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Chapter 1: An Enabling Environment for Social
Development
4. Social development is inseparable from the cultural, ecological, economic,
political and spiritual environment in which it takes place. It cannot be pursued as a
sectoral initiative. Social development is also clearly linked to the development of
peace, freedom, stability and security, both nationally and internationally. To promote
social development requires an orientation of values, objectives and priorities towards
the well-being of all and the strengthening and promotion of conducive institutions and
policies. Human dignity, all human rights and fundamental freedoms, equality, equity and
social justice constitute the fundamental values of all societies. The pursuit, promotion
and protection of these values, among others, provides the basic legitimacy of all
institutions and all exercise of authority and promotes an environment in which human
beings are at the centre of concern for sustainable development. They are entitled to a
healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.
5. The economies and societies of the world are becoming increasingly interdependent.
Trade and capital flows, migrations, scientific and technological innovations,
communications and cultural exchanges are shaping the global community. The same global
community is threatened by environmental degradation, severe food crises, epidemics, all
forms of racial discrimination, xenophobia, various forms of intolerance, violence and
criminality and the risk of losing the richness of cultural diversity. Governments
increasingly recognize that their responses to changing circumstances and their desires to
achieve sustainable development and social progress will require increased solidarity,
expressed through appropriate multilateral programmes and strengthened international
cooperation. Such cooperation is particularly crucial to ensure that countries in need of
assistance, such as those in Africa and the least developed countries, can benefit from
the process of globalization.
6. Economic activities, through which individuals express their initiative and
creativity and which enhance the wealth of communities, are a fundamental basis for social
progress. But social progress will not be realized simply through the free interaction of
market forces. Public policies are necessary to correct market failures, to complement
market mechanisms, to maintain social stability and to create a national and international
economic environment that promotes sustainable growth on a global scale. Such growth
should promote equity and social justice, tolerance, responsibility and involvement.
7. The ultimate goal of social development is to improve and enhance the quality of
life of all people. It requires democratic institutions, respect for all human rights and
fundamental freedoms, increased and equal economic opportunities, the rule of law, the
promotion of respect for cultural diversity and the rights of persons belonging to
minorities, and an active involvement of civil society. Empowerment and participation are
essential for democracy, harmony and social development. All members of society should
have the opportunity and be able to exercise the right and responsibility to take an
active part in the affairs of the community in which they live. Gender equality and equity
and the full participation of women in all economic, social and political activities are
essential. The obstacles that have limited the access of women to decision-making,
education, health-care services and productive employment must be eliminated and an
equitable partnership between men and women established, involving men's full
responsibility in family life. It is necessary to change the prevailing social paradigm of
gender to usher in a new generation of women and men working together to create a more
humane world order.
8. Against this background, we will promote an enabling environment based on a
people-centred approach to sustainable development, with the following features:
Broad-based participation and involvement of civil society in the formulation and
implementation of decisions determining the functioning and well-being of our societies;
Broad-based patterns of sustained economic growth and sustainable development and
the integration of population issues into economic and development strategies, which will
speed up the pace of sustainable development and poverty eradication and contribute to the
achievement of population objectives and an improved quality of life of the population;
Equitable and non-discriminatory distribution of the benefits of growth among social
groups and countries and expanded access to productive resources for people living in
poverty;
An interaction of market forces conducive to efficiency and social development;
Public policies that seek to overcome socially divisive disparities and that respect
pluralism and diversity;
A supportive and stable political and legal framework that promotes the mutually
reinforcing relationship between democracy, development and all human rights and
fundamental freedoms;
Political and social processes that avoid exclusion while respecting pluralism and
diversity, including religious and cultural diversity;
A strengthened role for the family in accordance with the principles, goals and
commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and those of the
International Conference on Population and Development, as well as for community and civil
society;
Expanded access to knowledge, technology, education, health-care services and
information;
Increased solidarity, partnership and cooperation at all levels;
Public policies that empower people to enjoy good health and productivity throughout
their lives;
Protection and conservation of the natural environment in the context of
people-centred sustainable development.
