UN: EU Statement at the third committee on Item 60, Social Development
SIXTY-FIRST SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
THIRD COMMITTEE
Item 60 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
UNITED NATIONS
Statement on behalf of the European Union
Mr. Janne Jokinen, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations
New York, 2 October 2006
Check against delivery
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.
The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
*) Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
Mr. Chairman,
The 2005 World Summit was a remarkable step that gave us all a strong mandate to implement the decisions taken on global commitments to development. The Summit reaffirmed the commitments made earlier in the various UN Conferences and Summits and global fora. The World Summit Outcome Document (WSO) also emphasized the importance of the development aspects when building inclusive societies. On the basis of the WSO, a resolution on the Follow-up to the development outcome of the 2005 World Summit was adopted by the General Assembly at the end of June 2006. The EU has been giving its strong support for the implementation of these documents.
The Copenhagen Social Summit was one of the largest UN Summits ever organised and it has fundamentally impacted the formulation and implementation of social development policies and the way we think about the development of the integrated approach towards the social dimension of sustainable development. The key ideas and messages of Copenhagen were the "multi-dimensionality of poverty" and the need to move towards "Society for All", and "People-Centred Development". Those ideas are still extremely relevant in every society, both in developing and industrialized countries. We need to develop a global dialogue on social issues on an equal footing between all Member States of the United Nations. Since Copenhagen, a wide and strong consensus emerged globally on poverty eradication as the first priority goal of development policies and cooperation. It would be a mistake to underestimate the positive value of the cooperation, coordination and harmonisation - in support of nationally owned Poverty Reduction Strategies - that has become possible only as a result of this historical consensus in Copenhagen.
The EU welcomed the review of the first UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006) as the priority theme of the Commission on Social Development (CSocD) 44th session in February 2006. The eradication of poverty is one of the three themes of the Copenhagen Programme of Action, linked closely to the other themes - the promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment, the respect of the core labour standards and social dialogue as well as social protection and social integration.
Monitoring poverty reduction needs clear, measurable indicators. The Millennium Development Goals include focused indicators, which is useful. Nevertheless, we are concerned that too many countries - especially in sub-Saharan Africa - are not on track to reach them. Many people in sub-Saharan Africa, especially women and girls as well as rural people, continue to suffer from pervasive poverty. It is of great importance to empower people, especially women and girls, and to involve them in poverty alleviation strategies. In Africa, progress remains slow in the fight against poverty, illiteracy, diseases, gender equality amongst other things.
The European Union emphasizes the need to promote productive employment and decent work for all among the objectives of national and international policies and cooperation programmes with third countries and regions. This stresses the essential role played by employment and the quality of employment in efforts to combat poverty and promote development. In simple terms, we aim for a European aid, development and trade policy that is coherent with the European Social Model.
The European Consensus on Development Policy emphasizes the will of the EU to contribute to strengthening the social dimension of globalisation, promoting employment and decent work for all, and making migration a positive factor for development. Combating poverty will be successful only if equal importance is given to investing in people, protecting natural resources, securing sustainable livelihoods, and investing in wealth creation.
The European Consensus regards employment as a crucial factor for achieving a high level of social cohesion. The EU promotes investments that generate employment and support human resources development. Furthermore, the EU promotes decent work for all in line with the ILO strategy. The European Consensus on Development Policy is the first document to commit the whole Union to this, both the European Community and its Member states, not only as Members of the Council but also as bilateral donors. It also focuses on the efforts of the European Institutions and the Member states to improve the coordination, consistency and complementarity of the action they take.
The EU also encourages the dialogue and cooperation between the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organization and the Bretton Woods institutions aimed at promoting decent work for all.
Mr. Chairman,
The third important commitment in the Copenhagen Programme of Action is the promotion of social integration. Nowadays we talk more about social inclusion and social cohesion, and these three concepts are used interchangeably. Societies that function peacefully, democratically and synergetically achieve more than the sum of their parts could ever achieve. Liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation are important policy options in modern societies but active, competent governments and broadly participatory democratic processes of decision making are a prerequisite for social integration, social inclusion and social cohesion.
Poverty eradication is still a great goal, but it must come about as an outcome of the integration of social and economic policy, and environmentally sustainable development strategy. The commitment to fight poverty and inequality must cut across all our economic, social and environmental policies. At the Millennium Summit we underscored the need to reassess past market-oriented macroeconomic policies with a special emphasis on the goals of greater employment generation and poverty reduction. We have to learn to judge the success or failure of our economic policies not only in terms of GDP-growth and inflation percentages, but also in terms of their employment impacts, social consequences and ecological footprints.
