Amid weak economic recovery, rapidly ageing populations and the continuing effects of unemployment on millions of people worldwide, the United Nations and its partners must put forward coherent universal policies that would empower people to take charge of their future and develop greater resilience to external shocks, delegates said today as the Commission for Social Development opened its fifty-second regular session.
Social issues
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SOC/4806
Concluding its fifty-first session today, the Commission for Social Development approved five draft resolutions for adoption by the Economic and Social Council, covering a range of issues pivotal to the promotion of societies rooted in respect for the dignity of every individual, from youth and disability, to ageing and African development.
SOC/4805
Meeting briefly today, the Commission for Social Development took up a number of issues that would set the tone for its upcoming work and, more broadly, allow it to engage in more relevant ways within the United Nations system, especially the Economic and Social Council, whose principal role in the follow-up to major United Nations meetings was elevated by the landmark 2012 Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.
SOC/4804
With an estimated 75 million young people out of work around the world — nearly one in four in some parts — rapid action was needed to stimulate job creation, give young people and other excluded groups a voice in decision-making and institute schemes for social protection floors, the Commission for Social Development heard today as it continued its fifty-first session.
SOC/4803
The High-level General Assembly Meeting on Disability and Development — to be held in September — would provide an historic opportunity to chart the way towards a truly inclusive development agenda while empowering the world’s 1 billion disabled persons as both agents and beneficiaries of change, the Commission for Social Development heard today as it moved into week two of its fifty-first session.
SOC/4802
Faced with expanding inequality and widening gaps between rich and poor, world leaders poised to devise a new development agenda for the post-2015 era should embark upon a “new discussion” about the often-neglected social dimension of sustainable development, speakers urged today as the Commission for Social Development continued its fifty-first session.
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Governments must promote policies aimed at providing decent jobs as protection against poverty — which a delegate described as “the source of all ills”, including poor health and stalled economic growth — the Commission for Social Development heard today as it explored linkages between empowerment and poverty eradication.
SOC/4800
With the world at a critical juncture in the lead-up to the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda, poverty eradication, social integration and employment must play a pivotal role in defining that agenda, the Commission for Social Development heard today as it resumed its fifty-first session.
SOC/4799/Rev.1
Giving the poorest and most vulnerable the voice and tools needed to lift themselves out of poverty is key to bolstering efforts towards and beyond the achievement of global development goals, according to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on promoting people’s empowerment, the priority theme of the Commission on Social Development’s fifty-first session when it meets from 6 to 15 February at United Nations Headquarters.
SOC/4798
The Commission for Social Development held the second meeting of its fifty-first session this afternoon to elect a new Chairman and two Vice Chairpersons.