Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Follow-up of the World Summit of Social Development'
Date: 2000-04-27
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: International Labour Organisation, labour law, social development, summit meeting, the EU's international role

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Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Follow-up of the World Summit of Social
Development’

(2000/C 168/10)

In accordance with Rule of Procedure 23(3), the European Economic and Social Committee decided at its
Plenary Session on 29 April 1999 to adopt an opinion on the above-mentioned subject.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the work, adopted its opinion on
14 April 2000. The rapporteur was Mr Etty.

At its 372nd plenary session on 27 April 2000, the Economic and Social Committee adopted the
following opinion by 107 votes in favour, one vote against and six abstentions.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
From 26-30 June 2000, the General Assembly of the
United Nations will, in a Special Session in Geneva, assess the
implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for
Social Development in Copenhagen (1995) and discuss further
activities.

The ‘Social Summit’ of 1995 in Copenhagen discussed

1.2.
three main issues:

— the eradication of poverty

— the promotion of social integration, and

— the promotion of full employment.

1.3.
The result of the Summit was a Declaration on Social
Development and a Progress of Action to implement it. The
core of this were ten commitments made by the Member
States, a large majority of whom represented by their Heads of
State and/or Government. These commitments were:

Commitment 1: We commit ourselves to creating an econ-
omic, political, social, cultural and legal environment that will
enable people to achieve social development.

Commitment 2: We commit ourselves to the goal of eradicat-
ing poverty in the world, through decisive national actions
and international co-operation, as an ethical, social, political
and economic imperative of humankind.

Commitment 3: We commit ourselves to promoting the goal
of full employment as a basic priority of our economic and
social policies, and to enabling all men and women to attain
secure and sustainable livelihoods through freely chosen
productive employment and work.

Commitment 4: We commit ourselves to promoting social
integration by fostering societies that are stable, safe and just
and that are based on the promotion and protection of all

human rights, as well as on non-discrimination, tolerance,
respect for diversity, equality of opportunity, solidarity, secur-
ity, and participation of all people, including disadvantaged
and vulnerable groups and persons.

Commitment 5: We commit ourselves to promoting full
respect for human dignity and to achieving equality and equity
between women and men, and to recognising and enhancing
the participation and leadership roles of women in political,
civil, economic, social and cultural life and in development.

Commitment 6: We commit ourselves to promoting and
attaining the goals of universal and equitable access to quality
education, the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health, and the access of all to primary health care,
making particular efforts to rectify inequalities relating to
social conditions and without distinction as to race, national
origin, gender, age or disability; respecting and promoting our
common and particular cultures; striving to strengthen the
role of culture in development; preserving the essential bases
of people-centred sustainable development; and contributing
to the full development of human resources and to social
development. The purpose of these activities is to eradicate
poverty, promote full and productive employment and foster
social integration.

Commitment 7: We commit ourselves to accelerating the
economic, social and human resource development of Africa
and the least developed countries.

Commitment 8: We commit ourselves to ensuring that when
structural adjustment programmes are agreed to they include
social development goals, in particular eradicating poverty,
promoting full and productive employment, and enhancing
social integration.

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Commitment 9: We commit ourselves to increasing signifi-
cantly and/or utilising more efficiently the resources allocated
to social development in order to achieve the goals of the
Summit through national action and regional and international
co-operation.

the Member States has produced an added value to the
respective national policies regarding poverty, social
inte-
gration and employment. This is in particular so as regards the
latter.

Commitment 10: We commit ourselves to an improved
and strengthened framework for international, regional and
subregional co-operation for social development, in a spirit of
partnership, through the United Nations and other multilateral
institutions.

2.3.
The EU Presidency has, in the past few years, expressed
itself on a number of occasions on the implementation of the
outcome of the ‘Social Summit’, lastly during the 54th Session
of the General Assembly of the UN.

1.4.
Preparations for the Special Session on the follow-up
of the Copenhagen Declaration and Program of Action started
in September 1997 with the establishment of a Preparatory
Committee.

