A/C.3/57/SR.9
Summary record of the 9th meeting : 3rd Committee, held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 7 October 2002, General Assembly, 57th session
UN Document Symbol | A/C.3/57/SR.9 |
---|---|
Convention | Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities |
Document Type | Summary Record |
Session | 57th |
Type | Document |
Description |
9 p. |
Subjects | Crime Prevention, Drug Traffic, Drug Control, Criminal Justice, Sustainable Development, Poverty Mitigation, Employment, Ageing, Youth, Family, Persons with Disabilities, AIDS |
Extracted Text
United Nations A/C.3/57/SR.9
General Assembly
Fifty-seventh session
Official Records
Distr.: General
31 October 2002
Original: English
This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member
of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the
Official Records Editing Section, room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a
copy of the record.
Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each
Committee.
02-62285 (E)
*0262285*
Third Committee
Summary record of the 9th meeting
Held at Headquarters, New York, on Monday, 7 October 2002, at 3 p.m.
Chairman: Mr. Wenaweser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Liechtenstein)
Contents
Agenda item 100: Crime prevention and criminal justice (continued)*
Agenda item 101: International drug control (continued)*
Agenda item 97: Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social
Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly
(continued)**
Agenda item 98: Social development, including questions relating to the world
social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family (continued)**
Agenda item 99: Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second
World Assembly on Ageing (continued)**
__________________
* Items that the Committee has decided to consider together.
** Items that the Committee has decided to consider together.
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The meeting was called to order at 3 p.m.
Agenda item 100: Crime prevention and criminal
justice (continued) (A/C.3/57/L.8, and L.10)
Agenda item 101: International drug control
(continued) (A/C.3/57/L.9)
Draft resolution A/C.3/57/L.8 entitled United Nations
African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders
1. Ms. Khalil (Egypt), speaking on behalf of the
States Members of the United Nations that were
members of the Group of African States, introduced
draft resolution A/C.3/57/L.8.
Draft resolution A/C.3/57/L.10 entitled Strengthening
the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Programme, in particular its technical
cooperation capacity
2. Ms. Borzi Cornacchia (Italy), introducing the
draft resolution on behalf of the sponsors listed, said
that the Committees discussions had underlined the
need for an integrated, global approach to increasing
international security. The components of the new
global threats had been identified as transnational
organized crime, trafficking in persons, corruption and
terrorism, and a consensus had emerged that such
scourges must be addressed promptly. A lasting
commitment was needed to providing Member States
with sufficient technical cooperation to strengthen
national institutions and law and order. The Secretary-
Generals recent report on strengthening the United
Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Programme, in particular its technical cooperation
capacity (A/57/153), had outlined the current priorities
of the Centre for International Crime Prevention,
namely, combating transnational organized crime and
corruption. The report also provided information on the
Centres technical-cooperation activities in the area of
global programmes against corruption, trafficking in
persons and transnational organized crime.
Technical-cooperation projects had increased from 5 in
1998 to 32 in 2001, and there was a significant
discrepancy between the Centres activities and its
resources.
3. The draft resolution was intended to be a concrete
response to the recommendations contained in the
Secretary-Generals report calling for a further
comprehensive effort to strengthen the programmes
capacity to provide leadership and services in priority
areas.
4. The Chairman said that Bangladesh, Belgium,
Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Luxembourg,
Madagascar, Nigeria, Panama, the Philippines,
Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Russian
Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Swaziland, Sweden,
Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the
United Republic of Tanzania also wished to sponsor the
draft resolution.
5. Ms. Ayuso (Argentina) said that Argentina was
honoured to sponsor the draft resolution, as it had each
year. However, with regard to strengthening the
Terrorism Prevention Branch of the Secretariat, her
delegation understood that such an action would not
modify its functions or lead to a duplication of tasks or
initiatives in that area.
Draft resolution A/C.3/57/L.9 entitled International
cooperation against the world drug problem
6. Mr. Simancas (Mexico) introduced draft
resolution A/C.3/57/L.9 on behalf of the sponsors
listed and Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Ethiopia, Israel, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic,
Lithuania, Malta, Myanmar, the Philippines, Senegal,
Slovakia, Swaziland and Togo. He said that, in
response to the Committees request to simplify the
draft resolution, his delegation had reviewed the text in
order to eliminate repetitive concepts and those which
were no longer significant, while taking care that the
interests of all countries, groups and regions were duly
reflected.
