Chairperson and President of the International Council on Social
Welfare, Dr Julian Disney, Deputy Chairpersons of Conference
and distinguished delegates from across the globe, greetings
and welcome to South Africa. We are pleased that the International
Council on Social Welfare is holding its 29th conference in
Cape Town. We congratulate you on bringing together people representing
government, intergovernmental agencies and the non governmental
sector together to debate some of the most pressing and fundamental
concerns affecting all our countries.
Once
again in world events and history the issues of poverty, social
welfare and social development are being brought to the fore.
These issues have gained increasing prominence during the UN
World Conferences of the 1990s, especially the World Summit
on Social Development and its recent 5-year review in Geneva.
The
1990's saw an unprecedented commitment made by 117 heads of
state and governments, to eradicate poverty "as an ethical,
social political and moral imperative of human kind". Importantly,
people centred development was recognised as the key to achieving
poverty eradication" 
Since
these commitments were made, little has changed for the world's
poorest people. All forms of poverty have deepened and widened
while inequalities within and between countries have increased.
In the developing world one third of people experience income
poverty and live on less than one dollar a day. When this is
broken down into regions the picture is far worse for some.
In South Asia forty five percent and in sub Saharan Africa almost
forty percent of the population live under a dollar a day.
Moreover,
human poverty, when measured through health and literacy levels,
reveals a far worse picture. For example, while in developing
countries thirty percent of all children under five are malnourished
and thirty eight percent of adult women are illiterate, in South
Asia half the children under five are malnourished and close
to two thirds of women are illiterate. The human face of poverty
continues to be women and children even as the rhetoric is pro
gender equality and pro children's needs.
The
varied, multiple and uneven impacts of this phase of globalisation
has created a new urgency for us to respond to poverty, social
inequality, human rights abuses and issues of inequity. Given
such widespread human poverty, our governments and organisations
of civil society need to respond in a more co-ordinated and
strategic manner to these problems. But such a response requires
supportive and peaceful regional and international environments.
While much can be done to strengthen responses within our national
contexts, international agreements on free and fair trade and
the promotion of peace and justice are critical to the process
of poverty eradication and social development.
Experiences
across regions have shown that while the rhetoric of social
development and human rights is impressive, this rhetoric has
not been translated into action. The terms of international
trade have worsened and financial resources have declined in
many developing countries. Further, debt servicing and a lack
of economic growth have had negative impacts on governments'
capacity to deliver on social development. For many of our countries
social services are dwindling, the poorest people are having
to pay for basic services such as water, health care and education
to name a few. Food security and livelihoods are threatened
and for some non-existent.
External
debt payments continue to have a dramatic impact on many countries'
abilities to respond to poverty and social expenditure. There
is also growing doubt about the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries Initiative to ensure faster, deeper and broader debt
relief. Many indebted countries doubt that these measures will
have the required effect in the face of declining donor aid.
The volume of donor aid reached an all time low in 1998 of zero
point two two percent (0.22%). This is a significant decline
when countries rely on such aid to address poverty.
Furthermore
countries are wary of being subjected to new poverty-related
conditions tied to debt relief and aid. While official development
assistance is supposed to strengthen the hand of developing
countries in combating poverty, the experience of some countries
is otherwise. A concern therefore is that not only has aid been
declining markedly; aid flows are not focused on country determined
programmes but become dispersed to piecemeal projects that relate
to the agendas of donor countries.
While
new information technologies and globalisation have enhanced
choices for some people it has also diminished prospects for
others and reinforced inequalities within and across nations.
The liberalisation of trade and capital flows pursued by developing
countries and countries with economies in transition during
the last 10 to 20 years has resulted in the free play of market
forces excluding those who were and continue to exist outside
of a monetised economy.
Across
poor countries the inadequacy of national and regional policy
and institutional capacity to manage the economic and social
devastation of recurrent economic crises is evident. There is
growing consensus that there is a need to anticipate, prevent
and offset negative social and economic consequences through
effective regional and national strategies supported by appropriate
international aid.
