Promoting Empowerment of People in Achieving Poverty Eradication, Social Integration and Full Employment and Decent Work for All

E/RES/2014/5View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 17bSocial development, published in 2014.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Decent Work Employment Poverty Mitigation Social Development Social Integration

What does this mandate say?

25 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Reaffirms that the ultimate goal of social development is to improve and enhance the quality of life of all people and that empowerment and participation are essential for democracy, harmony and social development;

Also reaffirms the commitment made by Member States in the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development to ensure substantial public investment and promote private investment in human resource development and in capacity-building, including in health and education and social protection, as well as in empowerment and participation, especially for people living in poverty or suffering from social exclusion;

Stresses that Member States should prioritize the creation of a “society for all” with respect for the human rights of all individuals and based on equality, mutual responsibility and cooperation, access to essential services, including health care and social care services, and the promotion of the active participation of every member of society, without discrimination, in civic, social, economic, cultural and political activities, as well as participation in decision-making processes;

Reaffirms the commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women, as well as to the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all development efforts, recognizing that these are critical for achieving sustainable development and for efforts to combat hunger, poverty and disease and to strengthen policies and programmes that improve, ensure and broaden the full participation of women in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life, as equal partners, and to improve their access to all resources needed for the full exercise of all their human rights and fundamental freedoms by removing persistent barriers, including ensuring equal access to full and productive employment and decent work, as well as strengthening their economic independence, and also emphasizes that the education of women and girls is essential for poverty eradication and for their empowerment;

Stresses that special efforts should be made to foster the participation of all people, including women, people living in poverty and those belonging to disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, including children, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples, in all aspects of political, economic, social, civic and cultural life, in particular the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, as appropriate, of policies that affect them;

Calls upon Member States to continue their efforts to strive for more inclusive, equitable, balanced, stable and development-oriented sustainable socioeconomic approaches to overcoming poverty, and, in view of the negative impact of inequalities on poverty, emphasizes the importance of improving access to quality education, employment, water and sanitation, health care and social protection;

Encourages Governments, with the cooperation of relevant entities, including social partners, as appropriate, to continue to develop, improve and implement inclusive, effective and sustainable social protection systems and social protection floors based on national priorities for all members of society, including women as well as disadvantaged and vulnerable persons and groups, and in this regard takes note of Recommendation No. 202 concerning national floors of social protection, adopted by the General Conference of the International Labour Organization on 14 June 2012;

Also encourages Governments to continue to develop and strengthen policies, strategies and programmes to enhance, in particular, the employability of women and youth as well as older persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and members of other disadvantaged groups and to ensure their access to full and productive employment and decent work;

Urges Member States and, as appropriate, the relevant entities of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates, as well as all relevant actors, to continue to develop and strengthen policies, strategies and programmes to enhance the employability of all members of society and to ensure their access to full and productive employment and decent work, including by improving access to formal and non-formal education, skills development and vocational training, lifelong learning and retraining, and long-distance education, including in information and communications technology and entrepreneurial skills, particularly in developing countries, including with a view to supporting the economic empowerment of all members of society in the different stages of their lives;

Recognizes that the creation of full and productive employment and decent work should be a central objective of national policies and that macroeconomic policy should contribute to creating more and better job opportunities and an environment that supports investment, growth and entrepreneurship, which is essential to the creation of new jobs;

Also recognizes that access to employment and decent work for all and social dialogue are essential for people’s empowerment and participation, and calls for Member States to respect, promote and realize fundamental principles and rights at work, in accordance with the International Labour Organization Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work;

Stresses the relevance of the World Programme of Action for Youth, including its priority areas regarding poverty, employment, participation and education, for the empowerment and development of youth, and in this regard recognizes the need to improve opportunities for young people to gain access to productive employment and decent work through increased investment in youth employment, active labour market support and public-private partnerships, as well as through the creation of enabling environments to facilitate the participation of young people in labour markets, in accordance with international rules and commitments;

Reaffirms the need to enhance the welfare of women, children, youth, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, older persons and smallholder and subsistence farmers and to improve the livelihoods and empowerment of the poor and other disadvantaged and vulnerable persons and groups, in particular in developing countries;

Stresses the importance of implementing the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002 in order to, inter alia, help societies to balance the needs of different generations in their policies, promote economic empowerment and avoid age-based discrimination against older persons;

Encourages Governments to strengthen access to productive resources for disadvantaged and vulnerable persons, including by securing land tenure rights and other rights related to the use of natural resources in accordance with national legislation, priorities and policies and by improving access to a broad range of appropriate financial services;

Encourages Member States to strengthen the capacity of national financial institutions to reach out to those who have no access to banking, insurance and other financial services, and also encourages them to adopt regulatory and supervisory frameworks that facilitate the safe and sound provision of services to such populations, increase access to information and promote financial literacy, particularly for women;

Stresses the potential of information and communications technology to improve the quality of life of all people in order to enable them to better participate in sustainable development and the global economy, and in this regard calls upon Member States, with the support of the United Nations system, donors, the private sector and civil society, to promote universal, non-discriminatory, equitable, safe and affordable access to information and communications technology, especially in schools and public places, and to remove the barriers to bridging the digital divide;

Invites Governments to enhance the capacity of the public administration to be transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs and aspirations of all people, without discrimination of any kind, and to foster broad-based participation in governance and development processes;

Recognizes that supportive institutional structures and participatory mechanisms, including consultative democratic institutions and processes, are necessary for the empowerment of people and that special efforts should be made to promote participation in policymaking and governance processes in all aspects of political, economic, social and cultural life and to enhance the capacity of national institutions to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of all members of society;

Encourages Member States to take all measures necessary to eliminate discrimination of any kind against all persons, without distinction of any kind, in particular those living in poverty, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,Error: Reference source not found to refrain from adopting any laws, regulations or practices denying or limiting the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including economic, social and cultural as well as civil and political rights, and to ensure that people, in particular those living in poverty and women, have equal access to justice;

Encourages the international community to support developing countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty and promote empowerment of the poor and disadvantaged and vulnerable persons and groups, with a view to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, improving access to finance, microfinance and credit, removing barriers to opportunity, enhancing productive capacity, developing sustainable agriculture and promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all, complemented by national efforts on comprehensive social policy systems, including social protection floors, and in this regard takes note of International Labour Organization Recommendation No. 202 concerning national floors of social protection;

Recognizes that there is a need for all donors to maintain and deliver on their existing bilateral and multilateral official development assistance commitments and targets and that the full implementation of those commitments will substantially support the efforts of developing countries to achieve the social development objectives by promoting the empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all;

Invites Member States to give due consideration to promoting the empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all in the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda, and encourages Member States, in cooperation with civil society, the private sector, academia and social organizations, to make every possible effort to support good governance at the national and international levels and address the needs of the most vulnerable as well as promote their participation in decision-making processes;

Requests the Secretary-General to include, in his report entitled “Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly”, to be submitted to the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session, policy recommendations on the empowerment of people, taking into account the discussions held at the fifty-second session of the Commission for Social Development under the priority theme.

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