7. The Chairman said that Cape Verde, Croatia,
Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Kenya,
Liberia, the Niger, Nigeria and the Republic of Korea
also wished to sponsor the draft resolution.
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Agenda item 97: Implementation of the outcome of
the World Summit for Social Development and of the
twenty-fourth special session of the General
Assembly (continued) (A/57/115)
Agenda item 98: Social development, including
questions relating to the world social situation and to
youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family
(continued) (A/57/3, A/57/67-E/2002/45, A/57/139 and
Corr.1, A/57/218 and Corr.1 and A/57/352;
A/C.3/57/L.6; E/CN.5/2002/2)
Agenda item 99: Follow-up to the International Year
of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing
(continued) (A/57/93)
8. Ms. Jenkin (Australia), speaking as the youth
representative and referring to agenda item 98, said
that young people were affected by and concerned
about a wide range of social issues, while factors such
as HIV/AIDS and globalization posed new challenges
for the young. Young people were agents of social
change and affected by such change. It was important
that they should participate in the decision-making
processes that affected their lives, since they would
have to live with the consequences of decisions taken
today. Youth not only were the leaders of tomorrow,
but should also be viewed as active and legitimate
partners in society today.
9. Significant developments had been made in
increasing youth participation at the international level
in recent years. More importantly, youth caucus groups
were playing a valuable role at world conferences.
Australia had included a youth representative in its
delegation to the General Assembly each year since
1999 and strongly encouraged other States to do so.
The international community should ensure that the
voices of young people representing all minority
groups were heard. It was also essential that they were
granted meaningful opportunities to participate,
enabling Governments and non-governmental
organizations to draw upon their expertise; many times,
the organizations with greatest impact on addressing
the issues young people faced were those where the
young had a strong presence.
10. The Australian Government was committed to
promoting youth participation and engaging in dialogue
with the young. It was also a strong supporter of the
World Youth Forum. Proposals had been made to
replace the Forum by smaller meetings; however, the
Forum was unique in terms of its legitimacy and
profile. Limited resources were always an important
consideration when staging events of that size, but a
well-resourced Forum, held at less frequent intervals,
would allow ample planning time and liberate
resources to pursue the alternative proposals.
11. Ms. Aksakal (Sweden), speaking as the youth
representative for her delegation, said that human
development and democracy were not possible if over
half the population was left out, and meaningful youth
participation meant that the strengths, interests and
abilities of youth must be recognized and nurtured.
That could be achieved by providing real opportunities
for youth to become involved with decision-making at
all levels of society. Their abilities and knowledge
were often underestimated, and if youth became
involved nationally, their influence internationally
would automatically increase. Youth organizations
must meet and work together, with the financial
support and encouragement of Governments. Such
cooperation would strengthen civil society and increase
the influence of youth in the global arena.
Governments, including those of developing countries,
should include youth representatives in their
delegations to the General Assembly.
12. Society sometimes failed to meet its
responsibility to include youth. Young Muslims
victimized after the terrorist attacks of 11 September
2001 and young women victims of honour killings
were two examples. Little did the perpetrators of the 11
September attacks know or care that another group of
innocent people would also be victimized, through an
immediate increase in violence and hostility against
Muslims, especially in the Western world. She cited
examples of verbal and physical abuse against young
people of Muslim origin, and although direct abuse had
begun to subside, those young people still felt
subjected to suspicion and hostility. She also called
attention to the case of a young Kurdish woman living
in Sweden shot dead by her father for defying the
family cultural traditions. Such acts must be considered
murder, and must never be accepted as defence of
family honour. She herself did not look like a typical
Swede, with blue eyes and blonde hair, but had her
origins in Central Asia and was Muslim. She did not
belong to just one culture, ethnicity or belief, and she
was glad that Sweden recognized that fact.
13. Exclusion of youth was destructive for society
and threatened social and economic development. To
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include youth was a responsibility, in order to avoid
their marginalization as adults.