A. A favourable national and international economic environment
9. The promotion of mutually reinforcing, broad-based, sustained economic growth and
sustainable development on a global scale, as well as growth in production, a
non-discriminatory and multilateral rule-based international trading system, employment
and incomes, as a basis for social development, requires the following actions:
(a) Promoting the establishment of an open, equitable, cooperative and mutually
beneficial international economic environment;
(b) Implementing sound and stable macroeconomic and sectoral policies that encourage
broad-based, sustained economic growth and development that is sustainable and equitable,
that generate jobs, and that are geared towards eradicating poverty and reducing social
and economic inequalities and exclusion;
(c) Promoting enterprise, productive investment and expanded access to open and
dynamic markets in the context of an open, equitable, secure, non-discriminatory,
predictable, transparent and multilateral rule-based international trading system, and to
technologies for all people, particularly those living in poverty and the disadvantaged,
as well as for the least developed countries;
(d) Implementing fully and as scheduled the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of
multilateral trade negotiations; 1/
(e) Refraining from any unilateral measure not in accordance with international law
and the Charter of the 51勛圖 that creates obstacles to trade relations among
States, impedes the full realization of social and economic development and hinders the
well-being of the population in the affected countries;
(f) Increasing food production, through the sustainable development of the
agricultural sector and improvement of market opportunities, and improving access to food
by low-income people in developing countries, as a means of alleviating poverty,
eliminating malnutrition and raising their standards of living;
(g) Promoting the coordination of macroeconomic policies at the national, subregional,
regional and international levels in order to promote an international financial system
that is more conducive to stable and sustained economic growth and sustainable development
through, inter alia, a higher degree of stability in financial markets, reducing the risk
of financial crisis, improving the stability of exchange rates, stabilizing and striving
for low real interest rates in the long run and reducing the uncertainties of financial
flows;
(h) Establishing, strengthening or rehabilitating, inter alia, through
capacity-building where necessary, national and international structures, processes and
resources available, to ensure appropriate consideration and coordination of economic
policy, with special emphasis on social development;
(i) Promoting or strengthening capacity-building in developing countries, particularly
in Africa and the least developed countries, to develop social activities;
(j) Ensuring that, in accordance with Agenda 21 2/ and the various consensus
agreements, conventions and programmes of action adopted within the framework of the
follow-up to the outcome of the 51勛圖 Conference on Environment and Development,
broad-based, sustained economic growth and sustainable development respects the need to
protect the environment and the interests of future generations;
(k) Ensuring that the special needs and vulnerabilities of small island developing
States are adequately addressed in order to enable them to achieve sustained economic
growth and sustainable development with equity by implementing the Programme of Action for
the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. 3/
10. To ensure that the benefits of global economic growth are equitably distributed
among countries, the following actions are essential:
(a) Continuing efforts to alleviate the onerous debt and debt-service burdens
connected with the various types of debt of many developing countries, on the basis of an
equitable and durable approach and, where appropriate, addressing the full stock of debt
of the poorest and most indebted developing countries as a matter of priority, reducing
trade barriers and promoting expanded access by all countries to markets, in the context
of an open, equitable, secure, non-discriminatory, predictable, transparent and
multilateral rule-based international trading system, as well as to productive investment,
technologies and know-how;
(b) Strengthening and improving technical and financial assistance to developing
countries to promote sustainable development and overcome hindrances to their full and
effective participation in the world economy;
(c) Changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns, taking into account
that the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the
unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized
countries, which is a matter of grave concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances;
(d) Elaborating policies to enable developing countries to take advantage of expanded
international trading opportunities in the context of the full implementation of the Final
Act of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations; and assisting countries,
particularly in Africa, that are not currently in a position to benefit fully from the
liberalization of the world economy;
(e) Supporting the efforts of developing countries, particularly those heavily
dependent on commodity exports, to diversify their economies.
