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by
John Langmore
The
World Social Summit for Social Development has set out the
terms of inclusion. It promotes a ‘society for all’
in which every individual “each with rights and responsibilities
has an active role to play”. It promotes participation
of all people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups
and persons. It recognizes the challenge of pluralism –
specifically, that “the pluralistic nature of most
societies has at times resulted in problems for the different
groups to achieve and maintain harmony and cooperation,
and to have equal access to all resources in society”
Paragraph 66, Chapter 4, Social Integration
Addressing Social Exclusion Within the United Nations
The
United Nations addresses the exclusion of many groups. My
Division has programmes for persons with disabilities, older
persons and youth. The aim of the Division for the Advancement
of Women is evident in its title. UNICEF focuses on children.
And, the many UN Departments, Programmes, Funds and Specialized
Agencies address exclusions from particular domains –
political, economic, legal, cultural and social; as well
as exclusions from adequate health, housing, employment
and education. The scope of all this work is global with
a priority focus on conditions in developing countries –
and a secondary focus on countries in transition from central
planning. Exclusion of individuals and groups is addressed
as well as the exclusion of entire countries within a globalizing
economy.
Whereas the UN addresses material and tangible exclusions
– as evident in its war on poverty and unemployment
– it also addresses more subtle ones such as exclusion
on account of lifestyle, as may be experienced by indigenous
people; or because of belief systems as with religious and
ideological groups; or disease, as in the case of HIV/AIDS
patients, or merely because of physical characteristics
including gender, age, degree of ability or race. These
exclusions are nearly always intertwined with poverty and
unemployment – yet they also raise issues that are
more psychosocial than physical, problems that are peculiarly
human.
The exclusions being examined in the current Review belong
to this subtle, insidious psychosocial domain. Within the
UN, they are the concern of UNESCO, of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights and of my Division within its responsibilities
for Social Integration (which, together with poverty and
unemployment make up the Social Summit’s three themes).
Achieving
Unity with Diversity
Social
Integration demands a capacity for paradox. Take the term
itself. Even a cursory reading of the Social Summit text
makes it quickly evident that whereas the Member States
called it “integration” they were concerned to
explain it mainly in terms of “diversity” and
“pluralism”. In short, in this Social Summit theme,
they have provided a unique architecture for societies in
the twenty-first century – one that managed to combine
the twin principles of integration and unity on the one
hand while taking account of trends towards diversity and
pluralism on the other.
 We
are being challenged to achieve unity with diversity on
at least two broad levels: first, in terms of what are sometimes
called identity groups (defined by ethnicity, religion,
or region). The challenge here is enormous for whereas there
are about 200 countries in the world, there are between
5000 and 8000 ‘ethnic groups’, some of which qualify
(according to various and sometimes conflicting criteria)
to be ‘nations’ and ‘peoples’. The values
and worldviews held by these groups have been passed down
through many generations while, by contrast, many of the
world’s countries are no more than a generation or
two old, formed in the decades following World War II. With
the ending of the cold war a decade ago, and its ideological
constraints, we have seen a resurgence of identity-based
conflicts fuelled by structural or horizontal inequalities
between the groups. Moreover, many groups are struggling
to maintain their distinctiveness against the onrush of
uniform values and lifestyles carried by the global media
and the globalized economy.
The unity with diversity challenge is also evident within
the groups themselves, as women claim equality with men;
and as older, younger and persons with disabilities claim
opportunities to participate in decision-making that affects
their lives. Whoever participates in defining the problem
is influencing the terms of the solution. A participatory
society – a society for all, for example – is
still an ideal requiring capabilities for living with pluralism
which, as observed at the Social Summit, are not always
easy to put into practice.
Some choose exclusion, yet others have it thrust upon them.
Quite often, the mentally ill illustrate both conditions
simultaneously. In a recent initiative with the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, my Division has
been collaborating with the International Society for Traumatic
Stress Studies and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization
in addressing issues of traumatic stress in war and peace,
including issues of prevention, practice and policy. Chronic
stresses of poverty and, more evidently, the acute stresses
of abuse, victimization, violence, dislocation and war leave
many individuals and groups in fearful withdrawn states.
Traumatic stress, depression and the other mental distresses
can cause a mother to stop caring for a baby, an adolescent
to stop socializing with peers, and an elderly person to
cease taking care of him or herself. In the most extreme
manifestation of self-exclusion, every 40 seconds an individual
takes his or her life (according to World Health Organization
estimates for 2000).
New
Forms of Exclusion
We
must be vigilant regarding new kinds of exclusions, or exclusions
that are likely to increase in the coming years. With the
rapid increase in numbers and proportions of older persons
worldwide, and because development as we know it today tends
to create age-compartmentalization (children in schools,
adults at work and older persons ‘in retirement’)
there is a particular danger of the oldest old being excluded,
with the associated risk of their abuse – an issue
being addressed in the preparations underway for the Second
World Assembly on Ageing to be held in Madrid in 2002.
In our work on exclusion, we recognize that it presents
subtleties when seen through the lens of cultures or individuals;
that it has a scale of occurrence from minor to major; and
that it can occur within families as easily as within larger
groups. We recognize also that its victims adopt a variety
of coping strategies – from collusion manifested as
apathy and dependency, to resistance expressed in conflict
and polarization and even resilience seen in the cultivation
of alternative capabilities.
In a world that seeks increasingly to meet its commitments
to ideals of equality, equity, participation and human dignity
– UN ideals reinforced by the 1990s Conferences –
we can be tempted to believe that extreme occurrences of
exclusion will end in time. While the States have committed
themselves to integrated yet diverse societies, these cannot
come about without the wholehearted support of civil society.
The International Council on Social Welfare through its
quarterly Review and other initiatives is adding valuable
building blocks to the architectural blueprint for “social
integration” and the ultimate ideal of “a society
for all”.
John
Langmore, Director, Division for Social Policy and Development,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
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