14. Mr. Chowdhury (Bangladesh) recalled that the
Copenhagen Declaration and the Programme of Action
adopted at the World Summit for Social Development
in 1995 had identified three main areas of concern:
poverty, unemployment and social integration. The
twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly
and the Millennium Summit had also recognized that
the social agenda was integral to all development
efforts. The Commission for Social Development had
chosen National and international cooperation for
social development as the core theme for its forty-first
session which his delegation would chair given
the need for States to share experiences and forge
partnerships.
15. In Bangladesh, the basic framework for social
development was enshrined in the Constitution. His
Government had undertaken a wide range of
programmes to promote good governance, reform the
legal system, strengthen administration and build
capacity. It also attached great importance to the issues
of persons with disabilities, and welcomed the work of
the Ad Hoc Committee concerned with proposals for
an international convention to promote and protect
their rights and dignity. The Government was working
closely with civil society to provide education,
training, economic opportunity and rehabilitation for
persons with disabilities. The family as a social unit
played a vital role and had always provided primary
care for children, youth and the elderly. His delegation
therefore hoped that the commemoration of the tenth
anniversary of the International Year of the Family in
2004 would integrate perspectives on families,
communities and society at large.
16. The Second World Assembly on Ageing had been
a milestone for social development. Statistics predicted
that the number of persons aged 60 and over would
double by 2050, and the majority of those older people
would be in developing countries. His delegation
agreed with the view of the Secretary-General on the
need to strengthen United Nations programmes on
ageing. In Bangladesh, the Government had targeted
social security and welfare programmes for the elderly.
17. His delegation welcomed the clear message given
at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held
recently in Johannesburg, South Africa, that there
could be no sustainable development without social
development. Bangladesh believed that development
was basically a national responsibility, but that it could
not be achieved without international support and
understanding. In a context of free markets,
Governments must ensure that the safety net was in
place to catch those in danger of falling through.
18. Ms. Garcia (Philippines) said that increased
urbanization had raised the number of women
participating in the labour market, and advances in
information technology had created the potential for
increased productivity in many countries. Those
changes, however, had far-reaching implications for the
decisions Governments must make with regard to
health care, education, shelter, transportation, food
security and the environment.
19. Globalization and advances in information and
communications technology had not resolved the
problem of economic inequities and poverty. Families,
older persons and vulnerable groups continued to face
enormous challenges. Her delegation was therefore
pleased to note the preparations being made for the
observance of the tenth anniversary of the International
Year of the Family. The family played an important
role in Philippine society as the main caregiver for
older persons, youth and persons with disabilities.
20. The International Plan of Action on Ageing,
2002, adopted by the Second World Assembly on
Ageing saw ageing as a challenge and an opportunity.
It called for a change of attitude in policies, plans and
programmes to tap the potential of ageing in the new
millennium. In the Philippines, older persons made up
a small percentage of the total population, but by 2020
their numbers would reach ten million. Hence, the next
two decades could not be allowed to pass without
preparations; among them was a five-year plan of
action for ageing and a number of activities to raise
awareness that older persons were also partners in
development.
21. Persons with disabilities continued to be
marginalized. A high proportion of the worlds disabled
lived in the Asia-Pacific region, and the causes of their
disability were poverty-related. Her Government had
endeavoured to reduce their vulnerability and
mainstream their access to social, medical, education
and employment opportunities. Resources must be
made available to enhance national efforts to
implement activities for those most at risk due to
poverty. Her delegation hoped in particular that the
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Development Account would be extended for another
year to facilitate national and regional efforts to
address the needs of persons with disabilities.
22. Mr. Ahluwalia (India) said that social
development was the very foundation on which other
development goals rested. To that end, a job-oriented
educational system was needed, and India had made
tremendous progress in that area, raising literacy rates
from 18 per cent just after independence in 1951 to 65
per cent in 2001. The Government had made a
commitment to guarantee compulsory free primary
education, with the aim of raising literacy rates to 75
per cent by 2007, and had created a separate
department for primary education and literacy with the
mandate of enrolling all children in school by 2003.
