ENB:10:22 [Next] . [Previous] . [Contents]

---

SUMMARY OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: 22 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER 1994

The second session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) met from 22 August - 2 September 1994 at UN Headquarters in New York. This session was the second of three preparatory meetings for the Summit, which will take place from 6-12 March 1995 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Summit will bring together Heads of State or Government from around the world to agree on a programme of action to: alleviate and reduce poverty; expand productive employment; and enhance social integration.

During the course of the two-week session, delegates focused primarily on the texts of the draft Declaration and Programme of Action to be adopted in Copenhagen. The Secretariat's initial draft met with much criticism for both its structure and content. Delegates spent most of the first week reviewing the Secretariat's text. Their comments and drafting suggestions on the Programme of Action were then incorporated into a new compilation text, which was distributed at the end of the first week. Although the Secretariat, the Bureau and the delegates had hoped that the PrepCom would be able to produce a draft negotiating text by the conclusion of this session, this was not to be the case. Instead, the result was an unmanageable 200-250 page document containing the compilation text and all the amendments proposed by delegates during the second week. As a result, the Bureau was requested to convene intersessional informal consultations in October to facilitate the preparation of a new draft text to serve as the basis for negotiations at the third and final PrepCom, which will be held from 16-27 January 1995.