Chairman's Panels at Geneva

Economic and Social Development at the United Nations
United Nations : Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Gateway to Social Policy and Development : Social Summit +5 : Events : Panels

Overview

Results

Issues

Statements

News

Events
- Geneva 2000 Forum
- Chairman's Panels
- Other events

Held parallel with the meetings of the Special Session of the General Assembly, three "Chairman's Panels" were organized on 28 and 29 June at the Palais des Nations. The debates featured prominent speakers from Government, NGOs, and the business sector, as well as various UN agencies. Here is a summary of what they had to say.

Panel I: An Enabling Environment and Resources for Social Development

Wednesday, 28 June 2000, 3-6 PM

Chair: Roberto Bissio (Social Watch, Uruguay)

Pascoal M. Mucumbi (Prime Minister, Mozambique) - Prime Minister Mucumbi pointed out that without self-determination, Mozambique would not have achieved what it had in the last five years, especially if one considered that this followed 16 years of civil war.  The national reference point for all present activities—and hence the emphasis on social integration and reconciliation---was to see that such a civil war not happen again.  He also expressed the hope that this panel with its diversity might be the beginning of a new system – that could even be institutionalized – toward the goals of social development.  He made the point that peace could only be maintained if development had a human face. 

In addition, the political environment must go with an enabling economic environment.   Governments should learn to play a new role without evading  responsibility in economic and social development.  Indeed, the government of Mozambique wanted private driven economic growth, but one had to bear in mind the weakness of the private sector in Mozambique.  At independence, for instance, there was no Mozambican who owned anything---not even a taxi company or newspaper.  The last years had indeed seen good growth figures—8%--with low inflation.  This had been also due to economic reforms undertaken with help from the IMF and the World Bank, such that Mozambique had been able to attract huge investments.  People’s ownership in the economic process is important. 

Given the refugee problem and resettlement, the social environment is also very important.  Much emphasis had been devoted to education and rehabilitation.   

Patricio Aylwin (former President, Chile) - Mr. Azocar said Chile and the Latin American region as a whole had made very little progress in fulfilling commitments made in Copenhagen. Two recent ECLAC studies found that poverty had gone up in the region from 200 million people ten years ago to 224 million today. Not only had hard-core poverty risen, but racial segregation and ethnic discrimination had worsened.  Inequality between rich and poor countries had grown. Chile’s growth rate of 2.2 per cent is lower than Latin American average of 5 per cent. In 1990, most job creation was in the informal sector, but wages were lower than in the previous decade. Shortfalls in growth have to be linked to backwardness, lack of momentum in the job market, external debt and poor level of national savings.  An enabling environment is not only the economic but also the political and social culture.

Mr. Azocar said it was hard to conceal a sense of pessimism at a time when the idolatry of the market is so strong. The market engine is inherently inequitable; if it is to be fair it must allow equal terms for all players and enable even those who are disadvantaged to win. The market is perfect in its creation of wealth, but unfair in the distribution of it. It fosters a culture of consumers instead of a culture of citizenship, as evident from a declining participation in elections and falling levels of national savings.  The more we are committed to the global market, symbolised by the shopping mall, the less interested we are in public welfare and matters of citizenship. The market cannot promote the growth of civil society, which is vital to the realisation of the goals of the Social Summit.

Eveline Herfkens (Minister for Development Cooperation, the Netherlands) - Ms. Herfkens offered her perspectives on the donor-recipient relationship. She emphasised the need for donor countries to harmonise procedures, to resist micromanaging aid projects, untie aid from conditionalities, and put money on the table to match commitments for debt relief. The U.S. Congress has just allocated a meagre $75 million in debt relief, a fraction of the Dutch commitment, she said. Developing countries, for their part, must (be able to) assume responsibility for managing their development through good governance principles (not only of government) but civil society) through inclusion, participation, transparency and accountability.

In short, the donor-recipient relationship could be summed up as follows: the donor should not be in the driver’s seat, but it should check if the driver has a licence. If yes, the donor should help in filing up the gas tank, but always keep hands off the wheel, stop providing a cacophony of advice, reading maps in miles and kilometres, in short, stop micromanaging. Passengers in the car must help clear the road, especially the boulders they themselves are responsible for placing on it.

She said we should stop talking about these issues in the UN and begin implementing them because everyone knows what needs to be done. She asked NGOs like Social Watch to continue to keep a critical eye on governments.

