employment and social integration.

Regular meetings of the CARICOM Ministerial Council for Human and Social Development have provided an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of our policies and programmes. These assessments take account of the increasing number of actors involved in the provision of social services; the extent of equitable delivery of, and access to, such services; the effectiveness of social protection programmes; and the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of society.

Although most CARICOM countries in the past have sought to publicly finance social protection through universal coverage, increasingly assistance gas become targeted and income-based. At the same time, however, the country has become conscious of the challenge often posed by the superior services available from private proprietors, whose high fees may make their services inaccessible to the poorer segments of society.

The review process of the special session of the General Assembly highlighted a number of these challenges and acknowledged that the progress made in achieving the goals set at Copenhagen has been at best uneven. It found that the benefits of social and economic development were still concentrated in a few countries, and the number of people living in extreme poverty had increased.

Poverty persists due to lack of resources, inadequate levels of economic development, worsening terms of trade, in most cases, weakened structure, inefficient administrative systems, continuing disparities in access to basic social services, including education, and the feminization of poverty. Indeed, the 1999 United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report had recognized these trends in pointing out that the ratio of the income of the fifth of the world's people living in the richest countries to that of the fifth in the poorest rose from 30:1 in 1960 to 60:1 in 1990 and 74:1 in 1997. By the end of the 1990s, the fifth of the world's people living in the highest-income countries enjoyed 86 per cent of the world's gross domestic product, compared to 1 per cent for the poorest fifth; 82 per cent of the world export market, compared to 1 per cent for the poorest fifth; and 68 per cent of foreign direct investment, compared to 1 per cent for the poorest fifth.

These global disparities and the concentration of wealth and income in a few countries must be overcome if the international community is to realistically achieve the task set at Copenhagen of addressing the underlying and structural causes of poverty, unemployment and social exclusion in order to reduce uncertainty and insecurity in the life of all peoples.

In this regard, CARICOM welcomes the commitments made by a number of donor countries last June to contribute to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative Fund, to write off loans for a number of developing countries and to cancel the interest due from others, to increase their official development assistance despite having reached the target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product, to contribute to projects in developing countries in the areas of education and combating HIV/AIDS, to provide support for institutional regulatory systems in developing countries, and to provide financial assistance to the United Nations system and other international organizations for programmes aimed at poverty eradication and other Copenhagen goals.

It is the hope of CARICOM member States that all donor countries will support the strong commitment demonstrated by a number of donor countries. The region reiterates the importance of achieving the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance. The leadership role assumed by some developed countries in international policy-making must also be translated into concrete action to benefit poorer countries.

The international community is very much aware that despite a very high per-capita income and a dynamic economy, there are cases of donor Governments contributing less than 0.2 per cent of their gross national product to official development assistance, of which less than a fifth is directed to least developed countries. In fact, a 2000 study on global poverty indicates that the official development assistance contribution of one such country, whose average income is more than $30,000 and where investors have enjoyed more than $7 trillion in capital gains in 1996, amounts to approximately $4.95 per national per year. For the recipient 600 million people in the least developed countries in 1998, this aid is just about $2.20 per person from that donor country.

On the other hand, for the 3.4 billion people in all low-income countries, as defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), this sum is even lower. It amounts to $1.13 per person.

With an enabling international environment and concerted action at the national level to promote social development, there is no doubt that the goals of the World Summit are achievable. It is the hope of CARICOM that further actions and initiatives, agreed upon last June by the international community, will provide the much-needed impetus for greater success.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has made a number of interesting proposals for increasing market access for the exports of developing countries for social development which should also be considered, for in the final analysis there can be no equitable distribution of the benefits of economic growth within and among countries if there is negligible or no growth in developing countries.

A related issue of particular importance to CARICOM is the recommendation for more effective involvement of developing countries in international economic decision-making processes. We see this recommendation linked to the fourth principle of the Copenhagen Declaration, which stresses the importance of democracy and transparent and accountable governance and administration for the realization of social and people-centred sustainable development. Governance and democracy must not be confined to the national level, but must also contribute to international processes.

In conclusion, may I reaffirm the commitment of CARICOM member States to achieving the goals of the World Summit for Social Development. If its national initiatives continue, the region will continue to participate actively in the efforts of the international community to ensure that the international environment is propitious for social development. In this regard, we believe that the early and full implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted last September, will give great impetus to efforts aimed at an improved international environment.

