Priority Theme: "Poverty Eradication"

Final Report on the Forty-Ninth Session - E/2011/26–E/CN.5/2011/12
19 February 2010 and 9-18 February 2011 - 37 pages
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The Forty-Ninth session of the Commission for Social Development conlcuded its session by adopting five draft resolutions calling for wide-ranging steps, from support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the upcoming review of the action plan on ageing to improving the lot of youth, persons with disabilities and families.

1. On the social dimensions of NEPAD, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), concerned that Africa is the only continent not on track to achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and deeply concerned how the recent economic, food and energy crises and climate change may hinder Africa’s social development objectives, would urge continued support of measures such as debt relief, improved market access, official development assistance (ODA) and technology transfer to address poverty eradication and sustainable development.

2. On preparation for and observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family would have the Economic and Social Council urge Governments to view 2014 as a target year for national policies and strategies to improve the well-being of families.  The Council would ask the Commission to consider several themes to guide preparation of the Year, including family poverty and social exclusion, ensuring work-family balance, and advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity, and to review preparations as part of its multi-year programme of work until 2014.

3. On further promotion of equalization of opportunities by, for and with persons with disabilities and mainstreaming disability in the development agenda, approved as orally revised, the Council would call upon Governments and United Nations bodies and agencies to include disability issues and persons with disabilities as they reviewed progress towards achieving the Millennium targets and expedite efforts to include in their assessment the extent to which persons with disabilities would be able to benefit from efforts to achieve the Goals.  The Council would also call upon Member States to enable persons with disabilities to participate as agents and beneficiaries of development.

4. On policies and programmes involving youth, the Commission urged Member States to work with youth-led organizations and stakeholders to implement the World Programme of Action for Youth as well as consider including youth representatives in their delegations at relevant discussions of United Nations bodies.  It called upon Member States to promote the well-being of youth by developing effective national policies and programmes that addressed youth poverty and unemployment, and support the creation and functioning of independent youth councils and junior parliaments.  It also called on donors to contribute to the United Nations Youth Fund to expedite implementation of the action programme. The Commission asked the Secretary-General to strengthen the United Nations Programme on Youth within existing resources of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, so as to meet the increased demands of the programme to support, evaluate and review youth development

5. On modalities for the second review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002, the Commission endorsed the timeline for carrying out the second review of the Madrid Plan of Action and invited Member States to identify actions they had taken since the first review, with the aim of presenting the information to the regional commissions in 2012.

Civil Society Forum, 8 February 2011

In conjunction with the forty-ninth session, a Civil Society Forum was organized in Conference Room 4 under the theme:  “Eradication of Poverty:  Human Dignity Demands It!”. It took place on 8 February 2011 in Conference Room 4, one day before the opening of the session. The outcome of the Forum was presented in the format of a civil society declaration during the Commission.
Agenda
Statements

Members of the Bureau