Your Excellency, Ms. Ruchira Kamboj, Chair of the 62nd Commission session,
Your Excellency, Mr. Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly,
Your Excellency, Mr. Robert Rae, Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council,
Ms. Jean Quinn, Chair of the NGO Committee on Social Development,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me start by congratulating you, Madam Chair, and the entire bureau of the 62nd session of the Commission for Social Development for the diligent work in preparing the ambitious agenda before us. As your Secretariat, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs pledges its tireless energy in supporting your work towards a successful conclusion.
We passed the halfway mark for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals with a clear lesson; we need to make a systemic shift towards a more inclusive, just and resilient world.
DESA’s latest analysis of global economic prospects shows that the gap between developed and developing economies is widening. While unemployment rates in many developed economies have fallen below pre-pandemic levels, many developing economies are struggling with high unemployment. In most economies, wage growth failed to offset the impact of inflation and exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis.
The 2024 outlook is bleak. Geopolitical tensions, tighter financing conditions, debt vulnerabilities, slowing trade and persistent global warming threaten social and economic progress.
Excellencies,
Those already furthest behind are bearing the brunt of the blow.
In 2022, the number of extremely poor reached close to 670 million globally and some 735 million people suffered from hunger. Around 8.4 million people in low- and middle-income countries died because of poor-quality health care.
In fact, 4.5 billion people around the world lack coverage for essential health-care services and 4.1 billion people are excluded from any form of social protection. Women and girls and population groups already in vulnerable situations continue to be those left furthest behind.
To undo this trend will require a fundamental shift that identifies and removes the barriers to people’s aspirations. The unjust exclusions tied to race, ethnicity, gender, age, disabilities and socioeconomic status must be eliminated.
This will require a policy approach that places social development at the heart of all development actions, namely a people-centred approach.
Member States alluded to this need almost 30 years ago at the World Summit for Social Development, when they adopted the Copenhagen Declaration and its Programme of Action. And we have made much progress since then. But the need for a course correction is undeniable.
The proposal by the Secretary-General to host a world social summit in 2025 recognised the need for an action plan for social development fit for the twenty-first century. The summit would draw on past lessons to advance policies and measures that rebuild trust between governments and their citizens and give momentum towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Distinguished Delegates,
Realizing the SDGs will require investments in people. We need to mobilise financial resources at a level that matched our social development ambitions, both through domestic resource mobilization and international partnerships. The SDG Stimulus aims to guide us towards this end. There are also opportunities to reprioritize public spending towards social services and away from less productive and effective areas, including regressive subsidies on fossil fuels and other harmful sectors.
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the SDG Summit, world leaders committed to taking “continuous, fundamental, transformative and urgent actions at all levels and by all stakeholders to overcome the crises and obstacles facing our world.”
It is now our collective responsibility to deliver on this promise. With your mandate to follow up on the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action and to provide guidance from the social perspective to implement the 2030 Agenda, your deliberations in the forthcoming days will be critical.
I thank you.