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9 April, 2000The IMF was present at the meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the UN General Assembly.
NEW YORK: The Second Preparatory Committee (Prepcom) for the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the follow-up to the Copenhagen World Social Summit is meeting in New York. Social development has been severely tested in the five years since over 100 heads of state or government committed themselves to achieve the objectives of poverty eradication, employment creation and social integration.
The proportion of people living in poverty has continued to grow, inequalities in income, employment and access to social services have increased and resources for social development declined. At the same time, there has been an escalation in the number of armed conflicts. One of the main tasks of the Committee is to discuss further actions and initiatives to implement the ten commitments made in 1995 and negotiate an outcome document for adoption at the Special Session.
The taxation of international currency operations, which is one of the priorities of the IMF Action Programme, is receiving a lot of attention. With a view to mobilising new resources for social development, Canada is to propose wording that will recommend further study on a currency transaction tax. Substantive discussion in support of a transaction tax is already going on in several European countries. A resolution is also to be introduced this week in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate encouraging the U.S. to show "leadership by enacting in concert with the international community, transaction taxes on short-term, cross-border foreign exchange transactions to deter speculation."
Other critical issues dealt with at the Prepcom include human and workers' rights as prerequisites for social development, the role of the ILO and the implementation of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, development assistance and financing, debt relief as well as access to international markets and trade barriers. Another focal point is corporate social responsibility and the UN General Secretary's Global Compact Initiative launched last year as a benchmark aimed at increasing the business sector's participation in social development.
So far, progress in negotiating a document on further initiatives has been very slow and large parts of the texts which have gone through a first reading remain in square brackets. A considerable amount of work still has to be done to reach agreement on critical policy issues if the Geneva 2000 Summit is to have a positive outcome and address the increased problems faced by working people around the globe. As Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, stated earlier this week in setting a direction for the UN in the new millennium: "A backlash has begun because the benefits of globalisation are so unequally distributed and because the global market is not yet underpinned by shared social objectives."
The Special Session of the UN General Assembly, entitled "World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalising World," will be held in Geneva from June 26-30, 2000. It will review the outcome of the Copenhagen Social Summit and adopt new initiatives on social development as well as a political declaration. The IMF will participate in the Special Session together with other international trade secretariats and the ICFTU. Useful information on developments at the Preparatory Committee and Social Summit can be found at the UN website: www.un.org/socialsummit
The proportion of people living in poverty has continued to grow, inequalities in income, employment and access to social services have increased and resources for social development declined. At the same time, there has been an escalation in the number of armed conflicts. One of the main tasks of the Committee is to discuss further actions and initiatives to implement the ten commitments made in 1995 and negotiate an outcome document for adoption at the Special Session.
The taxation of international currency operations, which is one of the priorities of the IMF Action Programme, is receiving a lot of attention. With a view to mobilising new resources for social development, Canada is to propose wording that will recommend further study on a currency transaction tax. Substantive discussion in support of a transaction tax is already going on in several European countries. A resolution is also to be introduced this week in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate encouraging the U.S. to show "leadership by enacting in concert with the international community, transaction taxes on short-term, cross-border foreign exchange transactions to deter speculation."
Other critical issues dealt with at the Prepcom include human and workers' rights as prerequisites for social development, the role of the ILO and the implementation of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, development assistance and financing, debt relief as well as access to international markets and trade barriers. Another focal point is corporate social responsibility and the UN General Secretary's Global Compact Initiative launched last year as a benchmark aimed at increasing the business sector's participation in social development.
So far, progress in negotiating a document on further initiatives has been very slow and large parts of the texts which have gone through a first reading remain in square brackets. A considerable amount of work still has to be done to reach agreement on critical policy issues if the Geneva 2000 Summit is to have a positive outcome and address the increased problems faced by working people around the globe. As Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, stated earlier this week in setting a direction for the UN in the new millennium: "A backlash has begun because the benefits of globalisation are so unequally distributed and because the global market is not yet underpinned by shared social objectives."
The Special Session of the UN General Assembly, entitled "World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalising World," will be held in Geneva from June 26-30, 2000. It will review the outcome of the Copenhagen Social Summit and adopt new initiatives on social development as well as a political declaration. The IMF will participate in the Special Session together with other international trade secretariats and the ICFTU. Useful information on developments at the Preparatory Committee and Social Summit can be found at the UN website: www.un.org/socialsummit