EU Statement – United Nations Commission for Social Development: Situation of Social Groups

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The following countries align themselves with this statement: the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia.

Mr. Chairman,

The World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in 1995, reaches its fifteenth anniversary in a changing world, characterised by a globalising process, cultural diversity and demographic ageing. Still, the four pillars identified in the Program of Action – enabling environment for social development, eradication of poverty, promotion of full employment, and social integration – remain key areas to achieve social development.

The EU recognises that continuous attention and action are needed to engage these challenges in a sustained way, where people are at the centre of development. A collective effort has to be made to create a comprehensive and integrated approach for social development, based on existent international instruments and placing people at the centre of development.

In this context, the EU recognises the crucial importance of this Commission to enhance global dialogue on social issues and reaffirms its determination to contribute to place social integration high in the world agenda for development, in order to progress towards the achievement of the Copenhagen commitments and the Millennium Development Goals, by 2015.

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty as of 1 December 2009, the EU starts a new era: more democratic, efficient and transparent, and thereby able to better tackle global challenges. Human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and the respect for human rights, will remain core values and they will continue to inspire the policies formulated by all its Members. In this sense, the EU will enhance its contribution to the international efforts to combat poverty and to achieve social integration.

At the same time, we are aware that we have to tackle challenges in Europe. In 2010, the European Union celebrates the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion in order to reaffirm and strengthen our political commitment originally expressed in the Lisbon Strategy and in the Renewed Social Agenda.

1. AGEING

Since the Second World Assembly on Ageing held in Madrid in 2002, great achievements have been made. At the European Union level, these achievements were reassessed at the Ministerial Conference on Ageing held in Leon in 2007. In the Leon Ministerial Declaration the UN-European Region Member countries renewed their commitment to further implement the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) and the Berlin Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS).

The increase in population aged over 65 remains a determining factor in the European social panorama, compelling us to take the appropriate measures to ensure opportunities for dignified ageing that can benefit the whole society. In this context, it is important to mention the relation between disability and ageing and the relevance of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for older persons too.

Given the commitments undertaken by the ECE countries in the Leon Ministerial Declaration, as well as the conclusions drawn from the different discussions within the European Commission, we have identified some priority issues which help us address the challenges arising from an ageing population:

It is crucial to have a sustainable pension system that enables older persons to live in dignity. Economic policies must be designed and aimed at increasing and improving employment, including for older persons who are able and willing to continue working. It is advisable to create opportunities to help them to continue in the labour market, for instance by making their working conditions more flexible and accessible adapting them to their specific situations.

Health is one of the areas to which we must pay particular attention when dealing with matters related to older persons. One important aspect is the integration of palliative rehabilitation and social support measures and the promotion of preventive aspects of ageing, not only to improve personal health and welfare, but also as a measure to control the increase in health care expenditure.

Active and participative ageing represents one of the key issues to maintain the relationship of older persons with their environment and to boost intergenerational relations. Following the bottom-up approach recommended by the UN, it is essential to promote a culture of participation, ensuring that all groups and age groups are represented in the bodies and institutions related to public affairs, especially those that directly affect them in the political, economic, cultural and social spheres.

Along these lines, the Spanish Presidency of the European Union will hold a Conference under the title “Active and healthy ageing”, which will highlight that active and healthy ageing is a key response to the challenge of ageing populations. It is important to make better use of the potential of older persons by promoting prevention in health care, by creating better employment opportunities and by fostering active participation in society.

This Conference follows suit of the activity developed in this area by the former Trio of Presidencies, made up by France, Czech Republic and Sweden.

In order to raise awareness of these significant issues among society, the EU is presently reflecting on the designation of 2012 as the European Year for Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity as an initiative that could enhance relations and intergenerational solidarity, making society aware that ageing is a process which affects us all and must be lived in dignity.

Promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of older persons remains a priority in policy planning and in the adoption of legislative measures aimed at protection against all forms of discrimination, abuse or violence and at achieving gender equality.

Not all countries, regions or even areas within the same country have the same technical and financial capacities to meet the needs arising from ageing. It is necessary to support measures responding to these needs and to promote solidarity cooperation amongst countries and regions to try and correct the imbalances in such areas, especially those experiencing poverty.

2. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

The EU wants to stress the importance of fully integrating the rights of persons with disabilities in the agenda for social development and welcomes the Secretary-General´s report on Mainstreaming disability in the development agenda.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the relevant Human Rights framework to ensure the respect for and protection of these rights. Accordingly, all European Member States and the European Community have signed the UN Convention and most of them have ratified or are about to ratify it. In order to move this issue forward, the EU will bring together the main international mechanisms: the World Program of Action concerning Disabled Persons and the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities, with national or regional instruments like the European Disability Action Plan 2003-2010 and the new European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 under preparation, as instruments for implementing the UN Convention. This Commission could be used as the forum to find possible synergies to implement international and regional instruments in an integrated way, avoiding duplication of work.

We know that the Millennium Development Goals can only be fully reached by explicitly and proactively including persons with disabilities in the development process. Obligations undertaken by Member States and the European Union when ratifying and implementing the UN Convention, in relevant aspects such as education, accessibility, health, with particular attention to measures for children and women with disabilities, just to mention some of them, are key steps towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. All these considerations must be taken in connection with article 32 of the Convention on international cooperation.

Both at the EU and at Member States level the rights of persons with disabilities have been a priority in the policies, programmes and projects. A twin track approach is considered in EU policies on disabilities: mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities as one of the cross-cutting issues to be considered in all programmes and projects and developing specific actions to improve the situation and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities.