3. General remarks

Member States of the UN have, in the course of 1999, sent in
reports on the effect they have given to the commitments.
These reports have been discussed and assessed in a meeting
of the Commission on Social Development of the Economic
and Social Council of the UN in February of this year.

As regards regional preparations,

1.5.
for reasons not
totally clear, Europe has been omitted by the UN. The logical
UN body to do this is the ECE (which is for instance in charge
of the regional preparation of the follow-up of the 1995
Beijing Women’s Summit). The Council of Europe has stepped
in and organised a preparatory ‘European Conference on Social
Development’
in Dublin on January 18-19 next, which
discussed reports of the Member States of the Council and did
more in-depth work on the commitments 1, 2 and 4 in
working parties.

2. The EU and the Social Summit

2.1.
Implementation of the ten Copenhagen commitments
is, of course, primarily a matter for the individual EU Member
States. It is important to stress that in the context of this
Opinion. However, the EU has taken a strong interest on the
Copenhagen Summit
in 1994 and 1995. The European
Community produced a Communication on the Summit and
had extensive consultations with civil society (including the
Economic and Social Committee and the economic and social
interest groups represented on it). A large EC delegation
participated in the ‘Social Summit’, of which the Committee
was part.

2.2.
The European Community has not submitted a report
on implementation to the UN-Secretariat. The Commission’s
Communication on the European Community’s follow-up to
the World Summit on Social Development of 1996 is,
obviously, not a suitable basis for an assessment at this point
of time. The Committee realises that the Commission was not
obliged to report. However, taking into account Commitment
10, it thinks that the Commission has missed a chance to
show the international community how cooperation between

3.1.
It its February 1995 Opinion on the Copenhagen
Summit, the Committee has made a number of observations
and recommendations which still seem to be relevant. They
include:

— an initiative to be taken by the EU to take the lead in a
campaign for wider ratification and full application of ILO
Convention No 144 on Tripartite Consultation (now, in
2000, the EU could focus on its candidate Member States,
its partners in the Barcelona process in the Mercosur and
the ACP countries for this campaign);

— measures to promote social development through inter-
national trade (the Committee has given an elaboration of
these early proposals in its 1999 Opinion on the WTO
and in recent Opinions on EU trade policy);

— measures to combat child labour (in 1999, the ILO has
adopted a new Convention on the worst forms of child
labour. The EU could make an important gesture to the
international community if all 15 Member States would
quickly ratify this new Convention. Also, the two Member
States which have not yet ratified ILO Convention No 138
on Minimum Age (Austria and the UK) should make an
effort to do so in the very near future. Furthermore, at this
point of time, the Committee wishes to encourage the EU
and all its Member States to support financially the ILO
programs to help eradicate child labour);

— encouraging Member States to use their influence in the
IMF, the World Bank, the OECD and regional development
banks to convince these institutions of the urgent need to
work more closely together with the ILO (at this point of
time, we would add the WTO to this list, and also urge the
EU to make a joint effort to help democratise these
organisations and increase their transparency);

— strengthening the coherence of the EU’s external, security,
trade, agriculture and development policies (here,
the
Committee would add, five years after Copenhagen, that
this increased coherence must be used in particular in the
fight against poverty in the world, and for the prevention
of armed conflicts);

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— making a clearly focused contribution to the follow-up
process by selecting for coordinated EU-wide actions: a
limited number of initiatives in the field of employment
creation, the fight against poverty and social exclusion.

3.2.
is the
Although implementation, as earlier stated,
prime responsibility of Member States, concerted EU action
can have considerable added value. The Committee expressed
that belief already in 1995 in the final recommendation of its
Opinion (para. 13.2). In the 1995 Opinion, when addressing
regional co-operation, the Committee concentrated on co-
operation in the EU. The enlargement process, the develop-
ment of Euromediterranean co-operation, and the growth of
the relationship with the ACP countries strongly suggest that
one should assess, in a realistic way, further geographical areas
where an EU input could make a significant difference for the
chances of success of the ‘Copenhagen process’.

