Draft for 1995 summit prepared.

A draft structure for a Declaration and a Programme of Action to be adopted at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development was finalized at the first substantive session of its Preparatory Committee (New York, 31 January-11 February).

The Declaration would describe the world social situation and reasons for convening the Summit, outline goals and "common challenges", and reaffirm international instruments relating to the Summit's three core issues: enhancing social integration; reducing poverty; and expanding employment.

A five-part Programme of Action was to promote "wide-ranging social development strategies" at the local, national, regional and international levels. its main sections were to deal with the three core issues, as well as parameters for ensuring an "enabling environment" and means of implementation and follow-up.

During the session, many speakers said that social unrest was increasing and that growing disparities had caused increased domestic, political, religious and ethnic violence. The core issues affected all societies, they said, but the impact was greater in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Debt and structural adjustment programmes, as well as the plight of women, required particular attention, many speakers said.

|The new name of peace'

Preparatory Committee Chairman Juan O. Somavia of Chile said that the end of the cold war had given the international community an opportunity to examine social problems outside the restrictions of an ideological framework. Development was the "new name of peace", he said, but development models needed revision. A basic objective of the Summit would be to achieve economic growth within a context of social justice by searching for "people-friendly markets".

A trust fund to facilitate participation of least developed countries in the Summit has been established.

Set to take place in Copenhagen on 11 and 12 March 199 5, the Summit aims to put the needs of people at the centre of development and international cooperation. The General Assembly, in resolution 47/92, specified that the Summit should "address in creative ways the interaction between the social function of the State, market responses to social demands, and the imperatives of sustainable development".

Major trends

Delegates reviewed a report providing an overview of the Summit's core issues and policy measures to attain its objectives. The 48-page text (A/CONF.166/PC/6) analyzed trends in social development, elaborated commonalities between the core issues, and offered recommendations for a declaration and a plan of action.

Over the last few decades, it was stated, society had made considerable progress in the fields of health, education and access to basic services, such as drinking water and food. in developing countries, life expectancy rose from 40 years of age in 1950 to 63 years in 1990. In industrialized countries, material progress during the second half of the twentieth century was described as "spectacular".

Nevertheless, the distribution of gains had been "highly unequal", the report stated. "Very great disparities persist between the richest and the poorest nations, and poverty and destitution do not appear to have been reduced."

At the same time, dominant development models were considered inadequate. Population was increasing at a rate of approximately 90 million people per year--most of whom ended up in cities "suffering today from problems of overcrowding, inadequate public services and insecurity".

Core issues

The Summit's three core issues-social integration, poverty and employment--were considered "crucial" for the development of individuals and societies.

An enabling economic environment: "Sustained improvements in the well-being of a society are not possible in the absence of economic growth", the report said. In the past decade, per capita income declined in all regions except in developed market economies and South and East Asia.

Promoting free trade and moving away from protectionism should constitute a "foundation stone of global efforts to revive growth", the report said. Structural reform was also seen as a precondition for sustainable growth.

Low-income countries, particularly in Africa, needed a combination of debt relief and other aid to "revive the processes of development". Governments should promote "diversification, capacity-building and human resource development".

Social integration: Contemporary society had undergone rapid technological, economic and cultural changes, producing both positive and negative repercussions. Living standards had improved in some regions; in others, such change has resulted in a "tendency to marginalize and exclude".

While recognizing constraints to social integration, one aim should be to create "conditions in which all feel that they have a stake in society's peaceful development".

Cooperative diversity

Social integration should not eliminate differences, but rather enable "different groups to live together in productive and cooperative diversity", the report stated. Diversity was a problem only when antagonism between social groups disrupted social functioning. Most historical antagonisms, such as the reemergence of ethnic conflicts, were due to economic decline.

"Hostile attitudes towards migrants have similar origins", the report stated. Workers in the host country may feel threatened by immigrants willing to accept lower wages.

Prohibiting discrimination was not in itself sufficient. Governments must also enact programmes that involve "active efforts to achieve equality for disadvantaged and marginalized groups", the report said. Education for all should be a central policy goal. Governments should also promote decentralization and non-governmental and other grass-roots organizations.

Poverty: There are more than 1.1 billion poor people in the world, it was reported. The greatest number was in Asia, but poverty was most concentrated in Africa, where half the population fell below the poverty line.

"The best way to reduce poverty is to ensure that people have opportunities for productive and remunerative employment", the report stated. People also needed social institutions--health--care facilities, distribution systems for drugs and other materials, and information centres.

Rural poverty was a serious concern, as was the link between environmental degradation and poverty. "Efforts to protect the environment and efforts to reduce poverty must be integrated", the report stated.

Linked to the "feminization of poverty", the deprivation and suffering of children was a dramatic and pressing issue. Some 3 5 per cent of children in developing countries still suffered from obvious malnutrition, the report stated.

Employment: An estimated 30 per cent-120 million people--of the world's labour force are unemployed, the report stated. "Many more--estimated at 700 million--are underemployed." In the future, most jobs would be in the private sector, making "well-designed incentive structures" there important. The State should help the private sector create more and better jobs, the report said.

Developing countries should receive a "steady flow of well-targeted development assistance aimed at medium-to long-term development", the report stated. Experience demonstrated the "value of heavy investment in education and training".

Recommendations

Summit participants "may wish to formulate an approach to social problems and to state or recall a number of principles", the report stated. Specifically, five types of international cooperation would help promote social development: raising awareness of the importance of social aspects of development; exchanging information and experience: establishing a policy dialogue in areas of special concern; developing norms, standards, conventions and other international instruments; and identifying areas of cooperation and direct support of developing countries by the international community.