Dr. Parvin Paidar

Save the Children, UK

Presentation on Social Integration

Introduction

     Dr. Paidar provided an introduction on the issue of social integration, in order to prepare participants for the more detailed discussion of what has been happening on the ground in Central Asia and the Caucasus in the workshop.

     She divided her talk into three sections:

• The social integration objectives agreed by the World Summit for Social Development;
  
• The issues and trends in achieving social integration in Central Asia and the Caucasus;
  
• The proposal of aspects of social integration in order to identify progress, stalemate or setbacks that have occurred since 1995.

Objectives of social integration

     The World Summit defined the aim of social integration to be the creation of a society for all in which every individual has rights and responsibilities to play an active role. The World Summit held governments primarily responsible for empowering people, promoting integration and combating discrimination and exclusion.

     The world leaders said the following about overcoming social exclusion and promoting social integration:

“We commit ourselves to promoting social integration by fostering societies that are stable, safe and just and that are based on the promotion and protection of all human rights, as well as on non-discrimination, tolerance, respect for diversity, equality of opportunity, solidarity, security, and participation of all people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons”.

     Dr. Paidar felt that this sentence incorporated a number of objectives on social integration. She categorised these into 10 main objectives:

1. Universal access to education, information and technology for children and adults;

2. Enhancing equal participation of people of all ages, gender and background in civil, political, economic, social, cultural life. The need to involve children in planning and decision making is emphasised;

3. Ensuring the full integration into the economy and society of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and individuals. Vulnerable children such as ‘street children’ are specially mentioned;

4. Eliminating racism and discrimination in all its forms, promoting respect for ethnic/cultural diversity and the rights of minorities, and enforcing internationally recognised human rights;

5. Eliminating all forms of violence affecting children and adults, and fully implementing the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women;

6. Addressing problems of crime and illicit drugs as factors of social exclusion;

7. Promoting social justice, democracy, pluralism, tolerance, non-violence and the rule of law, through the education system, mass media, local communities and local organisations;

8. Strengthening the ability of local communities and groups to develop their own organisations and resources;

9. Recognising the central role of the family, providing an environment that assures its protection and support, and recognising that family exists in different forms;

10. Providing humanitarian assistance to refugees and other displaced people and enabling them to return in safety and dignity;

Issues and trends in achieving social integration objectives

     The UN Commission for Social Development has investigated the worldwide progress in meeting the objectives of the World Summit and has found a lot of difference in pace and rate of success in meeting social integration objectives in various countries. By 1998, out of the countries which signed the declaration, half were making rapid progress in meeting the recommended targets set for the year 2000: 70 countries were not going to be able to reach the targets, and 20 countries were worse off than they were before due to a wide range of reasons including war and ethnic conflict.

      It is possible to say that the seven countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus which signed the declaration would be among those which will not be able to meet the recommended targets for the year 2000. This is because although most of the commitments of the World Summit were meant to be universally implemented, the countries which signed up to them did not start from the same baseline. In fact, many of the commitments that the governments made were way beyond the possibilities of their countries. So, in assessing the progress made by various countries towards meeting the targets for the year 2000, it is important to take the starting point of the countries into consideration.

     Central Asia and the Caucasus include diverse countries which are different in many respects. So, it is not possible to generalise in talking about progress made towards social integration. One can identify different degrees of progress, lack of progress and setbacks in achieving social integration objectives in all of these countries.
However, Dr. Paidar believed it possible to identify general trends and obstacles to social integration in Central Asia and the Caucasus resulting from the shared Soviet history, which has had a determining effect on the direction of the transitional society. What is common in Central Asia and the Caucasus and differentiates them from other developing countries, is the reversal of social development indicators during the transitional period. This process of reversal has been particularly marked with regard to the objectives of social integration.
Dr. Paidar stated that poverty is one of the root causes of social exclusion. The unprecedented increase of poverty in transitional society has resulted in a significant proportion of the population in Central Asia and the Caucasus being excluded from full participation in society. The percentages given about the poor in various countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus range from 30% to 70% of the population.

      Reduced access to essential services compounds the problem of poverty. In the Soviet regime, central planning compensated for low incomes with state investments in services which catered to basic needs and led to substantial advances in human development like life expectancy, literacy rate and so on. But with the collapse of the Soviet system, many of these services, including the social safety net protecting the vulnerable have come under threat during the 1990s. With the falling rates of school enrolment and the decreasing quality of education, she believed that we are beginning to witness the emergence of illiteracy among children and young people in some communities which can be regarded as an “unprecedented historical tragedy”. Other worrying common trends have resulted from the collapse of the health care systems and environmental degradation which have given rise to reversals in health, including a sharp rise in infectious diseases such as TB among some Central Asian communities, increasing death rates and decline in life expectancy.

