Voices from the South

This publication is one of a series of papers about implementation of the commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995.

Some publications in this series are issues papers about aspects of Copenhagen implementation which are of special concern to the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and other organisations. Other publications are reports of forums or other meetings about implementation including the series of sub-regional and regional forums which ICSW has organised throughout the world with other organisations.

The Copenhagen papers are an important complement to ICSW’s other publications that include the quarterly magazine Social Development Review, which contains information and
ideas on Summit implementation, The Copenhagen Consensus – a summary of the principal commitments, Copenhagen + 5 – a bi-monthly newsletter to brief civil society and our Social Development Website.

ICSW is a global non-governmental organisation operating throughout the world for the cause of social welfare, social justice and social development. Our membership consists of global, regional and national organisations in more than 80 countries in every region of the world. We undertake policy development, advocacy and capacity building for our own members and other organisations.
Since the Copenhagen summit, ICSW has monitored progress with implementation, developed proposals for further progress, and stimulated advocacy of those proposals.

ICSW was especially active in preparing for the review of implementation of the Copenhagen Summit which was conducted by a Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in Geneva in June 2000. In preparation for this review ICSW had:

• convened global and regional civil society forums on Copenhagen implementation throughout the world;
  
• published papers, reports and other publications focusing on Copenhagen implementation;
  
• advocated specific implementation action at global, regional and sub-regional meetings of the UN and other bodies relating to the Copenhagen summit.