The observance of the United Nations Literacy Decade
beginning in 2003 would be particularly important in
achieving the international objective of education for
all. An educated population was essential for social
development and nation-building in any country.
23. The International Plan of Action on Ageing
focused on the needs of the future, and the projected
increase in the elderly population by the year 2050.
With regard to the observance of the tenth anniversary
of the International Year of the Family, his delegation
encouraged the United Nations system to raise
awareness of that very important aspect of social
development. Further efforts were also needed to
provide adequate employment opportunities for youth,
and the realities of social situations in different
economies must be incorporated to bring about
meaningful international cooperation in that sector.
24. The report on the implementation of the outcome
of the World Summit for Social Development and of
the twenty-fourth special session of the General
Assembly (A/57/115) reiterated the importance
attached to the eradication of poverty. The World
Summit for Social Development had recognized the
need for an enabling environment, and the international
community had since agreed on the need to enhance
the flow of resources from developed to developing
countries. However, it was time for international
agreements to begin to show results. His delegation
urged the development partners to contribute more
actively towards achieving the goals of the
Copenhagen Declaration and successive additions to
the social-development agenda.
25. Archbishop Martino (Observer for the Holy
See) said that his delegation had joined with others in
adopting the International Plan of Action on Ageing,
but had noted the statement during the general debate
at the Madrid Assembly that too many of the worlds
older persons were not even aware that the meeting
was taking place, much less that it had resulted in a
plan of action. Moreover, his delegation believed that
the Secretary-Generals report on follow-up to the
Second World Assembly on Ageing (A/57/93) did not
go far enough in its recommendations.
26. Older persons must be included as responsible
agents in those decisions that would have an impact on
their lives and future. Translating the Plan of Action
into reality would require spreading information about
it and devising innovative programmes that would put
an end to the marginalization of older persons. An
inclusive society for all ages, based on intergenerational
equality, would ensure that older persons
had their rightful place.
27. Worldwide, the Catholic Church operated more
than 13,000 homes, hospices and care institutions for
older persons although, admittedly, the number of
people served by those facilities was only a small
percentage of those over age 60. The Church would
continue to develop programmes to help older persons
take their special place in society and to help society
appreciate the treasure they continued to be.
28. Mr. van den Berg (Netherlands) said that his
delegation wished to pay tribute to the memory of
Prince Klaus, late husband of Queen Beatrix of the
Netherlands.
29. The Chairman expressed condolences on behalf
of the Committee.
30. Ms. Peeters (Netherlands), speaking as the youth
representative, said that young people were losing faith
in the United Nations system as a means of solving the
worlds problems. Once a symbol of a peaceful and
more equitable future, the United Nations was now
perceived as a symbol of failure and hypocrisy. Lack of
resolve on the part of Member States continued to
compromise opportunities for young peoples
development. Young people, for their part, wished to
leave their mark on the world and take control of their
own lives. In the absence of equal opportunities and
meaningful participation in the work of Governments
and international organizations, they were more likely
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to become hooligans or violent activists rather than
responsible citizens.
31. Young people all over the world had been setting
up their own non-governmental organizations and
political movements for years. Following the events of
11 September 2001, they had launched initiatives to
promote intercultural dialogue and mutual
understanding.
32. The vast array of new initiatives since the
adoption of the World Programme of Action for Youth
showed that the international community recognized
youth as an important force for economic and social
development. However, that force was not being
effectively harnessed owing to a lack of support,
communication and understanding. The Programme of
Action should be renamed the World Programme of
Action for, by and with Youth, with young people
playing an active part in its evaluation.
33. Member States should view the Millennium
development goals as the bare minimum of what must
be done to keep alive the vision of a peaceful,
prosperous and more equitable future for young people
everywhere. She called upon Governments: to increase
investment in youth and youth participation; to take
note of, support and communicate with youth
organizations and political movements; to include a
youth representative in their official delegations to the
General Assembly; and to work together with young
people to make the United Nations an organization not
only of good intentions, but also of good results.
34. Mrs. Muuondjo (Namibia) said that the
implementation of the outcome of the World Summit
for Social Development and the twenty-fourth special
session of the General Assembly remained a major
challenge for Namibia. The Government was
committed to human development and had allocated
almost double the agreed target of 20 per cent of its
national budget to social programmes.
