ENB:10:23
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SUMMARY OF INTERSESSIONAL CONSULTATIONS FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: 24-28 OCTOBER 1994
At the conclusion of the second session of the Preparatory
Committee (PrepCom) for the World Summit for Social Development
(WSSD) on 2 September 1994, delegates acknowledged the substantial
amount of work to be done in the light of the one remaining session
of the PrepCom before the Summit in March 1995. Thus, delegates
adopted Decision 2/3, which requested the following:
- The Chair and the Bureau should organize intersessional informal consultations, with the participation of all States, during the week of 24 October 1994, in New York, within the framework of the General Assembly. The subjects of these informal consultations will be the Declaration and the Programme of Action;
- The Secretariat should prepare an informal document, by 30 September 1994, based on the documents and discussions held on the draft Programme of Action;
- The Secretariat should prepare, by 30 November 1994, a revised draft Programme of Action for the third session of the Preparatory Committee, which will be held in January 1995, drawn from the intersessional consultations and from the discussions held during the second session of the Preparatory Committee, and the documents that served as a basis for those discussions; and
- The Chair should continue consultations with all interested States and regional organizations on the draft Declaration and prepare a progress report for the intersessional consultations. On the basis of those consultations, a draft Declaration will be submitted by the Chair for negotiation during the third session of the Preparatory Committee.
Thus, the purpose of this intersessional session was to give
delegates the opportunity to identify areas of convergence and
divergence in both the draft Programme of Action and the draft
Declaration. The specific goal was to provide enough guidance both
to the Secretariat and the PrepCom Chair, Amb. Juan Somav¡a
(Chile), to produce an integrated negotiating text. During the
course of the week-long consultations, frustration seemed to
pervade the Informal Committee of the Whole, which dealt more with
the structure than the substance of the Programme of Action.
Meanwhile, the real substantive work was carried out in Amb.
Somav¡a's consultations on the Declaration. It was apparent from
the start of this session that the Declaration must serve as the
philosophical basis for the Programme of Action, and that matters
of substance in the Programme of Action could not be tackled until
some degree of resolution was reached with the Declaration.
On the Declaration, there was agreement that it must be infused
with a strong "presidential tone," with strong commitments on the
empowerment of women, the special needs of Africa and the Least
Developed Countries (which many regard as the true test of the
Summit's success) and the need for socially responsible structural
adjustment programmes. The key issue on poverty is how to make the
related commitments clear, credible and realistic. In the area of
employment, it was felt that there is a lack of appreciation for
the implications of the economic globalization process. The most
difficult issues were, of course, creation of an enabling
international economic environment and implementation and
follow-up. While there is general agreement that the substantive
commitments must be accompanied with commitments to make the
necessary resources available, much disagreement remains as to the
possible sources and modalities. Likewise, few concrete proposals
were generated around the issue of implementation and follow-up and
the possible improvement of existing institutions.
The structure of the draft Programme of Action underwent a
considerable metamorphosis as a result of a proposal by the G-77 on
the first day. Delegates welcomed the G-77's proposed
reorganization and, thus, easily agreed to request the Secretariat
to reorganize the Programme of Action in line with the G-77's
proposal. Delegates commended the strong language that puts people
at the centre of development and that calls for economic growth to
serve human needs. Nevertheless, since these intersessional
informal consultations were not intended to be negotiating
sessions, few delegates were prepared with concrete substantive
proposals. This reflected both a lack of clarity and a sense
urgency about the problems before the Social Summit.
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