Debt cancellation, human rights, collaboration with civil society and a strengthened United Nations were among themes cited by speakers at the General Assembly Special Session in Geneva.


Republic of South Africa
Deputy President Jacob Zuma

…Many challenges still remain, and amongst the most critical is the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has the potential to reverse all of our gains. It is clear to us that there is a direct link between HIV/AIDS and poverty. The incidence of poverty provides fertile ground for the exacerbation of this pandemic.

     It is therefore of grave concern to us that vital health care and medication remain out of reach for the people that need it most, many of which are in the South and particularly in Africa. We therefore urge the international community to integrate the ethics of human development into trade negotiations and ensure that the existing trade and patent regimes are not skewed in favour of the corporate sector at the expense of the most vulnerable sectors of our populations.

Hungary
The Hon. Mr. Gyula Pulay
Permanent State Secretary of the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs

We consider human rights and fundamental freedoms as indispensable prerequisites of social progress. It is in this spirit that we took part in drafting, and submitting for approval, the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

      By ratifying Convention 138 on the Minimum Age of Employment in 1998, Hungary completed the ratification of the core ILO conventions. We were among the first to ratify ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and we provide financial support to the IPEC programme designed to eliminate child labour.

Vietnam
H.E. Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem

The need to strengthen international solidarity and cooperation in solving pressing social issues of nations and striving for social development has truly become more important and urgent than ever. Such solidarity and cooperation are essential in efforts aimed at reforming international institutions and regimes in the fields of trade, investment, intellectual property, environment, labour, etc. in order to make them equitable and non-discriminative… While expressing our high appreciation to those developed countries which have been living up to the commitment to reserve at least 0.7% of their GNPs for official development end, we appeal to the others to do likewise.

     The Vietnamese Government always considers that just social policies in pursuit of happiness for the people constitute a strong driving force to release the people’s creativity in national economic growth with social justice. Our fundamental and consistent approach to socio-economic policies is to link economic growth with social justice. State investment in social sectors keeps increasing, accounting for more than 25% of annual State budgets, with special priorities for investment in poverty reduction, job creation, education and other basic social services. As a result, the poverty rate was reduced from 20% in 1995 to 11% in 2000…over 90% of the population have access to health-care services…

Germany
Ms. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

The three richest men in the world dispose of an amount of wealth exceeding the income of 600 million people in the developing countries. And the worldwide imbalance in income distribution has continued to grow… The marginalization of a part of mankind does not, however, only take place between the North and the South; the ruptures between the rich and the poor run within world regions and within countries themselves.

      Globalization is no magic and no natural occurrence – we can give it shape! We have to take on responsibility. …we have to develop global rules and regulations which…put the forces of the world market in their social and ecological place.

      One important contribution to shaping globalization is the respect of human rights and the pursued social minimum standards. In 1998 the International Labour Organization – and, together with it, all its members – adopted the “Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.”... the German government considers these core labour standards for a social shaping of globalization to be of essential importance – they form an international recognized standard which must be a benchmark for all countries and all enterprises.

      Discussing their policies with NGOs is important for participatory civil society. It is also good to know that representatives of civil society are an integral part of the delegations of quite a number of countries participating in this Special Session – including my own country.

The Russian Federation
H.E. Mrs. Valentina Matvienko
Deputy Chairperson of the Government of the Russian Federation

Our goal is to make globalization become a tool for enhancing social and economic progress so that all countries could use its benefits.

     The United Nations should be a key element in achieving this goal. Russia stands for and will continue to stand for increasing the role and strengthening the authority of the United Nations in the 21st century, including, inter alia, in the field of social and economic cooperation. We are convinced that social development issues should continue to be among the top priorities on the UN agenda for years ahead.

     The Comprehensive Report of the Secretary-General gives a description of the aggravated situation in Eastern and Central Europe and the CIS countries but it does not indicate which additional measures should be taken at the international level to prevent social exclusion of millions of people in this region.

     Russia is of the opinion that it is high time to hold a large-scale high-level regional conference under UN auspices to discuss the problems of social development of countries with economies in transition. Such a conference should focus on searching for new resources for these aims.
Such a conference could be convened in Russia in 2002-2003.

France
Mme. Martine Aubry
Minister of Employment and Solidarity

The Copenhagen social development summit…provided at the highest political level, a strong commitment to the values on which social development is based. Permit me to return to the reality of these values:

• the respect for human rights, the effective exercise of political, civil, economic, social, cultural rights, understood not only as an ethical necessity but also as a factor of development; the promotion of rights at work, of the rights of women, the rights of the child; the respect for minorities and the integration of all in a tolerant society founded on respect of rights and equality of opportunity...
  
  
• the necessity of the regulatory and corrective intervention of the state in the play of market mechanisms, as is appropriately stated in paragraph 6 of the Copenhagen Programme of Action.
  
  
• Partnership with civil society and social dialogue. We have, in France, put in place a National Copenhagen Follow-up Committee, bringing together the active parties (social partners, NGOs), an original initiative well placed among other means of possible coordination.

USA
Donna E. Shalala
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

We have five challenges to meet in order to reach the goals we set five years ago in Copenhagen…

     First. Liberty is the soil of sustainable development. There can be no end to poverty without political rights, free expression, and a civil society

     Second. Women must be give full equality – both at home and in the workplace – so that their talents, energy and passion can be an engine for social development. Or as President Clinton said recently in India, “When women have access to knowledge, health, economic opportunity and civil rights – children thrive, families succeed and countries prosper.”

     Third. We must expand access to health care for everyone, teach prevention and stop the worldwide pandemic of infectious diseases – especially HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. We must finish our worldwide effort to eliminate polio. And we must stop the marketing of tobacco to children.

     Fourth. The time has come to ensure that the benefits of development and globalization are broadly shared around the globe. That means advocating for full employment, higher living standards, equal treatment of women in the workplace, and the end of abusive child labor. This requires that we do all we can to respect, promote and realize fundamental worker rights, that we protect the environment, and that we build a social safety net that protects our most vulnerable citizens – the young, old and disabled – as well as workers who have lost their jobs.

     Fifth. In order to achieve positive change, we must continue to work together. The days of government dictating solutions are over. Today we know that the best answers come through partnerships among NGOs, the private sector, government and local communities.

Thailand
Mr. Prasong Rananand
Permanent Secretary, The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare

Thailand would like to appeal to countries to support the United Nations so that the organization would be able to carry out the core missions mandated to the United Nations. In this connection we call for the strengthening of the ECOSOC mechanisms so that it could effectively carry out its mandate. Further, Thailand regards the initiation of working arrangements among the United Nations, the ILO…and the Bretton Woods Institutions as very encouraging signs toward more effective mobilization of resources and coordination of efforts at policy level. This is essential if we are to achieve the global agenda on economic and social development.

Note: For full text of speeches: www.un.org/social summit/speeches/