CSocD 1996

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Commission for Social Development special session, 21-31 May 1996

Summary

At its special session of 1996, the Commission for Social Development considered two main items: review of the functioning of the Commission and strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty.

In accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1995/60 of 28 July 1995 and General Assembly resolution 50/161 of 20 December 1995, the Commission reviewed its mandate, its terms of reference, the composition of its membership, the scope of its work and the frequency of its sessions, and elaborated a multi-year programme of work.

The Commission recommended to the Council the expansion of its membership from 32 to 46, as well as the annualization of its sessions. It developed a multi-year programme of work built around the follow-up to and review of the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development, incorporating also the review of relevant United Nations plans and programmes of action pertaining to the situation of social groups. The Commission also recommended that the Council ensure high-level representation in the Commission and the participation of experts to contribute to its work through panel discussions at future sessions.

Under the item on strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty, the Commission considered the report of the Secretary-General on the subject (E/CN.5/1996/3) and gave special attention to the three sub-themes: formulation of integrated strategies; meeting the basic human needs of all; and promotion of self-reliance and community-based initiatives. The Commission adopted a resolution in which it called for the implementation of agreed measures to eradicate poverty and for strengthened international cooperation to that end. It stressed the need for the implementation of sound and stable macroeconomic, micro-economic and sectoral policies that encouraged broad-based, sustained economic growth and development. The Commission called on the international community to seek to mobilize additional financial resources that were both adequate and predictable to contribute to poverty eradication.

The Commission held three panel meetings with invited experts, as well as a dialogue with the chairpersons of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) inter-agency task forces on follow-up to recent major international conferences, on issues related to the item on strategies and actions for the eradication of poverty.

Finally, the Commission recommended that the Council approve its revised provisional agenda and the documentation for its thirty-fifth session, in 1997.

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