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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WSSD

In December 1992 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 47/92, "Convening of a world summit for social development," and set the process in motion for organizing a meeting of Heads of State to tackle the critical problems of poverty, unemployment and social integration. Resolution 47/92 set out the following eleven objectives for the Summit:

  • To further the objectives of the Charter of the United Nations, as stated in Article 55, to promote "higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development" and "solutions of international economic, social health, and related problems," with particular focus on social development aspects;
  • To express a shared world-wide commitment to put the needs of people at the center of development and of international cooperation as a major priority of international relations;
  • To stimulate international cooperation;
  • To formulate strategies on goals, policies and priority actions;
  • To create international awareness;
  • To address, in creative ways, the interaction between the social function of the State, market responses to social demands and the imperatives of sustainable development;
  • To identify common problems of socially marginalized and disadvantaged groups;
  • To promote programmes to ensure legal protection, foster effective social welfare programmes and enhance education and training for different groups in all societies;
  • To assist in ensuring a more effective delivery of social services for the more disadvantaged;
  • To highlight the need to mobilize resources for social development at the local, national, regional and international levels; and
  • To make appropriate recommendations regarding more effective action by the United Nations system in the sphere of social development.
Resolution 47/92 also states that, taking into account these objectives, the core issues to be addressed by the Summit are: the enhancement of social integration, particularly of the more disadvantaged and marginalized groups; alleviation and reduction of poverty; and expansion of productive employment. [Return to start of article]