World Summit for Social Development to be held in Denmark in 1995; Social Committee carries broadest agenda, heaviest workload ever.

Aiming to foster "a shared worldwide commitment to put the needs of people at the centre of development and of international cooperation", the General Assembly on 16 December decided to convene a World Summit for Social Development--at the level of heads of State or Government--in Copenhagen, Denmark, in early 1995.

By adopting resolution 47/92, sponsored by 122 countries and endorsed by the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), the Assembly decided that the Summit would primarily address three core issues affecting all societies--the alleviation of poverty, expansion of productive employment and enhancement of social integration.

Societies must "put a safety net under and an opportunity ladder within reach of everyone", said Giorgio Giacomelli, Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna and head of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs. Thus, he said, social issues, in which progress had been seen "as a by-product of economic progress", were being "brought closer to centre stage".

The Summit promises to be "the most important event in the social field in the years to come", said Third Committee Chairman Florian Krenkel of Austria on 9 December. Juan Somavia, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the preparation of the Summit, said on 20 October that the 1995 event should be as important as the June 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. After all, he said, "people are no less important than the earth".

In other action emanating from the Third Committee, which in 1992 carried its broadest agenda and heaviest workload ever, the Assembly: approved a provisional agenda for the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, scheduled for 14 to 25 June in Vienna; launched a Third Decade to Combat Racism (1993-2003); and recommended that a UN observer force be sent to monitor the referendum in Eritrea (see story p. 67).

Ageing, disabled persons, women, youth, crime and narcotic drugs were among the major topics covered in the Committee, which convened special expert panel discussions on these issues during the course of 60 meetings.

Summit aims

The World Summit, originally proposed in 1991 by Chile, will aim to: stimulate international cooperation at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels to assist in implementing nationally appropriate and effective social policies; formulate strategies on goals, priority actions and policies to address core issues of universal concern, in particular the needs of least developed countries; and address the modalities to attain "the necessary balance between economic efficiency and social justice".

Other goals include; identifying common problems of socially marginalized and disadvantaged groups and promoting their integration into society; highlighting the need to mobilize resources for social development at all levels; and making appropriate recommendations for more effective UN action in the social development sphere, particularly measures to revitalize the Commission for Social Development.

A preparatory committee for the Summit will begin work in April 1993 and hold three sessions in 1994. An ad hoc secretariat will assist the committee and a trust fund will be created to help finance participation of least developed countries in the Summit.

Drug control

Deeply concerned that the illicit production, trafficking and abuse of narcotics and psychotropic substances were increasing every day and claiming a growing number of victims, the Assembly decided (resolution 47/99) to hold four plenary meetings at a high level in 1993 to examine urgently the status of international cooperation against those activities.

The focus would be on: evaluating implementation of the 1990 Global Programme of Action against illicit production, supply, demand, trafficking and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; encouraging pursuit of trade liberalization measures to enhance trading opportunities of all countries affected by illicit drug production; strengthening international cooperation in alternative rural development and in eradicating the growing and dangerous links between terrorist groups, drug traffickers and their paramilitary gangs; and promoting universal ratification of the international drug control treaties, particularly the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

The Assembly also urged States to join that Convention (47/97) and intensify their actions to promote effective cooperation in the efforts to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking, and refrain from using the issue for political purposes (47/98).

All relevant UN agencies were to establish (47/100) specific implementation plans to incorporate all the mandates contained in the 1990 UN System-Wide Action Plan on Drug Abuse Control. The UN International Drug Control Programme was to place special emphasis (47/101) on dealing with those issues under the Global Programme of Action.

In a two-part text (47/102) on international action to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking, the Assembly urged the UN Drug Control Programme to complement national and regional drug control plans with international strategies. The Programme was also requested to recommend measures to prevent the involvement of children in drug-related criminal activities and drug abuse.

Crime prevention

Stronger global and regional efforts were sought by the Assembly to combat crime in all its forms. Particularly alarmed by the rapid growth and geographical extension of organized crime, the world body called upon (47/87) the recently restructured and renamed Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to monitor and analyse the incidence of transnational organized criminal activity.

It also wanted stronger international cooperation to combat organized crime, which, the Secretary-General reported (A/47/381), had become "more imaginative, more diversified, more daring and far more aggressive". No country, he stated, was "completely free from, or fully immune to, the depredations of organized crime".

By resolution 47/91, the Assembly emphasized that the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, created in 1991, "had a special contribution to make in a world seeking to surmount serious problems of violence and crime". The Secretary-General was asked to assist the Commission in performing its functions as the "principal policy-making body in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice".

Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations were called upon (47/89) to intensify financial and other support to the UN African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders.

Women and youth

The Assembly expressed appreciation for China's offer to host in Beijing, from 4 to 15 September 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women (47/95). It also called for the Commission on the Status of Women to continue promoting implementation of the 1985 Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the year 2000, based on the goals of the UN Decade for Women: equality, development and peace. The Secretary-General of the World Conference will be Gertrude Mongella of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The Commission was asked to give special attention to women in developing countries and create measures for the equalization of those women, particularly those in Africa, where they suffer disproportionately from the effects of the global economic crisis and heavy external debt burden. The Assembly urged the completion of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, for submission to the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.

