Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Vice-President of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), participated as a panelist in the ECOSOC Integration Segment on July 8.  Professor Fukuda-Parr stressed the importance of addressing inequality in the context of the realities of development, which can be contradictory. Development often creates or exacerbates poverty and comes at the expense of environmental integrity, pushing people further behind.  It is particularly important, she stated, to  address the inequalities that create obstacles to the reform of the mechanisms through which people are pushed behind, such as decision-making systems where the most disadvantaged are often unrepresented.

The Integration Segment aims to bring together key messages from ECOSOC subsidiary bodies & the UN system on the main theme of ECOSOC (“Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”) and to develop action-oriented recommendations.

• More info on the CDP’s input: Chapter 1 in the 2019 report to ECOSOC.
• Video: See the session starting at minute 33:30 at on the UN WebTV broadcast here.