Mamphela Ramphele, Managing Director, The World Bank - Ms. Ramphele spoke on the enabling environment from the perspective of communities and the role they play in strengthening it. She focused on two aspects: promotion of the rule of law and establishment of a stable legal system, and transparency and accountability. Transparent communities can play a vital role, working with government agencies, in ensuring accountability of both government and citizens as, for example, communities in Andhra Pradesh in India that have got together to prevent deforestation and illegal encroachment of thousands of hectares of forest land. NGOs in Peru spearheaded recent legislation on property rights. It is worth pointing out, she said, that the world today is not without resources to end poverty. Enormous wealth exists alongside enormous poverty. Mobilising resources to bridge the rich-poor gap is the biggest challenge faced by the international community today.Ramphele called for action on four fronts: (1) A further shift in empowerment to the grassroots level; (2) Commitment of resources from a variety of sources, bearing in mind that official development funds ($100 billion) are dwarfed by private flows ($700 billion), which reinforces the need for greater private sector involvement in development; (3) Ensuring that communities are represented in voices heard in decision-making; and (4) Filling the gap in public trust, a gap that is felt by the BWIs, the UN as well as NGOs.

Moussa Para Diallo, President, Federation de Paysans du Fouta Djallon, Guinea - Mr. Diallo said he spoke as a simple farmer from Guinea. Poverty was a serious problem in his country, with 70 per cent of people illiterate and 52 per cent absolutely poor. Although Guinea’s farm unions have succeeded in improving the state of farming, they still face enormous problems, such as the lack of a road from Fouta Djallon to the capital. Farm families have jobs, even though the farm holdings are small, no more than 200 square metres, barely enough for survival. The goal of organisations such as his is to ensure that development is not top-down but bottom-up. His union has gained credibility in the country and managed to win over farmers, who also consult them on some farm policies, but it often lacks the capacity to respond, for lack of training.

Venerable Dattacheevo Bhikku, Vice-Abbot, Dhammakaya, Thailand - The Ven. Bhikku emphasised the need for a balance between the spiritual and material aspects to solutions of problems facing the world today. The effects of extreme material poverty have to be balanced by examining the effects of extreme spiritual poverty as well. In the ideal world, our values should be free from materialistic influences and values dictated by market forces. Society is in dire need of transformation. Along with practical solutions to material poverty we need spiritual solutions. Spiritual values to promote spiritual well-being that are almost certainly more elegant, cheaper and simpler than their material counterparts. The problems of the world are only a mirror of the habits we have stored for ourselves in our spirit.

Panel II: Promotion of Full Employment
Thursday, 29 June 2000, 10AM - 1PM
Chair: Juan Somavia (Director General, ILO)

Juan Somavia (Director General, ILO), Chair of the Panel, said in his opening remarkst that one of the basic conclusions of the Copenhagen summit was that employment and dignity and dignity of work was a solution to the problems of poverty and social exclusion. Unemployment today is a much more serious problem than it was five years ago, compounded by the forces of globalisation. He highlighted seven challenges in making the global economy work for everyone: first, how to take advantage of the knowledge economy, which has enormous potential on the one hand in expanding methods of production and changing the nature of employment, but also creates a digital divide on the other. The knowledge economy places a premium on investing in people’s capabilities and on human capital, and their ability to retool and adapt to new employment opportunities. Second, gaining equality and dignity for employment of women, who are now 40 per cent of the labour force and growing. But more women are unemployed than men, women’s work is mostly invisible and feminisation of poverty is widespread.Third, the need to stimulate enterprise development to create jobs in the informal sector.

Fourth, getting rid of undesired employment, such as child labour, discriminatory and exploitative forms of work for women and girls, insecure and poor quality work of all types. Fifth, stimulating youth employment, to prevent exclusion and marginalisation among young people and reducing their joblessness which is everywhere double that of adults. Sixth, providing work opportunities for older people, given the fact of aging populations, and that older people will stay in the labour force longer and will need retraining. Seventh and finally, learning from the successful experiences of local organisations, interest groups, organised labour groups and municipalities that have promoted local involvement in dialogue on market and labour policy.

Juan Carlos Aparicio (Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Spain) - Mr. Aparicio emphasised the role of social dialogue in advancing employment. Spain’s good use of social dialogue had helped implement EU employment strategies. Collective dialogue was a protection for workers as well. Spain has taken special measures to facilitate the integration of people with disabilities, as well as those with greater risk of exclusion, into the labour market. He said it was important to balance growth with social protection costs.

Mirai Chatterjee, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India - SEWA’s work in organising women workers at the household level in India has the twin goals of full employment and self-reliance. She provided two examples. In Ahmedabad, SEWA organised women quilt workers, who were being paid piece-rate and exploited by contractors and merchants. The women’s collective started its own production and quickly became viable, making the women worker-owners, providing them steady work and higher income and drawing workers away from contractors. This collective intervention in the market raised the daily wage for women and increased their bargaining power. In the prosperous Kheda district, SEWA organised women tobacco workers for minimum wages, child care centres, health services, credit and insurance, housing and alternative forms of employment.

SEWA’s strategy for employment and self-reliance has five components: (1) Strengthening and developing employment opportunities through regular and labour-intensive work; (2) capitalisation at the household level that enables the poor access to financial services to build assets of their own; (3) Capacity building to stand firm in the competitive market, gain access to information and technology and skills training; (4) provision of social security, mainly health care, child care, insurance and housing;(5) collective, organised strength through people’s organisations to enable women to be active participants in decision-making.