To be able to move forward, we need to come closer to a consensus on how to design and implement a really balanced socio-economic, environmentally sustainable strategy, tailored to the specific requirements of every community, society and region. The concrete action plans have to emerge from broadly participatory and democratic planning processes at the local and national levels. But for discussing the broad principles, there is no better forum than the UN.
At the 2005 World Summit we committed ourselves to adopt and implement comprehensive national development strategies to achieve our development objectives and goals. The European Union has adopted such a comprehensive strategy to meet the challenges of sustainable development to improve the quality of life and well being for present and future generations. This includes reconciling economic growth and sound environmental management, promoting social equity and cohesion as well as economic prosperity with high-quality employment for its citizens. Investment in human, social and environmental capital as well as technological innovation are the prerequisites for long-term competitiveness and economic prosperity, social cohesion, quality employment and better environmental protection. Economic, social and environmental objectives are mutually reinforcing and should therefore be advanced together.
The EU believes that social development and equity as well as protecting the environment are central to sustaining economic growth over the long term. Social policies cannot be conceived only as an afterthought or an add-on to macroeconomic reforms and growth policies. Strategies for development and growth should incorporate social concerns and issues. In many cases, tackling social exclusion and inequality, particularly of women, will promote accelerated growth and wealth generation. A balanced growth strategy should ensure sustainable revenue for developing countries to address social issues and further support social inclusion and development. Reducing poverty sustainably means ensuring that economic growth today does not come with the cost of environmental failure tomorrow. Poor people are particularly dependant on environmental resources and vulnerable to the consequences of their misuse.
For pro-poor growth policies to emerge, the poor need to be informed and empowered to participate in the Poverty Reduction Strategies and other policy making processes. These processes have to be accountable to the interests of the poor. The policies, on the other hand, need to create the conditions for and remove the barriers to the participation of the poor in the growth process, e.g. by increasing access to land, labour, technology, information and credit, insurance and business services, and by investing in basic social services for all, social protection and infrastructure, which have significant importance to the poor. Policies need to address the risks and vulnerabilities faced by poor people. Reliable social protection means that people do not have to fall back on coping strategies that can lead to chronic poverty and loss of human capital because they are forced to selling productive assets and not being able to educate their children. Social protection systems should be extended to strengthen social inclusion to cover those excluded from current systems, taking into account national needs and priorities.
A well-functioning state is important for responding to the needs of the poor. Effective pro-poor growth strategies often call for policy and institutional changes. The state needs to provide the opportunity for structured public-private dialogue at various levels, including with the employers' and workers' representatives and the broader civil society.
Globally and nationally, there is a need to promote interdisciplinary analytic work and multi-stakeholder dialogues to better understand the economic and social impacts of policy reforms. At country level, capacity building of the ministries and social partners responsible for the social, environmental and employment dimensions of development can help to ensure that all dimensions of sustainable development are taken into account in the national development plans and programmes in a balanced manner. The European Consensus on Development Policy emphasizes that combating poverty will be successful only if equal importance is given to investing in people, protecting natural resources, securing rural livelihoods and investing in wealth creation.
Mr. Chairman,
With globalization, our economic processes have become global, and economic policy choices in one country may have huge social impacts in several other countries. While the rules of the game of the economy have rapidly globalized, the world community is yet to create effective Global Social Policies to regulate the economic globalisation so that its benefits would be broadly shared and maximized. Today the social dimensions of globalization tend to remain within the governance mandate - and responsibility - of the national public sector.
As regards the national debates on the generally tight budgets, the economic benefits of effective social policies are no more questioned by governments of most EU member countries. This understanding should facilitate investment in social expenditure in the range necessary for the sustainable reduction of poverty in our countries - and elsewhere.
In developing countries the economic imperatives of globalization are strongly voiced through and by the ministries for finance - empowered increasingly by the budget support provided by some donors. The global social standards and strategies that we have endorsed here in the UN do not have such a strong voice in national policy-making in developing countries. The ministries responsible for social protection and other aspects of social policy are often very weak, and have seldom benefited from strategic partnerships with donor governments, or from capacity building programmes that would help them build their capacity to engage in constructive and fruitful dialogue with the ministry of Finance. Social safety nets, which are important particularly for those who are most vulnerable to the globalisation process, are not always part of structural adjustment programmes. However, the ministries responsible for social protection and other aspects of social policy would often need to benefit more from strategic partnerships and capacity building programmes so as to be able to strengthen their voice in constructive national policy making.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the EU warmly welcomes the work of the Commission on Social Development on the implementation and follow-up of the Copenhagen Summit. The CSocD is the key forum for the international social development agenda and the EU appreciates the progress made to reform the methods of work of the CSocD and looks forward to streamlining the work and agenda of the Commission. The EU also looks forward with great interest for the discussions in the next meeting of the Commission in February 2007 on the theme "Promoting full employment and decent work for all".
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.