In resolution 47/96, the Assembly expressed grave concern over the plight of migrant women workers who are victims of physical, mental and sexual harassment and abuse, noting the mounting reports of serious abuse by their employers in some host countries. States were asked to adopt measures to provide support services for victims of violence and cooperate in taking steps to ensure that the rights of women migrant workers are protected.

All States which had not done so were urged (47/94) to join the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Assembly called for (47/93) implementation of a plan to achieve an overall 35 per cent participation rate of women by 1995 in posts subject to geographical distribution in the UN Secretariat, along with a 25 per cent rate in D-1 level and above posts. The plan, as outlined by the Secretary-General (A/47/508), will focus on departmental targets, managerial accountability and career development.

By a text on policies and programmes involving youth (47/85), the Assembly emphasized the need for a review of progress made and obstacles encountered in the implementation of the guidelines drawn up during International Youth Year (1985) and asked the Secretary-General to continue preparing a draft world youth programme of action to the year 2000 and beyond. Member States were asked to educate young people about environment and human rights issues and prepare a national plan of action for 1993 to 1995, based on evaluation of the national situation and needs of youth.

The Assembly also proclaimed (47/90) the first Saturday of July 1995 to be the International Day of Cooperatives, marking the centenary of the establishment of the international Cooperative Alliance. Governments were urged to consider the potential of cooperatives for contributing to the solution of economic, social and environmental problems.

A demographic |coming of age'

The General Assembly on 11 November adopted (47/5) a Proclamation on Ageing by which it decided to observe 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons. That action followed a special international conference, convened in the Assembly plenary on 15 and 16 October 1992, to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the 1982 International Plan of Action on Ageing.

According to the Proclamation, the Year will recognize "humanity's demographic coming of age and the promise it holds for maturing attitudes and capabilities in social, economic, cultural and spiritual undertakings, not least for global peace and development in the next century".

The benefits of experience, maturity and knowledge hold "promise for society as a whole; for there are grounds for hoping that giving the elderly a better place will help to re-establish our rhythms", stated Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on 15 October.

The Proclamation calls for international cooperation to be promoted for life-long health, income generation and new forms of productive ageing. It urges national initiatives to: view older persons as contributors to their societies and not as burdens; engage the entire population in preparing for the later stages of life; and help old and young generations cooperate in creating a balance between tradition and innovation in economic, social and cultural development.

The Proclamation also urges implementation of the Action Plan, wide dissemination of the UN Principles for Older Persons adopted in 1991, and support for practical strategies to reach global targets on ageing by the year 2001.

The targets, which include improving cross-national research on ageing and establishing a global network of senior volunteers for social and economic development, were adopted (47/86) by the Assembly on 16 December.

From charity to integration

The Assembly on 14 October proclaimed 3 December as the International Day of Disabled Persons, capping off special plenary meetings on 12 and 13 October to mark the conclusion of the UN Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992).

"In the course of the Decade, disability issues have gone beyond the category of humanitarian concerns. They are now recognized in the dimension of human rights and development", said Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the opening of the special observance. "Disability policy has moved from charity to integrated social development planning."

The International Day marks the anniversary of the adoption in 1982 of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, which the Secretary-General described as the "cornerstone" of the UN disability programme. The year 1992 marked "a transition point" in achieving a "Society for All", Mr. Boutros-Ghali asserted. "The Decade was a period of philosophical evolution. Now is the time for action."

By resolution 47/3, the Assembly also called for intensified efforts to improve the situation of disabled people and described the Decade as "a period of awareness-raising and action-oriented measures" aimed to equalize opportunities for persons with disabilities.

By another text (47/88), adopted on the recommendation of the Third Committee, the Assembly urged Governments to improve the situation of disabled persons by establishing appropriate policies, providing preventative and rehabilitative measures to facilitate the integration of persons with disabilities into society, supporting the development of organizations of disabled persons, and using their knowledge in decision-making.

The Secretary-General was requested to "turn the focus" of the UN programme on disability "from awareness-raising to action". This was to be achieved by, among other things, considering creation of a panel of eminent persons, including disabled persons, to advise the Secretary-General on disability matters and reviewing the UN Development Programme's Human Development Index, to include assessing the treatment of disabled citizens as a factor of the quality of life in a society.

The Assembly welcomed the initiative of the United States to host, with the UN, an international conference on disability in the autumn of 1993, and the proposal of the Ministerial Conference on Persons with Disabilities (8-9 October, Montreal) to establish a ministerial-level working group on the subject.

In conjunction with the special plenary sessions at Headquarters, the Secretary-General's testimonials were awarded on 12 October in Vienna to five individuals and six organizations for distinguished service in the field of disability.