Carol Bellamy (Executive Director, UNICEF)  focused on the challenge reducing child labour, given the significant linkages between full employment and child development. Of the estimated 250 million children economically active between the ages of 5 and 14, 50-60 million are children on the wrong work track: child soldiers, girls in brothels, bonded workers and domestic help. The proportion of children living in poverty in OECD countries ranges from 3 to 25 per cent, and is linked to levels of employment and low paid work. She emphasised that education must be connected with poverty reduction, and highlighted the IPEC programme of 1992 that now has more than 65 participating countries, the ILO Convention of Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour and the UN Initiative on Girls’ Education launched in Dakar.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew (Secretary of State for Children and Youth, Canada) outlined Canada’s path of progress from high unemployment and budget deficits in the early 1990s to record lows in unemployment and better management of deficits and debt today. Key factors in this transformation include strong macroeconomic policies to stimulate job creation in the private sector, a greater emphasis on ‘active’ labour market policies, education reform and skills training programmes and targeted employment programs for youth, persons with disabilities and aboriginal populations. She said these groups still had high concentrations of poor and unemployed, calling for vigorous attention to the skills, labour market and social needs of disadvantaged groups.

Advocate Dikgang Moseneke (Chairman, Telkom, South Africa) - Mr. Moseneke said an aggressive approach to education is an essential first step in combating underemployment and poverty. A strong emphasis on entrepreneurship is equally needed, given the retreat of the old economy and the fact that the new economy only admits a few highly skilled workers. He drew attention to the tension in South Africa between achieving full employment and the rigidity of the unionised labour market. Should more protection and opportunities be extended to the 4 million employed or more resources be spent to enable the 20 million unemployed to enter the labour market?

Fackson Shamenda (President, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Zambia) called for a real commitment from all governments at the special session to achieve full employment, respect human rights and build genuine social protection. A clear lesson of the last five years is that a broad political consensus between free trade unions, employers and civil society is essential to solve economic problems. He emphasised training and retraining for young workers and women and steps to tackle child labour, and called for dynamic government initiatives in job creation.

Emma Bonino (MEP, former EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs; Italy) noted a recent Secretary-General report on social integration in post-conflict situations, saying that it was comprehensive but lacked priorities. She said the starting point would have to be democratic institution-buildng and the role of government, for example, dispute-settling mechanisms. She called for capacity-building to ensure greater direct participation of people in peace-building initiatives in reconstruction and rehabilitation. Globalisation should not be limted to markets, but encompass human rights including economic and social rights. 

Gro Harlem Brundtland (Director General, WHO) said countries still spend on average less than 15 per cent of national income on basic social services. But money is not the whole story – many countries should be able to more health services for the money they spend. Debt imposed heavy burdens on health budgets and WHO supported debt relief that would free resources for social services. Countries faced some tough choices between providing coverage for all, rather than for everything, and services for all who need them rather than comprehensive services for the few. Improving the quality of health services must be accompanied with overcoming disparities and shortcomings in service delivery. Increased investment in a public health sector that people do not use is a waste, she said, pointing to the high use of private health services in developing countries. Government stewardship in the health field is however still important in regulation, oversight and rule-setting.

Aminata Traore (former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mali) said Africa had borne enormous social, political and cultural costs of globalisation and neo-liberal policies. The rest of the world tends to criticise African governments for their failure to enact SAPs and their lack of discipline, ignoring the role of debt servicing and the reduction of ODA. Conflict, dishonest and corrupt leaders and the lack of free and transparent elections have played their part in keeping Africa down, the criminal economic model of a predatory market must bear most of theh blame. The state of Africa today is testimony to the failure of globalisation. Africa is the world’s guilty conscience, serving the world for 500 years without recompense, and must now be treated with less prejudice and more respect. It has paid too much for neoliberal policies that have taken it nowhere.

Kevin Watkins (Senior Policy Analyst, Oxfam, UK) said governments must acknowledge their shameful record and abysmal political leadership in providing universal education. Under current conditions, the 2005 target is arithmetically impossible to achieve, and in 2015, at least 75 million children will still be out of school, two-third of whom will be girls and three-fourths will be Africans. He said education deprivation was a human rights violation that must be addressed as an end in itself. The low levels of spending on education by developing countries was ethically indefensible and economically suicidal. To ensure visible changes in the education scenario, it was essential to increase aid for education (now 20 per cent lower in real terms), and ensure that debt burdens and IMF-initiated programmes didn’t squeeze out education spending. Cost-recovery was nothing but a regressive tax on education, extracting a huge toll on household income. Governments need to demonstrate invigorated leadership, instead of remaining in constant cycles of setting targets, reaffirming past commitments and then doing nothing about them.

Photographs on this page are courtesy of Pamela Chasek and the Earth Negotations Bulletin.