For the success of this, co-ordinated actions of the ILO and
other UN agencies, and in particular with the Bretton Woods
institutions, OECD and regional organisations is vital, accord-
ing to the ILO. In this context, the Committee also notes that
recent events have demonstrated an urgent need for reform of
UN institutions, in particular with respect to their democratic
character and the transparency of their policy-making and
implementation. Criticism on and resistance against, in particu-
lar, IMF, World Bank and WTO have clearly been motivated
by the view that these institutions do not pay enough attention
to the negative impact of the globalisation of the world
economy.

4. Specific remarks

3.3.
If one looks at the relevant areas of social policy where
the EU has made significant progress which might also be
relevant to other groups of countries, taking into account the
limited resources available and the agenda of the UN where
the fight against poverty will figure prominently this year, then
employment policy and the way it has been developed springs
to mind. That does not mean, of course, that the EU and its
Members States should not make an effort to increase their
development cooperation efforts and to alleviate the debt
burden of the poorest development countries. It means that it
is in particular in the field of employment policy that the EU
can, through regional cooperation, make a particularly valu-
able contribution to the efforts of certain partners.

4.1.
In 1995 already, the Committee wanted the ILO to
play a prominent role in the implementation of the result of
the Social Summit. It thinks that, indeed, the active promotion
of the 1998 ILO Declaration can be most conducive for
an effective worldwide employment promotion strategy. It
strongly recommends that the EU commits itself to this,
politically as well as financially. EU involvement must also
include an effort to secure ratification by all the Member States
of the fundamental human rights Conventions of the ILO. In
addition to the gaps in EU Member States’ ratification of the
Minimum Age Convention (No 138), mentioned in para 3.1,
the Committee once more recalls the fact that the ILO’s
Convention against Discrimination (Employment and Occu-
pation) (No 111) has still not been ratified by Luxembourg.

3.4.
The ILO, which has been given the first responsibility
for the promotion of full employment (Commitment 3) in the
Copenhagen process by the UN, has done important work in
the past five years. It has reached the conclusion that, while in a
few industrialised and newly industrialising countries progress
with regard to job creation and reduction of unemployment
and underemployment has been registered, the employment
situation and progress in alleviating poverty in many parts
of the world, particularly among developing countries and
countries in transition, remained unsatisfactory and in some
countries had even worsened (1). The ILO has called for
renewed efforts in job creation, improvement of the quality of
jobs, training and gender equality in the workplace. It main-
tains that an important element in this is the ratification and
implementation of the ILO core conventions and the follow-
up of the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work. It has called for a new employment
strategy with global and national dimensions.

(1) See 1999 UN’s ‘Human Development Report’ and ‘Poverty

Report’.

4.2.
The Committee is concerned that, more and more,
economic policy tends to escape from political control.
Therefore, the EU and its Member States must press for clear
social policy guidelines for IMF and World Bank policies, based
on the Copenhagen commitments, including the importance
the latter attach to ILO core labour standards. They must also
continue their efforts to establish a standing working forum on
fundamental labour standards in multilateral trade agreements
between the ILO and the WTO. The Committee welcomes —
in particular with a view to the developments at the WTO
Ministerial Conference in Seattle — all steps which could lead
to greater understanding (and, by consequence, also to concrete
measures) promoting fundamental labour standards.

Multinational companies, in their activities in developing and
in transition countries, must respect the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Companies and the ILO’s Tripartite Declaration
on Multinational Companies and Social Policy. The Committee
hopes that the review of the OECD Guidelines, currently
underway will result in the inclusion of references to all the
freedom of association,
ILO ‘core labour standards’
collective bargaining, forced labour, discrimination in labour
and occupation and child labour).

(i.e.