Similarly, the outcome of the international conferences in 2001 on financing for development, the least developed countries, HIV/AIDS, children, and racism and related intolerance must be seen as reinforcing the principles established at Copenhagen.

Mr. Mmualefe (Botswana)

It is indeed a privilege for Botswana to address the General Assembly on agenda item 37, on implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the special session of the General Assembly, on behalf of the members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC): Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In June 2000, we met in Geneva for the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly. By all accounts, this special session was successful in focusing attention on the daunting challenges facing humankind. It presented an opportunity for the international community to adopt forward-looking and resolute approaches in addressing social development and human prosperity.

SADC wishes to acknowledge the positive contributions of the various United Nations agencies and the Commission on Sustainable Development to the comprehensive preparatory process for the special session.

SADC concurs with the report of the Secretary-General in document A/55/344 that an important element that led to the success of the special session was the system-wide participation of the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and a broad range of civil society organizations. Although it is recognized that advancing social development is first and foremost the responsibility of Governments, we wish to emphasize that fostering smart partnerships with non-governmental actors is a critical and necessary measure. It is imperative for the international community to uphold its commitments, inter alia, first, to promoting sustainable development; secondly, to halving poverty by 2015; thirdly, to promoting full and productive employment; and fourthly, to achieving social development.

It was appropriate that globalization formed an integral part of the Copenhagen review, since globalization is a major economic trend that is transforming and reconfiguring national, regional and international economies as we enter the twenty-first century. It is a fact that a large majority of African countries have not been able to participate in the global economy and as a result experienced only 2.8 per cent growth in 1999. SADC agrees that, within the United Nations, there is a need to come to a concrete agreement on a model of globalization which will be inclusive and lead not only to enhanced trade and financial flows, but to an improvement in the standards and quality of life of citizens.

Specifically at the national level, globalization should empower countries to alienate poverty and address unemployment, technology transfer, health concerns and so on. Unfortunately, this ideal cannot be realized without the concerted efforts of governments and multilateral institutions in terms of strengthening national capacities to take advantage of the opportunities of globalization. In this regard, we are confident that the 2001 international event on financing for development will put the necessary focus on issues of globalization.

For our part, SADC member States have taken concrete steps to inject growth into their economies to enhance regional and global trade. Incremental steps to realize our shared vision of creating a single economic space are being taken, the latest being the adoption of a trade protocol in September of this year. It is projected that a regional growth rate of 3.5 per cent will be realized in the year 2000. This is a positive signal. Regrettably, it is not enough to make a significant dent in poverty within the SADC region.

Poverty eradication was central to the social development Summit. We are all quite familiar with the distressing statistics of 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty today, 300 million of them in Africa. SADC is committed to the eradication of poverty and also strongly submits that poverty eradication cannot be addressed in isolation from the broader socio-economic context. The commitments we undertook on further initiatives, as reflected in section II of document A/55/344, attest to this fact.

The SADC Regional Human Development Report 1998 revealed that 40 per cent of the region's population lives in poverty, with women and children disproportionately affected. In addition, efforts to enhance social development in SADC have been constrained by natural disasters and protracted armed conflict. This Assembly will recall that the region experienced heavy flooding early this year, which took a toll on lives, destroyed infrastructure and disrupted economic activity, particularly in Mozambique. This disaster was a tremendous setback to development. SADC wishes to thank those who came to the region's assistance during this hour of need. The Assembly is also aware of the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola, which are a hindrance to the sustainable development of the region. Peaceful resolution of these conflicts is a preoccupation of our leaders, since we recognize that, without peace, there is little chance of socio-economic progress. These natural and man-made disasters have no doubt conspired to hamper the efforts of our citizens to pursue productive activities that could enable them to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

The SADC Summit held in Namibia last August noted that the region would incur a cereal deficit of over 600,000 tons in the production year 2000/2001. This will naturally have a bearing on regional food security, particularly for poor rural women, older persons and other vulnerable groups of society.

AIDS is a major human tragedy and development challenge, with serious socio-economic implications for all sectors of our communities and societies. Southern Africa is the region worst affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In some countries, over 10 per cent of the adult population is infected, with the incidence being higher among the youth. HIV/AIDS will therefore destroy the very core of the future of the region if it goes unchecked. We are pleased that the United Nations system has also identified HIV/AIDS as a priority area of focus. The Copenhagen review went a step further to enjoin the World Health Organization, pharmaceutical companies and others to provide essential and affordable drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS related conditions. The very same dialogue is ongoing within the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme of Action.