      Poverty in transitional countries has characteristics which are not common in other developing countries. For example, “There is no simple correlation between poverty and education levels… The educated, particularly those with secondary level education have fared particularly badly during the transition… There has been a major de-industrialisation, wage decline, unemployment and under-employment in urban centres, and urban poverty has been particularly high in one-company towns… Rural poverty has also increased sharply as agricultural productivity has continued to stagnate despite many attempts at agrarian reform” (quotations from Central Asia 2010).

      Dr. Paidar stated that women seem to particularly suffer from a lower level of overall human development, which reflects lower income-earning opportunities. Another characteristic of poverty in transitional countries is that child poverty is increasing faster than adult poverty. Children bear the heaviest burden of poverty and they suffer more than adults from reduced access to education, health and other essential services. Research initiated by Save the Children in Central Asia has demonstrated how poverty and loss of access to essential services in the 1990s has given rise to the new phenomenon of nutritional deficiency among children, high rate of infant mortality, illiterate children and young people, street and working children, sexual exploitation of children/young people, children/ young people suffering from drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS, and so on – categories of vulnerable children which did not exist before in these countries (at least to the current extent). Children are not just another interest group: what happens to children is a fundamental determinant of what happens to society.

     Dr. Paidar illustrated how in transitional society the traditional categories of the disenfranchised have given way to new vulnerable groups. Female- headed households, single parents, the disabled, the majority of children, the unemployed youth, the elderly, minorities, refugees and internally displaced communities are other vulnerable and socially excluded groups.

     Governments have tried to protect social spending, and indeed the share of social spending in total government expenditure has risen in most countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, but lack of resources has not allowed this policy to fully succeed. Since the mid-nineties, many of the governments have accelerated economic growth, have privatised and invested in industry and supported the growth of the enterprise. But these policies have not necessarily raised the living standard of the majority of the population. In some countries such as Kazakistan and Azerbaijan, natural resources such as oil are expected to bring in new wealth and prosperity. But unless there is a genuine political will to the contrary, there is a danger that the gains will be limited to a minority of the population, if the experience of other oil-producing countries is anything to go by.

     Dr. Paidar believed that when social development is not people-focused and inclusive, it is no surprise that it will lead to unprecedented levels of brain drain, social conflict, family breakup, violence, crime, drug abuse and alcoholism. Political conflict, civil war and lack of tolerance of ethnic and religious diversity has also become serious issues during the transition. Most of the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus have experienced deepening divisions in the society leading to ethnic conflict or civil war and resulting in a large proportion of the population becoming displaced. The internally displaced communities suffer from appalling living conditions, unemployment, poor health, inadequate housing and heavy dependence on humanitarian aid.

     How the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus have done in overcoming social exclusion during transition has depended on a lot of factors: with regard to economic policy, how they started, how much of their income and wealth they lost at the time of independence, and how they used their revenues to protect levels of human development through public spending. In addition, other factors included: how effective they have been in establishing civil society; how have they supported the process of democratisation and social participation; and the kind of relationship that they have established between the state and civil society organisations. These factors, she believed, have contributed to country differences in achieving social integration.

Priorities

     In conclusion she suggested certain aspects of social integration to discuss in the workshop. Her view was that we should adopt a comprehensive and balanced approach.

     There is a need to have a comprehensive approach by assessing not only the work of the government but also of the NGOs and international organisations towards achieving social integration since 1995.

     It was necessary to adopt a balanced view by identifying both positive steps taken as well as lack of progress. Dr. Paidar believed that participants should make a comprehensive and balanced assessment with regard to aspects of social integration that are fairly quantifiable, such as the following:

• Steps taken toward access to education, information and technology for adults and children of all ages, gender and background;
  
  
• Steps taken towards participation of the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in political, social and economic activities;
  
  
• Steps taken towards reducing vulnerability among children through protection of their rights, and by placing children’s needs/perspectives at the centre of social development alongside those of adults;
  
  
• Steps taken towards establishment of social justice, democracy, pluralism, tolerance and the rule of law;
  
  
• Steps taken towards elimination of racism and discrimination, preserving the rights of minorities, and enforcing internationally recognised human rights;
  
  
• Steps taken towards elimination of violence and the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women;
  
  
• Steps taken towards strengthening NGOs, local community groups and other civil society groups;
  
  
• Steps taken towards protecting and supporting different forms of family;
  
  
• Steps taken towards assisting internally displaced people and refugees and enabling them to return home.

Dr. Parvin Paidar is Head of the Central Asian Regional Office for Save the Children, UK