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4.3.
As regards the Candidate Member States in Central and
Eastern Europe, the Committee recommends EU-support for
the development of an employment strategy along the lines of
the ‘Luxembourg process’ by them. This will at the same time
help the Governments of these countries to find sustainable
solutions for the employment problems in their countries, and
help to introduce a major element of the European Social
model in the region.

to involve employers’ organisations,

4.4.
In its relationship with the neighbouring countries in
the Mediterranean area, the EU should encourage partner
trade
Governments
unions and other relevant socio-economic interest groups
stronger than before in their employment policies, wherever
possible in a regional context. Further development of elements
in the social dimension of
the Barcelona co-operation
(vocational training, social dialogue) should be included.

4.5.
The Committee thinks that in the ACP countries, and
in particular those in Sub-Sahara Africa (see Commitment 7),
the EU should continue the efforts it has made in the past few
years to help create Economic and Social Councils, which
potentially are important
instruments for socio-economic
interest groups to influence and help to implement employ-
ment policies of their Governments.

4.6.
In developing the initiatives referred to in para 3.1, last
indent, above, the Committee wants the Commission to target
in particular the poorest and socially most excluded groups
within the EU.

The Secretary General of

4.7.
the UN has called for
coherence in the follow-up of the various ‘People’s Summits’

Brussels, 27 April 2000.

of the 1990s. Taking that into account, and also referring to
the Opinion on the follow-up of
the ‘Beijing Women’s
Summit’, it is submitting simultaneously with the present one,
the Committee recalls that ‘feminisation of poverty’ has been
a major point of concern at the 1995 Beijing Conference. The
Committee refers to paras 3.3 and 3.4 above and wishes to
underscore in this context the importance of the gender
component in the areas for action, identified by the ILO. The
same holds for the proposals for EU-support for the candidate
Member States in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Mediter-
ranean, and in Sub-Sahara Africa in paras 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5.

The social and economic interest groups represented
4.8.
on the Committee have a special role to play in social
development. It is surprising that the UN have given NGOs a
special role in the preparation of the follow-up of the ‘Social
Summit’ of 1995, but apparently does not think it important
to give a special place to employers federations, trade unions,
consumers, farmers organisations, welfare organisations, etc.
In particular, the role of employers organisations and trade
unions has been a controversial issue between a large number
of developing countries and industrialised countries. The
Committee is deeply concerned about this. The European
Commission must address this point and clarify in the
Geneva Special Session of the General Assembly that these
organisations, with their strongly representative character, are
very particular NGOs if it comes to social development and
that they not only express the views of their members but often
participate in national policy-making and implementation.
The European Commission must also stimulate that socio-
economic interest groups be represented on national del-
egations of Member States to the Special Session in Geneva.
Also, the Committee urges the Commission to invite it, like in
1995, to be represented in its delegation.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI

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APPENDIX I

to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

Preliminary assessment of implementation

The UN Secretariat has received reports from a large majority of the Member States (among whom all 15 Member
States of the EU), the Regional Commissions of the UN (with the exception of the ECE), the UN funds and programs,
the specialised agencies including the Bretton Woods institutions, other intergovernmental institutions such as the
regional development banks, and the OECD.

Although reports contain positive elements, it is clear that in many respects only limited progress has been made
with regard to the three main themes of ‘Copenhagen’. According to the UN Secretariat, several targets specified in
the Program of Action will not be met within the period agreed, and in some cases there have been serious setbacks.
The severe economic difficulties several countries experienced in the past few years as a result of the financial crisis
and related developments have been a major cause. There is also a concern that the recent emphasis on financial and
economic policies has often not been development oriented, and that the dominance of a limited set of
macroeconomic targets and parameters over the social, political, cultural and environmental aspects has been
detrimental.

