Development Dossier

Dr. Halfdan Mahler

International Youth Consultation on Social Development

Young people constitute over half of the world's population, and so it is imperative that young people's views are included in all programmes, actions and policies which effect every aspect of our lives. We are not just the citizens of tomorrow, but also the participants of societies

today.
Over the last couple of days, 200 young people from all regions of the world, representing a wide diversity of youth organisations met in Copenhagen to take advantage of the gathering of World Leaders and Heads of State for the World Summit on Social Development.
As a representative of those young people, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to address this Plenary Session. Issues of importance which were discussed at the youth consultation include; sustainable development which focuses on people, with the aim to enable people to take control of their own destiny; Youth Policy at national, regional and global levels; Young Women; Health and many others. Main areas of concern however were Employment and Education.
The effects of unemployment are straining the world community as never before. This is affecting the Youth more than other social groups. We are deeply concerned about the alarming rate of unemployment among young people in all corners of the world. Special attention must be paid to job creation for young people and continued support and training. The right to a job and a secure income for young people must be guaranteed by governments.
At the same time, we expect you to abolish child slavery, commonly referred to as child labour, sooner rather than later, and definitely before the end of this century.
We are concerned with the fact that many developing countries are trapped in the production of just one export commodity. This, linked with unjust trade barriers in the developed countries, puts serious constraints on the possibilities of third world countries to develop. The victims of this situation are young people ‑ particularly unemployed young people. We therefore charge you to remove trade barrier in the North and encourage diverse industrial development in the South.
Mr. President, Education is crucial in enabling the Youth to become effective agents of social development. Young people should have equal access to quality education irrespective of gender, race, class, religion, politics and ethnicity. Financial aid must be available to enable young

people to study. This significant learning process should be carried out in an atmosphere free from economic, social, religious and political pressures. It must help to stimulate all individuals to recognise their inner potential and make them responsible for their lives and the future of Humankind.

Kauna Nghinaunye

International Youth Consultation on Social Development

P/Bag 13359, Windhoek, Namibia

Tel:+264-641/592249; Fax:+264-61/248332

The Inter‑Parliamentary Union

It is a pleasure to address the Summit on behalf of the Inter‑Parliamentary Union the world organization of parliaments of sovereign States. Parliaments share with governments special responsibility for social development and human well‑being. Indeed, the subject of the Summit

is very close to the hearts of parliamentarians who believe that poverty, unemployment and problems of social integration have become the biggest challenges that the world faces in the post‑cold‑war period.
This explains why the Union has given its full backing to the Social Summit preparation and spared no effort to ensure that the parliamentary contribution to this process is a meaningful one. In so doing, our members have made a number of recommendations relating to social development which you will find included in the special Message, circulated to all delegates,

of the IPU to this Summit Let me highlight some of their views:

‑ Development is sustainable only to the extent that it is human centred;
‑ Concerns of development should be reconciled with those of environment and concerns of equity with those of efficiency. Interdependence must be at the heart of our reflections;
‑ Women's rights, children's rights and the rights of the elderly are integral parts of human rights;
‑ Emphasis must be placed on two complementary concepts: the concept of parity between men and women, and the concept of partnership;
‑While developing countries are responsible for ensuring that their domestic policy is development friendly, it is the task of the international community to create an external environment which is supportive of development.
The commitments listed in the draft declaration of this Summit are indeed consonant with the list of priority targets outlined by members of parliament in their Message. In particular, parliamentarians are of the opinion that:
‑ The '20‑20' compact out essential and minimum targets for human development over a 10‑year period should be implemented; and

‑ Industrial countries should meet without further delay the target of 0.7% of GNP for official development assistance.

Today we are celebrating the international Women's Day. For the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the status and rights of women constitute a critical dimension of human development Women are key actors of the development process. The IPU trusts that it should be possible, without destabilizing cultures or imposing values foreign to the national culture, to enhance or re‑enhance women's dignity at the social level and to provide the proof that women and men are equally able to contribute to development and governance. In this perspective, the Union advocates the concept of partnership between men and women, which it defines as a creative synergy between the two genders to confront the challenges that the society faces in its development as parliamentarians, we feel that the concept of democracy will only assume true and dynamic significance when policies and national legislation are decided upon jointly by men and women with equitable regard for the interests and aptitudes of both halves of the population.
One of the ways of achieving partnership is to enhance the participation of women at all levels of the decision‑making process. Throughout the last decade, IPU has carried out pioneering work to that end and last year we adopted a comprehensive Plan of Action to correct present imbalances in the participation of men and women in political life. We intend to pursue this course actively in the context of preparation of the World Conference on Women, as much as we shall do so with regard to the follow‑up of this Summit.
Clearly, girls and women should have access to basic education and to technical and vocational training. National programmes and legislation should ensure equal access to credit for women. Laws should be reviewed, wherever appropriate, so as to facilitate women's access to land property, water, and other national resources. The economic value of women's work at home could be considered as part of the gross national product and a system to remunerate such work should be devised.
The extent to which this Summits decisions are translated into concrete realities ‑ will clearly depend on the effectiveness of the follow‑up which States will take, individually and collectively. Parliaments have a special role to play in this regard.
The issue of providing adequate follow‑up to the Summit was at the very heart of f the debate that took place yesterday at the Danish Folketing during the Parliarnentarians' Day which was organized by the Inter‑Parliamentary Union and in which some 200 MPs participated. We then re‑confirmed our support to the set of commitments to be adopted by this Summit we welcomed the fact that the Draft Programme of Action makes proposals for creating a favourable economic and political environment which is needed for social progress to be achieved, widespread poverty to be eliminated, productive employment to be promoted and unemployment to be reduced. Needless to say, the implementation of results of the Summit will be enhanced if the role and involvement of parliaments were reflected in its final documents, which is not yet the case.
Let me nevertheless confirm that as parliamentarians, we are committed to ensuring that appropriate legislation is adopted in our respective countries. We are also committed to approving budgets which allocate the resources necessary to bring about the key commitments taken by our Governments at this Summit.

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