Statement by

MR ANDREAS MOUSHOUTTAS
H.E. THE MINISTER OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL INSURANCE, CYPRUS

 

 

Geneva, 27 June 2000

 

 

Mr.President,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for my country Cyprus and myself to be participating in this Special Session of the General Assembly. I wish to convey to you the cordial greetings of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Glafkos Clerides, to express our appreciation to the Secretary General for the excellent preparatory work and to thank most sincerely the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee and all the working groups for their hard work.

The government of Cyprus has aligned itself with the statement made yesterday on behalf of the E.U. Presidency. I would like, however, to say a few things in addition. Speaking at the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen, I had stressed the importance of social development and social justice for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and I endorsed the need for the creation of a framework of action which places people at the centre of development and directs our economies to meet human needs more effectively. This statement still holds good today.

The review and appraisal of the outcome of the Summit has shown that with a view to implementing the Copenhagen commitments many new policies and programmes have been initiated at the national level, whilst international organisations refocused their activities. However, much remains to be done in view of the increased globalisation, especially since it has been clearly shown that the national and international policy responses have been uneven.

My delegation wishes to join forces with other U.N. member states, international organisations and other interested agents in making the results of our deliberations during this week represent a considerable step further in achieving the goals agreed at the Summit. For the developments in the years which have elapsed since then, confirm fully the validity of these goals and the need for new initiatives and innovative approaches.

Like others we do recognise the need to anticipate and offset the negative and potentially negative social and economic consequences resulting from the globalization process and to maximise its benefits for all members of society including those with special needs. In this connection my government wishes to stress the importance it attaches to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Labour Rights and to the promotion of the goal of full anal productive employment. Descent work is indeed the cornerstone in preventing anal alleviating poverty and achieving greater social cohesion.
It is for this reason that the promotion of full and productive employment, as advocated for in the ILO Convention No, 122 has been a standing goal of the social policy of the government of Cyprus since the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.

Investing in education and human development, improving the functioning of the labour market, promoting gender equality and non-discrimination in employment and working conditions and protecting through special measures the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, remain high priorities for my government and the social partners.

The Document entitled "Further Actions and Initiatives to Implement the Commitments made at the Summit" contains many good proposals the adoption of which will certainly take forward the social development agenda. Time constraints do not allow me to comment on these. Without ignoring the significance of any of these proposals, I would like in this short address to single out in particular the importance of the proposal which recommends the establishment of an expert working group to develop guidelines on sound principles and good practices in social policy to promote the three goals of the Summit, We believe that this proposal can be of great practical value to governments and to international organisations.

Mr President,

I would like to conclude this address by thanking the Swiss Government for its philoxenia and by expressing the conviction that the efforts invested in this Special Session, as well as its outcome, will prove worthwhile.

  Thank you.