Progress areas include, according to the UN Secretariat:

— Greater awareness of and commitment to social development as an overriding goal of government policy and a

basis for mobilisation of civil society,

— Progress towards poverty eradication, albeit uneven, slow and erratic,

— Renewed hope that full employment is an achievable goal, although progress has been timid and threatened by

often hidden underemployment, widening informalisation and lack of social protection,

— Continued progress in literacy, declining infant mortality and life expectancy, school enrolment and access to

basic social services, despite local and at times severe setbacks; and

— Equality and equity between men and women has moved closer to reality in major regions of the world, despite

the persistent tendency for women to be the first losers in times of crisis and restructuring,

— A majority of governments have put their money where their mouth is and increased allocation of domestic

resources for social development in relative, and often in absolute, terms.

‘Regression areas’, as identified by the same sources, include:

— Local and region conflicts have caused setbacks in social integration in a growing number of regions of the

world,

— The world overall has become a more unequal place, with increasing inequalities in income, in employment, in

access to social services and to opportunities for participation in public and civil society institutions,

— Contrary to the commitment made at Copenhagen to strengthen co-operation for social development through
the UN, resources allocated for social development in the framework of international co-operation have declined,
although there is a renewed commitment of the international community for debt reduction for the poorest
countries,

— The burden of debt has grown markedly since Copenhagen, further squeezing resources available for social

development,

— With liberalisation of capital flows, the world has become more vulnerable to sudden financial shocks with
severe social consequences where the real victims of such shocks are increasingly powerless to rectify their social
situation.

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The Secretariat had in November 1999 identified the following eleven cross-cutting issues in the reports received,
which they wanted to analyse further for an evaluation of progress/regression and for extracting ideas for further
initiatives:

1.

2.

Inequality: In the face of growing inequality within and between nations, how can the fruits of development be
more equitably distributed within and amongst nations? Is inequality the price to pay for economic growth, or
is inequality an impediment to growth?

Financing of social services: Increasingly social services are being targeted towards the most vulnerable groups of
society. However, targeting and means-testing of benefits can lead in some cases to a break-up in social solidarity
which in turn provokes a decline in quality of and resources for those services. How can solidarity and
sustainability be reconciled with the need for greater efficiency and selectivity in providing social services?

3. Urbanisation: While the majority of the poor still live in rural areas, the world and especially developing
countries, is rapidly being transformed into an urban planet. In the face of this transformation, how can scarce
resources best be allocated between rural and urban areas? How can social development best take into account
the specific needs of each sector of society?

4. The working poor: Although in many areas of the world unemployment has decreased all too often the new jobs
are of low quality, associated with low wages and little social protection. Increasingly, employment is not
sufficient to bring populations out of poverty. How have countries addressed the growing phenomena of the
‘working poor’ and what can be done to improve wages at the low end of the labour market?

5.

Informalisation of employment: In many developing countries, formal sector employment represents a small
and declining share of the labour market. Furthermore the informal sector is no longer a monopoly of developing
countries, and all over the world, the informal sector is growing in a symbiotic relationship with the formal
sector. What can be done to improve revenues and social protection in the informal sector, and this without
undercutting the ability of the formal sector to create jobs?

6. Rehabilitating the public sector: The process of economic reforms has in many cases weakened the capacity of
the state to promote social development. One of the lessons learned from recent financial crises, is that
liberalisation and privation should not take place at the expense of an appropriate regulatory framework. A
strong, transparent public sector is required to oversee the process of economic reform, and to create an enabling
environment for social development.

7. Decentralisation: There has been a clear trend towards decentralisation and devolution of responsibilities to local
government. Decentralisation is often conducive the greater participation and accountability, but not necessarily
conducive to equitable distribution of resources across regions and populations groups. How can these conflicting
concerns best be reconciled?

8. Declining ODA: Whereas certain countries have increased allocations of ODA, this has taken place in the face of
an overall trend of decline, this despite the pledges made at Copenhagen. What strategies can be adopted to
reverse this trend?

9. Crisis intervention: Furthermore, scarce development resources are being allocated to an increasing number of
crisis interventions which are much more costly, in both human and in financial terms, than crisis prevention
and longer-term promotion of human development. Increasing wars, local conflicts and natural disasters have
had a negative impact on social development.