11. Within the framework of support to developing countries, giving priority to the
needs of Africa and the least developed countries, the following actions are necessary at
the national and international levels, as appropriate:
(a) Implementing effective policies and development strategies that establish a more
favourable climate for social development, trade and investments, giving priority to human
resource development and promoting the further development of democratic institutions;
(b) Supporting African countries and least developed countries in their efforts to
create an enabling environment that attracts foreign and domestic direct investment,
encourages savings, induces the return of flight capital and promotes the full
participation of the private sector, including non-governmental organizations, in the
growth and development process;
(c) Supporting economic reforms to improve the functioning of commodity markets and
commodity diversification efforts through appropriate mechanisms, bilateral and
multilateral financing and technical cooperation, including South-South cooperation, as
well as through trade and partnership;
(d) Continuing to support the commodity diversification efforts of Africa and the
least developed countries, inter alia, by providing technical and financial assistance for
the preparatory phase of their commodity diversification projects and programmes;
(e) Finding effective, development-oriented and durable solutions to external debt
problems, through the immediate implementation of the terms of debt forgiveness agreed
upon in the Paris Club in December 1994, which encompass debt reduction, including
cancellation or other debt relief measures; inviting the international financial
institutions to examine innovative approaches to assist low-income countries with a high
proportion of multilateral debt with a view to alleviating their debt burden; developing
techniques of debt conversion applied to social development programmes and projects in
conformity with Summit priorities. These actions should take into account the mid-term
review of the 51勛圖 New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s 4/ and
the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s 5/ and should be
implemented as soon as possible;
(f) Supporting the development of strategies adopted by these countries and working in
partnership to ensure the implementation of measures for their development;
(g) Taking appropriate actions, consistent with the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of
multilateral trade negotiations, 1/ in particular the decision on measures in favour of
the least developed countries and the decision on measures concerning the possible
negative effects of the reform programme on the least developed countries and the net food
importing developing countries, in order to give these countries special attention, with a
view to enhancing their participation in the multilateral trading system and to mitigating
any adverse effects of the implementation of the Uruguay Round, while stressing the need
to support the African countries so that they can benefit fully from the results of the
Uruguay Round;
(h) Increasing official development assistance, both in total and for social
programmes, and improving its impact, consistent with countries' economic circumstances
and capabilities to assist, and consistent with commitments in international agreements,
and striving to attain the agreed upon target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product
for official development assistance and 0.15 per cent to the least developed countries, as
soon as possible.
12. Making economic growth and the interaction of market forces more conducive to
social development requires the following actions:
(a) Implementing measures to open market opportunities for all, especially people
living in poverty and the disadvantaged, and to encourage individuals and communities to
take economic initiatives, innovate and invest in activities that contribute to social
development while promoting broad-based sustained economic growth and sustainable
development;
(b) Improving, broadening and regulating, to the extent necessary, the functioning of
markets to promote sustained economic growth and sustainable development, stability and
long-term investment, fair competition and ethical conduct; adopting and implementing
policies to promote equitable distribution of the benefits of growth and protect crucial
social services, inter alia, through complementing market mechanisms and mitigating any
negative impacts posed by market forces; and implementing complementary policies to foster
social development, while dismantling, consistent with the provisions of the Final Act of
the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, protectionist measures, and to
integrate social and economic development;
(c) Establishing an open market policy that reduces barriers to entry, promotes
transparency of markets through, inter alia, better access to information and widens the
choices available to consumers;
(d) Promoting greater access to technology and technical assistance, as well as
corresponding know-how, especially for micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized
enterprises in all countries, particularly in developing countries;
(e) Encouraging transnational and national corporations to operate in a framework of
respect for the environment while complying with national laws and legislation, and in
accordance with international agreements and conventions, and with proper consideration
for the social and cultural impact of their activities;
(f) Adopting and implementing long-term strategies to ensure substantial,
well-directed public and private investment in the construction and renewal of basic
infrastructure, which will benefit people living in poverty and generate employment;
(g) Ensuring substantial public and private investment in human resource development
and in capacity-building in health and education, as well as in empowerment and
participation, especially for people living in poverty or suffering from social exclusion;
(h) Supporting and paying special attention to the development of small-scale and
micro-enterprises, particularly in rural areas, as well as subsistence economies, to
secure their safe interaction with larger economies;
(i) Supporting the economic activities of indigenous people, improving their
conditions and development, and securing their safe interaction with larger economies;
(j) Supporting institutions, programmes and systems to disseminate practical
information to promote social progress.
13. Ensuring that fiscal systems and other public policies are geared towards poverty
eradication and that they do not generate socially divisive disparities calls for:
(a) Enacting rules and regulations and creating a moral and ethical climate that
prevents all forms of corruption and exploitation of individuals, families and groups;
(b) Promoting fair competition and ethical responsibility in business activities, and
enhancing cooperation and interaction among Governments, the private sector and civil
society;
(c) Ensuring that fiscal and monetary policies promote savings and long-term
investment in productive activities in accordance with national priorities and policies;
(d) Considering measures to address inequities arising from accumulation of wealth
through, inter alia, the use of appropriate taxation at the national level, and to reduce
inefficiencies and improve stability in financial markets in accordance with national
priorities and policies;
(e) Re-examining the distribution of subsidies, inter alia, between industry and
agriculture, urban and rural areas, and private and public consumption, to ensure that
subsidy systems benefit people living in poverty, especially the vulnerable, and reduce
disparities;
(f) Promoting international agreements that address effectively issues of double
taxation, as well as cross-border tax evasion, in accordance with the priorities and
policies of the States concerned, while improving the efficiency and fairness of tax
collection;
(g) Assisting developing countries, upon their request, to establish efficient and
fair tax systems by strengthening the administrative capacity for tax assessment and
collection and tax evader prosecution, and to support a more progressive tax system;
(h) Assisting countries with economies in transition to establish fair and effective
systems of taxation on a solid legal basis, contributing to the socio-economic reforms
under way in those countries.
