Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,

The International Council on Social Welfare, of which I have the honour to be the president, is a truly global non-governmental membership organization which represents a wide range of national and international organizations that seek to advance social welfare, social justice and social development. The well-being of people has been the central concern of the Council since its establishment more than 65 years ago.

Our basic mission is to promote forms of social and economic development which aim to reduce poverty, hardship and vulnerability throughout the world, especially amongst disadvantaged people. We strive for recognition and protection of fundamental rights to food, shelter, education, health care and security because we believe that these rights are essential foundations for freedom, justice and peace. Consequently, we also seek to advance equality of opportunity, freedom of self-expression, participation and access to human services.

The UN World Summit on Social Development is a unique opportunity for the world community to open a new chapter in global social development. The International Council on Social Welfare calls upon the world community, represented in this Summit, to recognize and act upon the insight that poverty and social injustice are not only intolerable from ethical and humanistic points of view, but also retard the pursuit of peace, security and sustainable economic development throughout the world.

But it is not enough to just oppose the most extreme cases of injustice, impoverishment, discrimination and violence on an ad hoc basis and through short-term social and developmental policies. The Summit should raise the world's consciousness on the global context of social development and its interrelation with prevailing economic ideologies and political orientations. It should be the starting point of the development of a new framework of ethics based on the universal recognition of indivisible human rights - in their social, economic, cultural, civil and political dimensions. This obviously requires a new understanding of human need and a new culture of sharing the resources and the opportunities of this fragile and endangered world.

An essential precondition for this kind of change is that the signatories of the Declaration and Program of Action of this Summit quickly and effectively implement their commitments so that the expectations of people all over the world will not be deceived but that the promises become reality in their daily lives. Only if governments live up to their words over the next years will they keep their credibility and their raison d'être.

The International Council on Social Welfare has been actively and constructively involved in every phase of the preparatory process leading to the Summit. We have mobilised our global resources - in personal, intellectual, organizational and financial terms - to inform NGOs about the Summit and to motivate them to participate in the endeavour, to contribute ourselves directly to the Summit's content and to give support to the process itself. We have advocated, and will continue to advocate five major priorities for action.

First, a concerted effort should be made to achieve universal ratification of all human rights agreements - especially the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - by the year 2000. The resources and mechanisms for monitoring and enforcing these agreements should be strengthened.

Second, the Economic and Social Council should be strengthened to play the central role envisaged for it in the United Nations Charter. This should include greater involvement in international considerations of key economic issues, and the regular conduct of public hearings with active involvement of civil society.

Third, vigorous and coordinated action should be taken to improve the flow of private business investments in ways which will enhance social development. This will require, among other things, reform of the international financial system and of the tax systems.

Fourth, urgent action should be taken to cancel the debt of severely-indebted low-income countries, and to announce specific timetables for raising official development assistance to the agreed target of 0.7% of GNP.

Fifth, high-level regional reviews should be conducted every two years to facilitate and evaluate implementation of the Summit agreements. These reviews should provide substantial opportunities for input by NGOs.

Today we cannot be entirely satisfied with the results of the political negotiations. We had hoped for more - for more advanced concepts, for stronger commitments and for more concrete target lines and dates. But we recognize that a first and decisive step has been done by the political leaders of the world. For the first time in human history they have dealt with the basic questions of humanity and they have tried to come to a common perception of the problems and create a new understanding of the needs of people. With all the good will of the actors, the effort has certainly shown great imperfections. However, it seems to me that at least a new language translates the shared concerns and the common preoccupations. And this is very important indeed.

Next Monday the International Council on Social Welfare will start the second phase of its strong involvement in the Summit progress. As a global network which is rooted in local and national organizations dealing with people's needs, their misery and hopes, but also using their imagination and their capacities, we will closely monitor the follow-up of the Summit, the implementation of the commitments and the plan of action. We will acknowledge and strongly support progress made and equally strongly denounce failures and lack of action. In partnership with other NGO networks and civil society at large we will make sure that the drive created by the Summit will not be forgotten and keep the pressure high so that the issues of social development and human security will not be scrapped from the political agenda.