The Copenhagen Commitments
The World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) was held in Copenhagen in 1995. It was attended by presidents or prime ministers from almost 120 countries and by senior representatives from almost every other country. The Summit concentrated on three main problems – poverty, unemployment and social exclusion – and it agreed on a detailed Declaration and Programme of Action to address these problems.
Despite the high level of attendance at the Summit, it has not yet attracted the same degree of prominence in public and political debate as, for example, the 1992 Rio Environmental Summit. However, interest in the Copenhagen commitments is undoubtedly growing and their credibility within international circles is increasing. The importance and wisdom of many of the Summit’s commitments has been emphasized by the causes and consequences of the financial turmoil which spread around the world during the last two years.
The Aims of this Paper
Over time, the Copenhagen Summit could develop
into being a major catalyst for action and achievement, especially by
stimulating closer international cooperation to reduce poverty and enhance
social progress. This will not occur, however, unless government agencies
and civil society organizations become more aware of key elements in the
Copenhagen commitments and vigorously pursue their implementation.
The principal aims of this paper are to
suggest some priority issues and actions from amongst the wide range canvassed
in the Copenhagen commitments, and to discuss processes by which civil
society organizations could work together in pursuing implementation of
those priorities. Special attention will be given to the potential significance
of the five-year review of implementation of the commitments which is
to be undertaken at a Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly
in Geneva in mid-2000.
Regional Agreements
The Copenhagen Summit urged the regional
commissions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to conduct
high-level meetings every two years to review and pursue implementation
of the Summit commitments. Ministerial meetings have been held for this
purpose by the regional commissions in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin
America and the Caribbean, and have made agreements which seek to reinforce
and apply the Copenhagen commitments in specific regional contexts.
It is unfortunate that these regional agreements
have not received wider publicity. This applies especially to the Regional
Agenda for Action on Social Development in the Asia-Pacific region which,
having been initially developed in preparation for the Copenhagen Summit,
was re-endorsed at a Ministerial follow-up meeting in 1997 in Manila.
That meeting was held as the gravity of the emerging financial crisis
in the region was becoming evident, and accordingly gave greater and more
critical attention to international economic policy than occurred at the
1994 meeting. It also drew on the problems and responses which were identified
in a “Message to Manila” sent from a major regional meeting
of civil society organizations held in Kuala Lumpur a few months earlier.
