EU Presidency Statement - Social development items

Item 105: Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth Special Session of the General Assembly - Item 106: Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons, and the family - Item 107: Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing.


Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to take the floor on behalf of the European Union with regard to agenda items 105, 106 and 107 concerning the follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development and the Special Session of the General Assembly on this matter, questions related to the social situation of persons with disabilities, youth and the family as well as the follow-up to the World Assembly on Ageing. The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia and the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, as well as the EFTA Countries of the European Economic Area, Iceland and Norway, align themselves to this statement.

1. The European Union continues to support the implementation of the commitments made at the Copenhagen Summit and at the twenty-fourth Special Session of the General Assembly, pursuing the aim of eradicating poverty and promoting social development.

The European Union remains fully committed to the comprehensive implementation of the Millennium Declaration, including the development goals (MDGs) contained therein and the commitments agreed to in the major United Nations conferences and summits. In this regard, the European Union welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration and looks forward to a positive contribution by the Commission of Social Development to the forthcoming review of the progress achieved, to take place in 2005.

The European social model is based on good economic performance, a high level of social protection and education and social dialogue. An active welfare state should empower people to engage in income-generating activities without discrimination, as the best guarantee against social exclusion. Full employment in the European Union is the core of the Lisbon Strategy and the essential goal of economic and social policies.

The 2003 Spring European Council reviewed the Community's economic, employment, social and environmental policies and reaffirmed, as a top priority for the EU, the promotion of sustainable development through a stronger cohesion throughout the Member States and the creation of more and better jobs. The EU confirmed its commitment to a rights based approach to development, gender equality, integration and non-discrimination in the labor market, increasing participation of particular groups i.e. older people, women, immigrants and young people, social cohesion based on the principles of solidarity and social inclusion, social protection policies, targeted help for under-represented and disadvantaged groups, and integration of people with disabilities.

The European Union renews its commitment to promote sustainable economic, social and environmental development, as confirmed in major United Nations conferences and world summits in accordance with the Johannesburg Conference on Sustainable Development, taking into account the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development, the Doha Development Agenda and the ILO's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.


2. The European Union joined the consensus on the agreed conclusions of the Commission for Social Development, at its forty-first session held in February 2003, and appreciates its work, recognizing social development as a fundamental pillar of sustainable development.

The European Union believes that special attention must be given to some of the topics discussed during last year's session. Stressing the importance of efficient coordination of national policies, Member States' efforts to promote social development must rest on the respect for human rights, the principle of good governance, the promotion of decent work and gender equality.

Furthermore, the European Union recognizes the important role of the private sector in terms of social development and underlines the value of "corporate social responsibility", expressed in fair practices, respect for workers' rights, decent working conditions and equal opportunity. In this regard, special attention should be given also to the Global Compact initiative and its nine universal principles.


3. In line with the related Millennium Development Goals, poverty reduction, with a view to its eventual eradication, has been retained as one of the priority sectors in the European Union Declaration on the Development Policy of November 2000. We strongly believe that each country has the primary responsibility for its own social and economic development and we emphasize the role of national policies and development strategies, which must be developed in the framework of good governance, respect of human rights and solid democratic institutions responsive to the real needs of people.

Accordingly, great importance should be given to the development of country-owned actions plans for the eradication of poverty, where appropriate in the form of "poverty-reduction strategy papers" (PRSPs), and to the need to place these plans on a solid platform. In this context, special attention should be given to the link between ageing populations and poverty, in particular where the HIV/AIDS pandemic wipes out large parts of generations in their productive and child-rearing years. The EU believes that a constructive way of integrating ageing into development processes is through the above mentioned poverty eradication plans.

Social inclusion of all women and men - without discrimination - is imperative. The European Union considers that the best safeguard against social exclusion is to have a job, including education. It also emphasises the need to take into account the gender dimension in social inclusion. In order to facilitate participation in the labour force, the full enjoyment of all human rights and access by all to resources, including goods and services, attention needs to be paid to the links between the national, regional and local levels of governance, and to the participation of all actors in the preparation, delivery and monitoring of welfare policies.


4. The European Union strongly supports the work of the International Labour Organization in promoting a common approach in social development and in forging the relevant partnerships at an international level and the role of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization established by the ILO.

Managing globalisation requires an integrated approach encompassing social, economic, employment and environmental policies, with the full involvement of all relevant stakeholders. The European Union has adopted this integrated approach in its Lisbon Strategy, setting a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become a more competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. The European Union considers that this integrated approach, based on annually approved structural indicators, is also crucial to sustainable development strategy.

In relation to this topic, the European Union wishes to emphasize how globalisation offers both opportunities and positive challenges, but also obstacles, as the comparative advantages of many developing countries are undermined by a highly distorted international market in agriculture. The European Union does provide support to trade development and the competitiveness of rural economies.

In this regard, a EC strategy on Rural Poverty has been developed ("Fighting Rural Poverty: European Community policy and approach to rural development and sustainable natural resources management in developing countries") aimed at supporting economic policies to enable broad-based growth; ensuring more equitable access to productive assets, markets and services; investing in human capital; promoting more sustainable human resources management; managing risks and providing safety nets; building more effective, accountable, decentralised and participatory institutions. The European Union, in collaboration with others, is also working to promote the inclusion of a broad based trade agenda within the context of a country's development strategy through the Integrated Framework initiative.


5. The European Union reaffirms its commitment to the "World Program of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond", as well as its profound concern for education, health and employment of young people. The European Union believes that active participation of young people should be considered a key factor in designing and implementing related policies. In our view, ensuring a systematic follow-up to the World Programme of Action is of utmost importance.

