From Africa Recovery, Vol.14#2 (July 2000), Briefs page

Concern about Africa at Social Summit review

By Daniel Shepard, Geneva

Africa has not fared well in promoting social progress over the last five years, according to a UN General Assembly special session held 26-30 June in Geneva to assess and advance the social development agenda. The session marked the follow-up to the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, which included a specific commitment to promote social development in Africa and the least developed countries.

Countries participating in the special session agreed that progress so far has been disappointing. They agreed that poor terms of trade, a continued fall-off in official development assistance and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have all played roles in preventing African countries from meeting the goals set in 1995.

In addition to setting a global target of 2015 for reducing by half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and endorsing a global employment strategy, the special session urged specific measures that could have ramifications for African development efforts. It agreed that more resources are needed for social development and that there should be improved market access for African exports, including quota- and tariff-free treatment for such goods. It agreed that structural adjustment programmes should not adversely affect social programmes, and that the International Monetary Fund should ensure that programmes designed to address economic crises do not lead to sharp cuts in social spending.

An additional $8 bn a year for 15 years would be necessary to achieve universal primary education, the special session found, in effect putting a price tag to the global targets endorsed two months earlier at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal.

The session agreed that there should be deeper and improved debt relief for low- and middle-income countries and that in times of financial crisis, a "debt standstill" should be considered. It also urged a "rigorous analysis" of proposals for new and innovative sources of funding, including the suggestion for an international tax on currency transactions, commonly known as the "Tobin tax."

The 25 African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS were encouraged to set time-bound targets for reducing infection levels, such as a target of 2005 for reducing the infection rate among young people by 25 per cent. The session also supported efforts to make low-cost medicines available to people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as for medicines for other diseases prevalent in developing countries.

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