Conflicts,
ongoing wars and struggles over the distribution of economic
and political power continue to challenge developing countries.
Such conflicts with all their resultant violence have diverted
resources much needed poverty eradication and sustainable human
development.
A
particular concern in Sub Saharan Africa is the inadequacy of
existing policy prescriptions to respond sufficiently and effectively
to the challenges of poverty and economic development given
the devastating impacts of HIV/AIDS.
The
Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) treaty agreed
at the Uruguay Round of negotiations at the WTO has affected
trade and patenting rights and disadvantaged many of our countries.
As a region that is suffering the worst epidemic of HIV/AIDS,
we are being challenged to develop a position to ensure that
issues of survival and health care are not simply left to the
vagaries of markets. Certain medicines and drugs that are central
to the treatment of HIV/AIDS should be affordable. We need to
examine the rules that prevail to ensure protection not only
for the corporate innovator but also for traditional producers
and users. We also urge the international community to integrate
the ethics of human development into trade negotiations.
When
it comes to sustainable livelihoods especially of poor women
in rural areas we need concerted action from governments, the
private sector and the non-governmental sector to ensure their
capacity for self-organisation. Moreover the development of
secondary agro-industry needs to be promoted within an effective
and sustainable land use framework. These initiatives must be
promoted in ways that lead to the development of assets, capabilities
and livelihoods of the poorest people, especially women. That
the trade regime operates in a contradictory way is evident
when we look at the situation of Africa where for low-income
groups, agriculture is among the most liberal and subsidy free
in the world, compared to some countries in Europe where farmers
are subsidised.
An
emerging trend in the face of unemployment is an increase in
casual and informal employment. While more women are able to
enter such employment, there has not been a reduction in their
work within the household or at community levels. The lack of
waged employment has forced many of the poorest, especially
women and children, into exploitative forms of work including
commercial sex and criminal activity including drug trafficking.
A further concern is the extent to which women and children
are vulnerable to the risk of HIV/IADS because of economic hardship.
Moreover,
the push towards flexible labour markets, while increasing some
work opportunities has also created more pockets of poverty.
We now have more working people living in poverty. Their incomes
are below the poverty line. At the same time low levels of social
security in many countries are generating new forms of social
exclusion and fragmentation. Economic liberalisation without
effective social policies to mitigate the negative impacts of
globalisation is unsustainable in human and environmental terms.
The
challenges that government and civil society organisations face
are many as we attempt to respond to poverty, social welfare
and social development. Democracy means ensuring an environment
for accountable, responsive government that promotes the active
citizenship of those who have been living on the sidewalks of
society. However, the narrative of social marginalisation of
women and poor people from economic and political decision-making
structures and processes continues to be a painful reality.
Programmes to eradicate poverty and promote social development
must therefore be planned and evaluated with poor people. The
many innovative ways through which people have been working
to overcome their poverty should be strengthened and promoted.
We
also have to introduce mechanisms within our countries and regions
to root out corrupt practices in all spheres of governance.
Corruption and mal-administration are a drain on resources that
are required to fight poverty and inequality. Such practices
undermine the legitimacy of democracy.
While
many countries recognise the role of civil society organisations
to promote common interests in development and as a check on
governments and the private sector some still prevent and oppose
civil society involvement in issues of social development and
governance. A vibrant civil society working to overcome poverty
and social inequality can reinforce governments' in their work.
In
conclusion, let me end with a quote from a statement made by
President Thabo Mbeki at the UN Millennium Summit in September
this year. "Part of the naked truth is that the second
millennium provided humanity with the capital, technology and
the human skills to end poverty and underdevelopment throughout
the world. Another part of that truth is that we have refused
to use this enormous capacity to end the contemporary, deliberate
and savage violence of poverty and underdevelopment."