14. To ensure that the political framework supports the objectives of social
development, the following actions are essential:
(a) Ensuring that governmental institutions and agencies responsible for the planning
and implementation of social policies have the status, resources and information necessary
to give high priority to social development in policy-making;
(b) Ensuring the rule of law and democracy and the existence of rules and processes to
create transparency and accountability for all public and private institutions and to
prevent and combat all forms of corruption, sustained through education and the
development of attitudes and values promoting responsibility, solidarity and a
strengthened civil society;
(c) Eliminating all forms of discrimination, while developing and encouraging
educational programmes and media campaigns to that end;
(d) Encouraging decentralization of public institutions and services to a level that,
compatible with the overall responsibilities, priorities and objectives of Governments,
responds properly to local needs and facilitates local participation;
(e) Establishing conditions for the social partners to organize and function with
guaranteed freedom of expression and association and the right to engage in collective
bargaining and to promote mutual interests, taking due account of national laws and
regulations;
(f) Establishing similar conditions for professional organizations and organizations
of independent workers;
(g) Promoting political and social processes inclusive of all members of society and
respectful of political pluralism and cultural diversity;
(h) Strengthening the capacities and opportunities of all people, especially those who
are disadvantaged or vulnerable, to enhance their own economic and social development, to
establish and maintain organizations representing their interests and to be involved in
the planning and implementation of government policies and programmes by which they will
be directly affected;
(i) Ensuring full involvement and participation of women at all levels in the
decision-making and implementation process and in the economic and political mechanisms
through which policies are formulated and implemented;
(j) Removing all legal impediments to the ownership of all means of production and
property by men and women;
(k) Taking measures, in cooperation with the international community, as appropriate,
in accordance with the Charter of the 51勛圖, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, 6/ other international instruments and relevant 51勛圖 resolutions, to
create the appropriate political and legal environment to address the root cause of
movements of refugees, to allow their voluntary return in safety and dignity. Measures
should also be taken at the national level, with international cooperation, as
appropriate, in accordance with the Charter of the 51勛圖, to create conditions
for internally displaced persons to voluntarily return to their places of origin.
15. It is essential for social development that all human rights and fundamental
freedoms, including the right to development as an integral part of fundamental human
rights, be promoted and protected through the following actions:
(a) Encouraging ratification of existing international human rights conventions that
have not been ratified; and implementing the provisions of conventions and covenants that
have been ratified;
(b) Reaffirming and promoting all human rights and fundamental freedoms, which are
universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, including the right to
development, and striving to ensure that they are respected, protected and observed
through appropriate legislation, dissemination of information, education and training and
the provision of effective mechanisms and remedies for enforcement, inter alia, through
the establishment or strengthening of national institutions responsible for monitoring and
enforcement;
(c) Taking measures to ensure that every human person and all peoples are entitled to
participate, to contribute to and to enjoy economic, social, cultural and political
development; encouraging all human persons to take responsibility for development,
individually and collectively; and recognizing that States have the primary responsibility
for the creation of national and international conditions favourable for the realization
of the right to development, taking into account the relevant provisions of the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action;
(d) Promoting the realization of the right to development through strengthening
democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and through
effective development policies at the national level, as well as equitable economic
relations and a favourable economic environment at the international level, since
sustained action is indispensable for fostering a more rapid development of developing
countries;
(e) Removing obstacles to the realization of the right of peoples to
self-determination, in particular of peoples living under colonial or other forms of alien
domination or foreign occupation, which adversely affect their social and economic
development;
(f) Promoting and protecting the human rights of women and removing all obstacles to
full equality and equity between women and men in political, civil, economic, social and
cultural life;
(g) Giving special attention to promoting and protecting the rights of the child, with
particular attention to the rights of the girl child, by, inter alia, encouraging the
ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Plan
of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and
Development of Children in the 1990s adopted at the World Summit for Children; 7/
(h) Providing all people, in particular the vulnerable and disadvantaged in society,
with the benefit of an independent, fair and effective system of justice, and ensuring
access by all to competent sources of advice about legal rights and obligations;
(i) Taking effective measures to bring to an end all de jure and de facto
discrimination against persons with disabilities;
(j) Strengthening the ability of civil society and the community to participate
actively in the planning, decision-making and implementation of social development
programmes, by education and access to resources;
(k) Promoting and protecting the rights of individuals in order to prevent and
eliminate situations of domestic discrimination and violence.