35. Poverty reduction was one of Namibias nationaldevelopment
objectives, and efforts had been made to
incorporate regional-development programmes into
relevant national policy. The countrys povertyreduction
strategy focused, inter alia, on efficient and
equitable delivery of public resources, equitable
agricultural expansion including food security and
alternative crops and informal and self-employment
issues.
36. A national youth-employment scheme generated
employment for young people, especially school
leavers. Other government initiatives included the
establishment of community skills centres and a
national youth service designed to provide civic
education and job skills. Programmes targeting youth
had also been introduced in the areas of technical and
vocational education, health and juvenile justice.
37. The International Plan of Action on Ageing
guided the formulation of Namibian policy on older
persons. Indeed, Namibia was one of the few countries
in sub-Saharan Africa to be granting monthly old-age
pensions. State-funded funeral benefits were also
provided for older persons in Namibia.
38. A national policy on disability had been in place
since 1997, aimed at ensuring that people with
disabilities enjoyed the same rights and opportunities
as other citizens. The Constitution had recently been
translated into sign language and converted into
Braille.
39. Despite the significant strides in those areas made
by the Government, numerous factors continued to
reverse hard-earned development gains, not least the
severe drought, widespread poverty and the HIV/AIDS
pandemic. Given the limited resources at the
Governments disposal, those challenges called for
swift, coordinated action and increased support from
United Nations agencies and the donor community as a
whole.
40. Ms. Kapalata (United Republic of Tanzania) said
that economic development and poverty eradication
were overriding concerns for her Government. With
limited resources, it had endeavoured to improve
economic growth through domestic-resource
mobilization and enhanced efficiency and
accountability. Land ownership legislation had been
revised to ensure increased access to land for all
citizens. More roads had been built, health-care
delivery systems had been improved, more teachers
had been employed and more classrooms built. A
scheme to provide universal basic education for all
children had also met with success.
41. The country was, however, still far from attaining
the Copenhagen goals, with HIV/AIDS but one of the
challenges currently undermining the Governments
efforts. It also faced the task of making globalization
work to its advantage, since thus far, globalization had
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only resulted in the absorption of its economy, rather
than any true participation or partnership.
42. The issue of ageing should be mainstreamed into
all social-development policies and poverty-reduction
strategies. The Unit on Ageing of the Division for
Social Policy and Development should be allocated the
necessary funding to enable it to function effectively,
particularly in assisting national efforts to implement
the Madrid goals.
43. The future of any country depended on its people,
especially its youth. The very survival of humankind
thus seemed under threat, since it was young people
that had been hardest hit by HIV/AIDS and left easy
prey to drugs and delinquency. Clearly, it was in the
interests of all Governments to incorporate youth
issues into national development plans. The Tanzanian
Government, for its part, was determined to capitalize
on such an important human resource.
44. The goals were in place. All that was needed was
the political will and economic realism to translate
plans and initiatives into reality.
45. Mr. Konfourou (Mali) said that various concrete
measures had been undertaken in the framework of the
national poverty-reduction strategy, which was
participatory in approach. Decision-making had been
decentralized with the creation of more than 700
cooperatives, and far-reaching social programmes were
under way to benefit poor people, including in the
areas of education and health. Microcredit schemes had
also been introduced in arid areas and support had been
provided to non-governmental organizations that
promoted income-generating activities. A solidarity
bank and a national solidarity fund had also been
established.
46. Solidarity and sharing were traditional African
values. In that spirit, October had been made
Solidarity Month in Mali, when vulnerable sectors of
the population benefited from generous actions on the
part of the local community. Older persons traditionally
played an important role in Malian society. As had
been said, in Africa, an old person dying was like a
library in flames. The Government had established
institutional mechanisms that undertook geriatric
research, provided free assistance to older persons and
coordinated relevant activities throughout the country.
47. The family, as the core of Malian society, was
considered sacred. To favour the family, the
Government had sought to improve living standards
and revise family law, thereby reinforcing parental
authority and child protection. Mali had also spared no
effort in preparing for the tenth anniversary of the
International Year of the Family in 2004.