This approach guides our work in this area, particularly in the main policy framework: the EU Disabilities Action Plan 2003-2010. This Action Plan is based on three key operational objectives: anti-discrimination, legislation, mainstreaming in the relevant Union policies, and accessibility. We are now in our last year of this Action Plan; our experiences will shape the new forthcoming European Disability Strategy. This new strategy is under development with the objective of fully implementing the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The European Union Members States, have implemented specific actions in this area, amongst other to ensure participation of persons with disabilities in the policy making process. The policies and legislation of the European Union complement and support national developments, by introducing new instruments, as the proposed Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Furthermore in November 2009 the Council of the EU agreed on a Decision for the then European Community, now European Union, to conclude the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Council Decision is a real milestone as it recognizes at EU level disability as a Human Rights issue and a question of law instead of a welfare matter.

In this context, the Spanish Presidency of the European Union will hold a Conference under the title “Disability and personal autonomy, through education, universal accessibility and employment”, as an opportunity to exchange knowledge and good practices on the implementation of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.

The EU is aware that the implementation of the UNCRPD cannot be achieved without the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and the integration of a disability perspective in the European policies. The EU is determined to put this approach in practice in its contribution to the world development.

3. FAMILIES

The European Union countries are currently facing important socio-demographic challenges, such as the low birth rates, ageing, or the growing culture diversity in our societies; at the same time, families nowadays involve different forms of cohabitation and children are brought up in different family models. As the basic unit of society, a family, in all its forms, is entitled to adequate social, legal and economic protection in order to guarantee its full development, taking into account the specific context in which the life of the family and each one of its members is developed.

Social policies are closely related to the development of the families and it is also necessary to recognise the essential role they play in social cohesion. It is thus important through the many instruments available to address key issues such as reconciliation of work, family and personal life, equal opportunities, intergenerational solidarity, economic security, health, education, access to housing and employment, or management of family disputes.

Despite the progress achieved in promoting a more balanced distribution in family life between men and women, women still have the major responsibility for child-care or care for dependent relatives. Any social policy measure should incorporate gender equality. This includes policies to support positive parenting.

The European Union is developing several initiatives on families, namely to address demographic change and promote family policy evaluation, or the exchange of good practices, through specific programs, such as the European Alliance for Families, the European Demographic Forum, as well as expert groups, demonstrating the commitment of all European Union countries to improve living conditions of families and social cohesion, with the participation of all social and economic stakeholders involved.

4. YOUTH

2010 is going to be a key year in the framework of EU Youth policy. The Council of the European Union held last 27 November, adopted the resolution on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field which establishes the youth policy guidelines until 2018.

The resolution promotes a cross-sectoral approach to youth policy. The overall objectives of the European cooperation in the youth field are to create more and equal opportunities for all young people in education and in the labour market, and to promote active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity.

The main fields of action for future initiatives are: education and training; employment and entrepreneurship; health and well-being; participation; voluntary activities; social inclusion; youth and the world; creativity and culture.

The renewed framework also opens new ways for the cooperation of the EU with third States or international organizations. The introduction of the innovative field of action “Youth and the world” in the renewed framework strengthens this idea. In fact, regarding UN, this framework contains a clear reference to the UN Millennium Development Goals:

“Aim: Young people’s participation in and contribution to global processes of policy-making, implementation and follow-up (concerning issues such as climate change, the UN Millennium Development Goals, human rights, etc.) and young people’s cooperation with regions outside of Europe should be supported”.

In this new framework, the designation of 2010 as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion becomes particularly important. It is well-known that the current economic world crisis is affecting the most vulnerable groups in a harsh way, including young people. For this reason, at this stage, the efforts of the European Union in the youth field will focus on improving the situation of young people in risk of social exclusion or poverty.

In this respect, the common priority of the Trio of Presidencies (Spain, Belgium and Hungary) in the youth field for the coming 18 months will be employment. Such priority is clearly connected with the priority theme chosen by the Spanish Presidency for the first semester of 2010 (social inclusion), which will incorporate employment as an essential tool to prevent social exclusion of young people.

Moreover, the goals established in this framework for the next years are closely related with those of the UN World Program of Action for Youth in several fields, such as civic participation and citizenship, health and welfare…

The European Union will support multilateral events, as the World Conference for Youth, which will take place in Mexico in August this year. This meeting represents a good opportunity to exchange good practices and lessons learned between States with different youth policies. We welcome the opportunity to share different views and perspectives with all stakeholders working on youth issues, from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, as well as political representatives, youth organizations and youth workers.

As we face the challenges of the implementation of the Copenhagen commitments in a globalized world, we need to find new innovative ways to ensure the integration of social groups. We have described separately the EU vision in policies regarding persons with disabilities, ageing, youth and families. Nevertheless, the EU is aware of the strong bonds of independence between these groups and the need to take them into account and address multiple disadvantage when formulating new policies.

Mr. Chairman,

The Member States of the European Union are determined to cooperate in the advancement of social development.

The EU looks forward to playing a full and active role in the debate, aware that the Commission for Social Development is the key forum for coordinating all international efforts in an integrated manner.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.


* Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilization and Association Process

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• EU Statement – United Nations Commission for Social Development: High Level Panel on Social Integration (4/2/2010)
• EU Statement – United Nations Commission for Social Development: Social Integration (3/2/2010)
• EU Statement – United Nations Commission for Social Development: 15th Anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development (3/2/2010)