Rethinking and Strengthening Social Development in the Contemporary World

E/RES/2016/8View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 19bSocial development, published in 2016.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Employment Poverty Mitigation Social Development Social Justice Social Policy Sustainable Development

What does this mandate say?

23 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Recognizes that the implementation of the Copenhagen commitments1 and the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals are mutually reinforcing and that the Copenhagen commitments are crucial to a coherent people-centred approach to development;

Also recognizes that poverty eradication, full and productive employment and decent work for all, including promoting social dialogue, and social integration are interrelated and mutually reinforcing, that an internal and external enabling environment therefore needs to be created so that these objectives can be pursued simultaneously and that policies to pursue these objectives must promote social justice, social cohesion, intergenerational solidarity and economic recovery and growth, and must be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable;

Emphasizes that the international community, through the outcome documents of the major United Nations conferences and summits, including of the World Summit for Social Development1 and the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly,2 the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, has reinforced the urgency of eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, combating inequality within and among countries, preserving the planet, creating sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and fostering social inclusion within the United Nations development agenda;

Stresses that Member States should take all measures necessary in order to leave no one behind, while respecting the human rights of all and promoting social protection and equal access to quality essential public services for all, such as quality education and health care, including maternity care and social care services, and recognizes that this involves the active participation of every member of society, without discrimination, in civic, social, economic, cultural and political activities and in decision-making processes;

Reaffirms the commitment to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including through the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all development efforts, and recognizes that these will make a crucial contribution to progress across all of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, including efforts to combat hunger, poverty and disease, to strengthen policies and programmes that improve, ensure and broaden the full and equal participation of women in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life, to improve their access to and remove barriers from all resources needed for the full exercise of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including ensuring equal access to full and productive employment and decent work, to ensure access to quality education for women and girls to strengthen their economic independence, and to improve access to equal opportunities with men and boys in employment, leadership and decision-making at all levels, which is essential for poverty eradication and the empowerment of women and girls;

Encourages Governments, with the cooperation of relevant entities, including social partners and civil society, to continue to develop, improve, extend and implement inclusive, effective, fiscally sustainable and nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including social protection floors, based on national priorities, for all members of society including those who are vulnerable or marginalized, and in this regard takes note of International Labour Organization Recommendation No. 202 on social protection floors;

Stresses that special efforts should be made to foster the participation of all members of society, including people living in poverty and those who are vulnerable or marginalized, 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;

Invites Governments to enhance the capacity of the public administration and public services to be transparent, accountable, proactive 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;

Underlines the importance of adopting a coherent approach to social, economic and environmental policy, in order to ensure impact, accountability and transparency, and of enhancing coordination to achieve sustainable, inclusive development;

Recognizes that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides for a more integrated and cross-sectoral approach to sustainable development, and also recognizes that social development covers a coherent set of policies and services grounded in sustainability, equity and inclusion, rather than a series of discrete, isolated or subject-specific initiatives;

Calls upon States to promote more equitable participation in and access to economic growth gains, such as through policies that aim to ensure inclusive labour markets, socially responsive macroeconomic policies in which the creation of more and better job opportunities has a key role and social inclusion strategies that promote social integration, and by providing fiscally sustainable and nationally appropriate social protection systems, including floors, for all members of society, including those who are vulnerable or marginalized;

Recognizes that the creation of full and productive employment and decent work should be a central objective of national policies and that macroeconomic policies should contribute to creating more and better job opportunities and an environment that supports investment, growth and entrepreneurship, which is essential for the creation of new jobs, and calls for the respect, promotion and realization of fundamental principles and rights at work, in accordance with the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work;

Emphasizes the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant sustainable development strategies;

Recognizes that each country has primary responsibility for its own economic and social development and that significant additional domestic public resources, supplemented by international assistance, as appropriate, will be critical to realizing sustainable development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and also recognizes the commitment to enhance revenue administration, in particular through modernized, progressive tax systems, improved tax policy and more efficient tax collection;

Also recognizes, in this regard, that national development efforts, including social development efforts, need to be supported by an enabling international economic environment, including coherent and mutually supporting world trade, monetary and financial systems and strengthened and enhanced global economic governance;

Encourages developed countries to implement their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income for official development assistance to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of gross national income for official development assistance to the least developed countries;

Welcomes the increased contributions of South-South cooperation to poverty eradication and sustainable development, encourages developing countries to voluntarily step up their efforts to strengthen South-South cooperation and to further improve its development effectiveness in accordance with the provisions of the Nairobi outcome document of the High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, and recalls the commitment to strengthening triangular cooperation as a means of bringing relevant experience and expertise to bear in development cooperation;

Encourages Member States, the United Nations system and all relevant stakeholders to improve data collection, analysis and monitoring to measure progress in advancing equality, social justice and participation for development policy planning, implementation and evaluation, taking regional contexts fully into account, and to share, where appropriate, relevant data and statistics with relevant agencies and bodies within the United Nations system, including the Statistical Commission, through appropriate mechanisms, and underlines the need to significantly increase the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable disaggregated data;

Encourages the international community to intensify efforts to strengthen statistical capacities in developing countries to collect disaggregated data, particularly African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, while recognizing the specific challenges facing middle-income countries;

Encourages States to engage in the preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) and to consider the objectives of poverty eradication, social inclusion and decent work for all in the New Urban Agenda, with a view to mobilizing all levels of government in the promotion of social development;

Urges Member States to continue to give prominence to strengthening social development, in particular to eradicating poverty and reducing inequalities, supporting the creation of full and productive employment and decent work for all and promoting social inclusion;

Requests the United Nations system to continue to support national efforts to strengthen social development at the local, national, subregional, regional and international levels in a coherent, coordinated and results-based manner.

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