48. Malnutrition, disease, environmental degradation,
natural disasters and armed conflicts only added to the
toll of people with disabilities. It was in that context
that the African Union had decided to name the period
1999 to 2009 the African Decade of Disabled Persons.
49. The developing world had spent some 20 years
undergoing structural-adjustment programmes, which
had only served to worsen social inequalities and
heighten poverty. A just and durable solution was
required to address the issues of debt servicing and
market access, as well as to combat the negative effects
of globalization.
50. Mr. Mamba (Swaziland) said that his country
endorsed the statements made by Botswana on behalf
of the South African Development Community and by
Venezuela on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
51. Poverty alleviation remained the top priority for
Swaziland, where two thirds of the population lived
below the internationally recognized poverty line.
Many of the measures needed to reduce poverty had
been identified and embodied in the National
Development Strategy, which was in line with the
Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and
the related Programme of Action. Despite all its efforts,
however, his country was experiencing difficulty in
meeting the objectives owing to numerous problems.
First and foremost was the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which
had spared no section of the population. Rising
infection rates were placing an enormous strain on
national resources. A National Emergency Response
Committee had been established to coordinate efforts
to deal with the scourge, with priority going to
prevention, care, counselling and treatment. Some of
the worst effects of AIDS were being felt by orphaned
children, who were dropping out of school because
they had become the head of their family. Swaziland
was committed to pursuing the approved strategies of
medical care although, like other developing countries,
it could not afford the costly drugs required and had to
rely on the support of others.
52. His country had therefore welcomed the
commitments made at the special session of the
General Assembly on HIV/AIDS in June 2001, but had
been disappointed that its application to the Global
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Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria had
been rejected. It hoped that its second application
would be approved. Swaziland had also been hard hit
by food shortages affecting one fifth of the population.
Drought, a recurring problem, had already impeded his
countrys progress towards the goals of the Millennium
Declaration and it was feared that the situation might
worsen.
53. While Swaziland remained committed to
investing in its people, other factors were negating the
Governments efforts. Real per capita incomes had
stagnated since the mid-1990s and the country faced
high levels of unemployment and debt-servicing
obligations. For those reasons, the importance of
international cooperation and assistance could not be
overemphasized. It was still not too late to lessen the
continued suffering of many people in developing
countries.
54. Mr. Ahmad (Iraq) stated that many Southern
countries were still suffering economically and
socially, leading to increased unemployment, disease
and poverty. The creation of a just international
economic system would help alleviate social
development woes in developing countries. That would
imply cancelling the debts of the least developed
countries, opening markets for their products,
facilitating technology transfer to them and harnessing
their national resources.
55. So far the expectations of the developing
countries had not been met. The recent negotiations in
New York and Geneva had not resulted in any tangible
commitments towards those countries. No decisive
recommendations had been made following the
Copenhagen Summit, nor had binding commitments
been made at the twenty-fourth special session of the
General Assembly to help developing countries
eradicate poverty and reduce debts. Furthermore, no
efforts had been made to reach the official
development-assistance goal of 0.20 per cent of the
gross national product of developed countries in order
to help the least developed countries.
56. He noted that the developing countries, especially
in Africa, were not receiving at affordable prices the
necessary drugs to fight AIDS, while multinational
pharmaceutical companies cared mainly about profits.
57. He added that penalties imposed on developing
countries helped to undermine their political and
economic stability. The embargo imposed on Iraq had
severely harmed the industrial, health, education and
services sectors. It had also helped spread
unemployment, poverty and internal population
migration.
58. Given also the new demographic shift to an older
world population, there would be more need to ensure
the participation of older people in social activities, to
avoid their marginalization, and to use their capacities
and experience to good advantage. The Iraqi
Government had adopted a number of laws that treated
older people in accordance with the Islamic tradition
and international human rights.
