SOCIAL SUMMIT REVIEW SESSION COULD PROVIDE STRONG FOUNDATION FOR MILLENNIUM SUMMIT GOALS

Press Release
PI/1235
SOC/4541

SOCIAL SUMMIT REVIEW SESSION COULD PROVIDE STRONG FOUNDATION FOR MILLENNIUM SUMMIT GOALS

Agreement on a host of new proposals aimed at reducing poverty and promoting social justice, which are now under consideration during preparations for the General Assembly special session on social development, can provide a solid foundation for achieving the social goals of the Millennium Summit, according to officials working on the five-year review of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995).

Many of the goals that Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested for the forthcoming Millennium Summit in September, such as ending poverty and inequality, improving education, increasing security, and reducing HIV/AIDS, are also goals of the special session.

The special session, which will take place in Geneva from 26 to 30 June, will offer recommendations for new initiatives on advancing the social development agenda in this age of globalization. Preparatory talks on the special session's outcome are currently taking place at United Nations Headquarters until 14 April.

"The bottom line is that we have to come up with policies that would actually help people", says John Langmore, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development. "A successful special session -- one that addresses the real concerns of people -- would provide a solid foundation for the broad goals of the Millennium Summit and the United Nations."

Among the proposals that are under consideration at the Preparatory Committee meeting are suggestions for a new global campaign against poverty, new poverty reduction targets, and a global employment strategy that stresses the need not only to create jobs, but jobs that allow people to earn a decent living. The possibility of guidelines on corporate social responsibility will be explored, as well as social guidelines for the international financial institutions.

There is a proposal to shift the focus on health away from only providing basic services to a new strategy for addressing a wider range of health and development issues. Also, there is a suggestion that countries agree on a mechanism that would allow developing countries to receive medicines for HIV/AIDS at lower prices.

- 2 - Press Release PI/1235 SOC/4541 4 April 2000

There are a host of proposals for new resources, which range from the use of official development assistance to improved tax collection systems, including the possibility of examining a tax on international financial transaction, to new market mechanisms that allow more poor people to participate in the market economy.

For further information, please contact Dan Shepard, Department of Public Information, Development and Human Rights Section, tel. 212- 963-8104, fax 212- 963-1186, e-mail , or

Information on the special session can also be obtained from the Social Summit +5 Web site at www.un.org/socialsummit.

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