Measures to encourage young people to be active citizens should be supported and their involvement in participatory structures and in the mechanisms of representative democracy should be enhanced. Young people's access to information should be improved in order to facilitate their participation in public life.

In this regard, the European Union has expressed its commitment in the White Paper on Youth, launched in 2001. The European Union is willing to invest in youth, acknowledging it as a powerful resource that must be involved in the building of a new Europe. Accordingly, the open method of coordination applied to the youth issues, as well as the inclusion of the youth dimension in social programmes and policies, can be useful tools to define the main themes, to agree on common goals and orientation among Member States, to implement follow-up mechanisms and to adopt measures which take into consideration national and regional diversities.

Cooperation among governments in this matter is also strongly needed and the European Union supports its establishment, particularly at regional level. We therefore agree with the main general conclusions of the report of the Secretary-General, recognizing the importance of the Youth Employment Network, and we renew our commitment to implement action at a country level.

The European Union believes that it is important to give priority to eliminating the worst forms of child labour; to continue to support the ILO in its work to combat child labour and to promote the universal ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions 138 and 182; to support, where appropriate, the participation of children in the development and the implementation of Plans of Action against child labour and to support the role of the school in promoting life skills, particularly, in the "learning to do", one of the indivisible four pillars of education, as underlined in the UNESCO International Commission Report on the Education of the XXI Century.

The European Union underlines in this context the importance it attaches to the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002 and the goals which are articulated in four major fields: promoting healthy lives, providing quality education, protecting against abuse, exploitation and violence and combating HIV/AIDS.


6. The European Union welcomes the Tenth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family, to be launched on December 2003, and invites UN agencies and bodies to take on board the family dimension in relevant policies, encouraging regional and sub-regional cooperation as well as partnerships with non-governmental organization.

A special stress should be put on the individual rights of all family members, including children, on demographic changes and on gender equality, inside the family and more generally in the whole of economic, social and political life. We strongly support the development of a society that promotes the inclusion of women in the labour market and that addresses specific actions to promote reconciliation of work and family life.

The role of the family in its various forms should be given high value. It represents an important means of prevention of poverty, marginalisation and social exclusion. We fully support the preservation of family solidarity, provided that a holistic approach to its strengthening takes into account the rights and well-beings of its members.


7. The European Union attaches the greatest importance to the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002 at a national and local level, and at a regional level along the lines contained in the Berlin Regional Implementation Strategy. In this context, the European Union supports the bottom-up approach proposed by the Secretariat, in order to review and appraise the Madrid Plan of Action, stressing that the regional entities should play an active role in this process.

Also, consistent with the Madrid World Assembly on Ageing, the European Union recognizes the social, cultural, economic and political contribution of older persons to society, and stresses the need to focus on empowerment of older persons. In this regard, life long learning and education could be powerful instruments to ensure older persons' participation in the economic, political, social and cultural life of their societies. The European Union is also committed to combat all forms of discrimination, including on the grounds of age. Further, the European Union would like to emphasize the need to mainstream a gender approach in an ageing society. Achieving gender equality in all areas of public and private life should be a priority for the development of societies for all ages.

Ageing is a major challenge for employment and social policies, and calls for measures aimed at increasing the will and opportunities of older workers to stay in the active labour force, ensuring the social adequacy and financial sustainability of pension systems and helping the elderly to remain self-sufficient to the highest possible degree and with preserved quality of life. In this respect, social policies should aim at improving social and health services and care, including necessary support to family-members and others who volunteer to assist an elderly person to lead a quality life.


8. The European Union is firmly committed to the equal protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities and has given it priority in its activities within the EU and the UN. Aware of its importance, the EU has thus proclaimed 2003 as the "European Year of People with Disabilities", with the aim of raising awareness, promoting heightened knowledge of the rights of persons with disabilities, promoting equal opportunities and avoiding any form of discrimination, stressing the need to achieve equal rights and full participation of persons with a disability in community-life. Equally, EU Member States are in the process of incorporating new disability discrimination provisions in their legal orders with a view to eliminating barriers impeding or hindering the access of persons with disabilities to employment.

The European Union is fully convinced that the issue related to the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities should be integrated into all relevant governmental policies, in line with the provisions contained in the World Program of Action concerning disabled persons and the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Accordingly, we strongly recommend to Governments to mainstream disability issues throughout the development of their policies.

We wish to express our commitment in seeking to ensure that persons with disabilities have full access to education, training, employment, health care and rehabilitation as well as to all environments and information and communication technologies, thus reducing the existing digital divide risk. We also want to highlight the need of raising awareness on this matter. The attitude towards persons with disabilities is a basic condition for the effect of national efforts to increase their participation in society.

Furthermore, the European Union considers that all efforts should be made to strengthen the use of currently existing instruments, such as the Human Rights Conventions and the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, to improve the status of persons with disabilities. The European Union supports the United Nations human rights treaty bodies in their efforts to further develop the disability dimension within the existing human rights monitoring system.

Action must be taken to ensure equal and effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities, according to the principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To attain this goal, the European Union truly believes that a rights based convention would be a valid and necessary contribution and looks forward to working toward this aim in the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. In this regard, the European Union is ready to contribute in a constructive manner and on the basis of the position paper presented last June, to the activities of the Working Group, which has been established with the aim of presenting a proposal for an international convention to the above mentioned Ad Hoc Committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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