59. Ms. Edstrom (World Bank) said that the ten
commitments established at the World Summit for
Social Development in 1995 had provided a foundation
for integrating social issues into the fabric of
development. Since the Summit, there had been a
fundamental shift in the understanding of and means of
implementing social advances within the integrated
framework of sustainable development incorporating
social, economic and environmental issues. The
millennium development goals had translated the
Copenhagen commitments into solid targets and that in
turn had brought about an unparalleled shift in the
paradigm for development. The World Bank had come
to understand that the new goals could not be achieved
unless society enabled poor people to chart their own
destinies, and that the economic dimensions of
development went hand in hand with the social
dimensions. The approach to poverty reduction based
on a recognition of the multidimensionality of poverty
had created a sea change within the Bank itself. The
latter acknowledged that growth embedded in
environmental and social responsibility was crucial to
sustainable development and poverty reduction and that
it was necessary to contribute to a country-led,
equitable, resourced, results-based agenda for
development which embraced social, economic and
environmental concerns.
60. The Bank believed that the international
community had an opportunity to promote development
by reinforcing the causal links between the
Copenhagen Summit, the Millennium Summit, the
International Conference on Financing for
Development and the World Summit on Sustainable
Development and by altering the way operations were
conducted at the intergovernmental and institutional
levels. The cross-cutting issues just discussed at the
Banks annual meetings were already an effort to move
in that direction. Nevertheless, steps towards
integration, harmonization and results would be
meaningful only if they were carried out as part of the
new development partnership, while at the same time
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balancing economic concerns with environmental and
social considerations. The Bank, through its new
social-development strategy, would continue to
mainstream social inclusion and empowerment into its
collaboration with Governments through poverty and
social-impact analysis, civic engagement and
participation, security and social safeguards.
61. More broadly it was endeavouring at every level
in the life cycle to build an empowerment agenda. It
was also increasingly committed to ensuring that young
people had access to good health, education and
employment and, to that end, it had joined with the
United Nations and the International Labour
Organization in setting up the Youth Employment
Network. With regard to older persons, it had
strengthened its cooperation with other international
institutions and non-governmental organizations with a
view to devising financing and delivery mechanisms
guaranteeing a basic retirement income for the most
vulnerable elderly.
62. Lastly, the Bank had embarked on a plan to help
to make primary education a reality for all children by
2015 and to secure gender equality in primary and
secondary education by 2005. It had been urged to
pursue similar scaling-up initiatives in two critical
areas: HIV/AIDS/communicable diseases, and water
and sanitation. The Bank was ready to help the
Committee to consider ways of responding to core
challenges and to take the development agenda forward
once more.
63. Mr. Langmore (International Labour
Organization) said that it was crucial to integrate
economic and social policies, because the traditional
dichotomy between them was a perverse basis for
solving major problems in the two sectors in the era of
globalization. A narrow economic approach to
macroeconomic, structural and microeconomic policies
had resulted in inferior economic and social outcomes
and a failure to reap the full benefits of
complementarity. Simultaneous progress in achieving
economic growth, reducing inequality, improving
socio-economic security, strengthening basic rights and
democratic governance and developing sound
institutions necessary for the efficient functioning of
markets could all be made mutually supportive.
64. The growth in opportunities for decent work and
employment would promote such progress. Moreover
since income from employment was the predominant
determinant of economic welfare, poverty would be
insurmountable without access to productive work. Yet in
most countries, unemployment and underemployment
were disastrously high. The rate of growth in
employment was partly a political choice: there were
no immutable laws of nature dictating that particular
rates of unemployment were inevitable. It was essential
to adopt the goal of full employment. Once countries
and the international community had done so, all
policies would evolve.
65. A national commitment to boosting employment
led automatically to the inclusion of a national
employment strategy in national economic and social
plans. Stabilization could no longer be considered
solely in terms of reducing inflation. The ever greater
waste of lost human potential must become a central
focus, with a view to increasing spending on education
and training. Since human services such as education
and health care were labour-intensive, their expansion
would contribute mightily to employment growth.
66. It was vital that richer countries should support
such policies with greatly increased aid, debt
cancellation, widening and deepening of global public
goods, increased market access for developing
countries exports and more equitable participation of
developing countries in global governance. Individual
countries had significant scope for employmentgenerating
policies through independent action. The
main requirement was sustained commitment to full
employment, perhaps the sine qua non for the
integration of economic and social policies.
The meeting rose at 5.20 p.m.