Features

Decent employment, weapon against poverty

The idea that creating more and better jobs is the best way to eradicate poverty may sound like a platitude to the man on the street. For policy-makers, however, full and decent employment has long been the missing link in the economic growth and poverty reduction equation. World leaders reformulated this equation at the 2005 World Summit, agreeing to put employment back into the UN development agenda and at the heart of national and international policies. Indeed, with unemployment on the rise and the quality of jobs deteriorating, and with half the world’s workers earn less than a meager poverty line income of two dollars a day, addressing the employment dilemma is more pressing than ever.

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Functional commissions play their part in UN reform

This 2007 cycle of conferences on development policy begins with great anticipation as it marks the first time that the Economic and Social Council will hold an Annual Ministerial Substantive Review and Development Cooperation Forum. Both events are expected to transform the fundamental way in which the Council operates, giving the Council a highly-visible role in development monitoring, and an active part in the process of mobilizing support for international development cooperation.

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Economic and Social Council opens 2007 session

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's presence at the inaugural meeting of the 2007 Economic and Social Council on 17 January is seen as a strong signal of his commitment to the work of the United Nations in the economic and social areas in this time of change and renewal.

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Publications and websites

International Finance and Development

This title offers a comprehensive survey of the major financing issues influencing economic development since the historic Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development in 2002. Edited by José Antonio Ocampo, Jan Kregel and Stephany Griffith-Jones, it argues that most recent international private capital flows have been unlikely to significantly enhance new productive investments in the developing countries.

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Participatory Dialogue: Towards a Stable, Safe and Just Society for All

To be launched on 13 February

What makes some societies more resilient and others more vulnerable to social tensions? This publication explores the elements that lead to one or another situation, reviews global trends influencing social integration dynamics, and identifies lines of action.

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Comings and goings

Goings

Mr. Martin Butterfield retired on 31 December 2006. He joined the United Nations in April 2005 as Inter-regional Advisor on Population and Housing Censuses.

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