The international community needs to be fully engaged in the fight against this pandemic because diseases, like most natural calamities, have no boundaries at all. For this reason, SADC appreciates the fact that the Millennium Summit put the issue of HIV/AIDS at the fore. We also wish to welcome the decision to convene a special session on HIV/AIDS, as well as the positive outcome of informal consultations on this issue.

In the context of Africa, the quest to achieve social development cannot be viewed in isolation from the broad development context. External debt servicing continues to divert valuable resources from social development thereby perpetuating poverty. We regret to note that the debt profile of SADC countries reveals that debt owed to multilateral institutions continues to pose a heavy burden on our economies. Nonetheless, we appreciate the steps taken by some bilateral donors to cancel debt and hope this will be emulated by others.

There can be no meaningful development without education. Universal basic education for all children, without discrimination, should in the twenty-first century no longer be a mere ideal, but a human right, as spelled out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. SADC is committed to ensuring education for all in as short a time span as possible. Particular attention is being paid to bridging the enrolment and retention of girls in schools.

Our vision is to go a step further and acquire technology, particularly information technology, and channel it towards development. In this regard, the Economic and Social Council 2000 High-Level Segment on information technology and development was appropriate and very timely. We thus call upon our development partners to make technology more accessible and to bridge the digital divide.

As the Secretary-General's report indicates, gains have been made on major substantive areas. The special session made emphatic pronouncements on the empowerment of women, the problem of refugees, youth, older persons and people with disabilities. SADC renewed its commitment to target these population groups so as to ensure that their needs are integrated into social development policies. The special session also took a bold stance on workers' rights and the elimination of child labour. For these reasons SADC is satisfied that the intent and principles of the Copenhagen Plan of Action were upheld.

The path forward has been paved by the special session. Goals and targets have been set. However, the financing gap remains a huge impediment to progress. This situation is also compounded by the declining levels of official development assistance. The implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development has revealed the chronic problem of lack of international support to social development on the part of major donors. SADC reiterates its call to major donors to meet the target of 0.7 per cent of GNP as official development assistance.

The Millennium Summit provided the necessary impetus for the full implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations conferences. SADC wishes to stress that the worth of these conferences lies in the impact they will have on the lives of men, women and children globally.

Mr. Al-Hariri (Syria)

Five years have elapsed since the World Summit for Social Development, which was an important landmark and in which we all expressed our aspirations for a better future in which man would enjoy prosperity and freedom from poverty, disease, want, ignorance and many other problems afflicting various societies and nations. The twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly was held in order to reaffirm those aspirations.

The political declaration adopted by the session emphasized the pledge made by the international community to pay particular attention to the struggle against circumstances that pose grave threats to health, peace, security and prosperity of peoples of the world and to give priority to that struggle. The Copenhagen Summit made commitments, some of which would be shouldered by national Governments and others by the international community.

Five years after the Summit, we notice that international cooperation has dropped to its lowest level, at a time when developing countries are trying to shoulder responsibilities within the limits of their resources. The developed countries have not implemented the commitments they made at the Summit. In addition, there are the new challenges posed by globalization and its impact on the economies of developing countries. The current patterns of globalization have spread a sense of insecurity and have tended to marginalize some countries in the world economy, particularly developing ones.

The rates of international trade exchange have worsened, and concessional financial resources given to developing countries have decreased. The burden of indebtedness has weakened the ability of many Governments to service their increasing external debt and has led to the erosion of whatever resources were available for social development.

Not only does social development need economic activity, but it also needs efforts to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth and the benefits of economic growth among nations, including the establishment of a multilateral international trade system based on law and characterized by openness, equity, stability, transparency and non-discrimination. Such a system would increase available opportunities, ensure social justice and recognize interdependence between social development and economic growth.

Syria has embarked on a process of comprehensive development aimed at increasing man's sense of his importance as a human being, increasing his freedom and developing his personality. On this basis, social and economic development plans in Syria have concentrated on the development of resources and the raising of material, social, cultural and health standards of man, these being the instruments and objectives of development. In order to combat poverty and eliminate it, the Government has adopted a number of national policies and programmes, both social and economic, to develop all resources, complete the development of the agricultural and industrial sectors and modernize the transport and communications sector. The Government has also given assistance to small producers and subsidies for basic foodstuffs. In addition, it provides health services and free education at all levels to its citizens. It provides various kinds of social services to poor families and to the vulnerable elements of society, including the disabled, orphans, the aged and others. This was done in cooperation with non-governmental organizations.

In cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a draft national plan was drawn up to raise the standard of nutrition, and workshops were organized to reduce poverty. In cooperation with UNDP blueprints were adopted for a field study dealing with the delineation of the poverty line in Syria.

As regards labour and the labour force, the Syrian Constitution has provided for equal employment opportunities for all citizens, and the Government has tried to organize labour relations by issuing many laws protecting workers. It has also incorporated provisions for the employment of women and juveniles. There are provisions that ensure equality between men and women without discrimination. The State also upholds the principle of equal opportunities for all citizens, including the disabled.

The Government has tried to support people's access to productive work through systems of education and vocational training. Our education policy has concentrated on the need to ensure democracy in education for all -- males and females. Education is compulsory through the elementary level. Efforts are also being made to develop vocational training and to link education, development and illiteracy. The education budget has been increased.

Foreign occupation constitutes a great impediment to social development and social integration. In this respect, I must emphasize that Israel's occupation of the Syrian Arab Golan has led to the displacement of about half a million Syrian citizens. As a result, they have suffered from poverty and deprivation, and many women have become the breadwinners, since they have lost their male breadwinners.

In spite of the many efforts to ensure a minimum standard of living, there is a need for more resources and for a greater expansion of services, since the State is obliged annually to shoulder many burdens due to the Israeli occupation that dominates the wealth and resources of the Golan and strives to loot these resources. Israel tries to build and expand settlements with a view to changing the demographic character of my country. This has a negative effect on Syria's economic and social development programmes.

The international community is called upon today more than ever before to pressure Israel to comply with the resolutions of international legitimacy and to end its hateful occupation of the Syrian Arab Golan and the other occupied Arab territories, in order to ensure peace, security and stability in the region, to promote social development and to enable refugees to return to their homeland and thus provide a favourable environment for sustainable social development.

Mr. Al-Hariri (Syria)

We all look forward to a world in which relations are based on mutual understanding and equality, a world in which man can really enjoy prosperity and happiness, free of poverty and injustice, a world devoid of hegemony, imperialism and foreign occupation. To achieve this, we have to increase international cooperation and implement the commitments undertaken by the international community in Copenhagen and reaffirmed in Geneva this year.

Mr. Ben Mustapha (Tunisia)

Assessment and monitoring of the results and recommendations of the World Summit for Social Development and the results of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly offer an opportunity to affirm the Declaration and the Programme of Action accepted by the international community, assess progress in social development and examine the restraints that continue to prevent its full implementation.

One commitment is to the creation of an enabling national and international environment to achieve full, comprehensive and sustainable development; eradicate poverty; create employment opportunities; provide basic services, with special attention to education and health; and support the position of women and protect children.

We believe that globalization, which characterized the end of the century, has led to greater, unprecedented wealth and to increased capital flows. We have also seen some negative trends, which, if not contained, might lead to further imbalances in international relations and development patterns and to the marginalization of a number of societies. The international community is called upon to deal firmly with these negative aspects of globalization, provide greater balance and give it the human face that it needs, particularly since the Millennium Summit of heads of State and Government affirmed in its Declaration the need to make the right to development a reality and to protect people from want.

The Tunisian experience in social development has been within the framework of international humanitarian directives. We have worked on implementing the recommendations of international conferences, with comprehensive development programmes based on convergence with international interests. The most important are the following: first, interconnection of the economic and social dimensions while firmly securing human rights in their comprehensive and integrated sense and activating the role of civil society; secondly, achieving protection for all members of society and providing a dignified way of life with equal employment opportunities for everybody, without marginalization; thirdly, protection from social ills and preventing their spread, intensifying and developing care and social security for vulnerable members of society, promoting the role of women and providing protection for the rights of the child and the family as a whole, as a means of stability and development of society; and lastly, promoting solidarity between various generations and groups of society through programmes to protect the environment, thus providing suitable circumstances for sustainable development.

The deteriorating situation in a number of least developed countries is a cause for anxiety. The international community must work to overcome it.

The Millennium Summit made the eradication of poverty one of its priorities, deciding to halve it by 2015 and to halve the number of people in the world whose income is less than $1 a day. The special session of the General Assembly to follow up on implementation of the recommendations of the Social Summit, also devoted much discussion to this topic.

Regarding the need to entrench the values of solidarity and integration among peoples and States, the President of the Republic of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has proposed to all heads of State and to the United Nations the establishment of a global