16. An open political and economic system requires access by all to knowledge,
education and information by:
(a) Strengthening the educational system at all levels, as well as other means of
acquiring skills and knowledge, and ensuring universal access to basic education and
lifelong educational opportunities, while removing economic and socio-cultural barriers to
the exercise of the right to education;
(b) Raising public awareness and promoting gender-sensitivity education to eliminate
all obstacles to full gender equality and equity;
(c) Enabling and encouraging access by all to a wide range of information and opinion
on matters of general interest through the mass media and other means;
(d) Encouraging education systems and, to the extent consistent with freedom of
expression, communication media to raise people's understanding and awareness of all
aspects of social integration, including gender sensitivity, non-violence, tolerance and
solidarity and respect for the diversity of cultures and interests, and to discourage the
exhibition of pornography and the gratuitous depiction of explicit violence and cruelty in
the media;
(e) Improving the reliability, validity, utility and public availability of
statistical and other information on social development and gender issues, including the
effective use of gender-disaggregated statistics collected at the national, regional and
international levels, including through support to academic and research institutions.
17. International support for national efforts to promote a favourable political and
legal environment must be in conformity with the Charter of the 51勛圖 and
principles of international law and consistent with the Declaration on Principles of
International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance
with the Charter of the 51勛圖. 8/ Support calls for the following actions:
(a) Making use, as appropriate, of the capacity of the 51勛圖 and other
relevant international, regional and subregional organizations to prevent and resolve
armed conflicts and promote social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom;
(b) Coordinating policies, actions and legal instruments and/or measures to combat
terrorism, all forms of extremist violence, illicit arms trafficking, organized crime and
illicit drug problems, money laundering and related crimes, trafficking in women,
adolescents, children, migrants, and human organs, and other activities contrary to human
rights and human dignity;
(c) States cooperating with one another in ensuring development and eliminating
obstacles to development. The international community should promote effective
international cooperation, supporting the efforts of developing countries, for the full
realization of the right to development and the elimination of obstacles to development,
through, inter alia, the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on the Right
to Development 9/ as reaffirmed by the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. 10/
Lasting progress towards the implementation of the right to development requires effective
development policies at the national level, as well as equitable economic relations and a
favourable economic environment at the international level. The right to development
should be fulfilled so as to equitably meet the social development and environmental needs
of present and future generations;
(d) Ensuring that human persons are at the centre of social development and that this
is fully reflected in the programmes and activities of subregional, regional and
international organizations;
(e) Reinforcing the capacity of relevant national, regional and international
organizations, within their mandates, to promote the implementation of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms and the elimination of all forms of discrimination;
(f) Elaborating policies, within the mandates and functions of the various
international institutions, that will support the objectives of social development and
contribute to institutional development through capacity-building and other forms of
cooperation;
(g) Strengthening the capacities of Governments, the private sector and civil society,
especially in Africa and the least developed countries, to enable them to meet their
specific and global responsibilities;
(h) Reinforcing the capacities of Governments, the private sector and civil society in
the countries with economies in transition, with a view to helping them in the process of
transforming their economies from centrally planned to market-oriented ones.
Notes
1/ See The Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Legal
Texts (Geneva, GATT secretariat, 1994).
2/ Report of the 51勛圖 Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de
Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (51勛圖
publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8), resolution 1, annex II.
3/ Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States, Bridgetown, Barbados, 25 April-6 May 1994 (51勛圖 publication,
Sales No. 94.I.18), resolution 1, annex II.
4/ General Assembly resolution 46/151, annex, sect. III.
5/ Report of the Second 51勛圖 Conference on the Least Developed Countries,
Paris, 3-14 September 1990 (A/CONF.147/18), part one.
6/ General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
7/ See First Call for Children (New York, 51勛圖 Children's Fund, 1990).
8/ General Assembly resolution 2625 (XXV), annex.
9/ General Assembly resolution 41/128, annex.
10/ Report of the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 14-25 June 1993
(A/CONF.157/24 (Part I)), chap. III.
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