10. Need for effective strategies to implement the commitments of the Social Summit. The gap between commitment
and implementation remains a major problem. Still more work is required to develop the strategies, tools and
capacity required to successfully implement the Copenhagen commitments.

11. Debt servicing has become a cumulative burden which is weighing heavily on social development. How can debt

relief be most effectively implemented for a positive impact on increasing social expenditure?

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APPENDIX II

to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

Specific comments of the ESC 1995 Opinion on World Summit for Social Development (CES 4/95) —
OJ C 110, 2.5.1995)

1. Principles

The principles laid down in the Commission’s Communication, which it wishes to see reflected in the results
1.1.
of the World Summit for Social Development, are endorsed. The Committee is particularly pleased with the first
principle: that respect for human rights and democracy — including dialogue between employers and workers and
the participation of civil society — cannot be divorced from social development. It is convinced that these are truly
universal fundamental human rights. The Committee hopes that the World Summit will adopt this principle in the
explicit terms used by the Commission, and invites those Member States which have not yet done so, to include it in
their legislation and in their national and international practices in order to promote real, worldwide social
development.

An important practical instrument for stimulating dialogue between employers and workers and promoting
1.2.
participation of civil society in social development throughout the world is Convention No 144 of 1976 of the ILO
on Tripartite Consultation to promote the Implementation of International Labour Standards. It is a pity that this
instrument is not mentioned by the Commission. Application of Convention No 144 promotes both democracy and
social peace. The Committee thinks that the European Union should, on the basis of its own first principle, take the
lead in a campaign for wider ratification and full application of this Convention by ILO Member States. That
campaign should start with consultations with a view to ratification of this convention by all Member States of the
EU.

2. Objectives

2.1.
The Committee highlights and supports activities of the European Union aimed at multilateral action which
will promote social development through international trade. It agrees that negotiations on this matter must be
continued within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and welcomes the EU’s general approach in this matter. The
EU must make a real effort to make this a priority issue in the WTO. The Committee considers that priority should
be given to encouraging countries to ratify the basic ILO human rights Conventions on Freedom of Association and
protection of the right to organise (1948) (for workers and employers), on the right to organise Collective Bargaining
(1949) and on Forced Labour (1930) and the abolition of Forced Labour (1957). All EU Member States have ratified
the Conventions on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining, and the other human rights Conventions,
which have also been ratified by an overwhelming majority of ILO Member States, including a large number of
developing countries.

2.2.
The Committee regrets that the ILO Convention against Discrimination in Employment and Occupation
(1958), which is of exactly the same nature and fundamental importance as the Conventions mentioned earlier and
just as widely ratified, is not mentioned by the Commission in this context. This must be an unintended omission.
During the meeting of the Third Preparatory Committee of the Social Summit last month in New York, the EU has
shown the importance it gives to the principles enshrined in this convention. The Committee therefore strongly
recommends that the European Union correct this and include this Anti-Discrimination Convention in the proposed
campaign. Logically, this should also be a vehicle for some of the European Union’s views and intentions concerning
the eradication of poverty and exclusion, laid down for instance in the second Conclusion of the Commission’s
document (equality between men and women).

The Committee attaches great importance to raising the status of women through access to income and to
2.3.
education. Education, especially of women and girls, is a key factor in the battle against poverty and overpopulation.
Where women are educated, both infant death rates and birth rates fall.

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2.4.
The substance of the Conventions referred to in points 11.1. and 11.2. underpins the approach to the ‘social
clause’ — already proposed in various ESC Opinions — an approach which obviously has nothing in common with
protectionism. On the contrary, widespread application of these principles would boost trade by ensuring that all
workers enjoy equal basic rights and consumers have reasonable guarantees that the goods they purchase have not
been produced under inhumane working conditions. In this connection, the Committee also draws the attention to
the ongoing analytical work of the OECD on this issue, the results of which might provide valuable arguments for
further negotiations.

2.5.
One effective way to encourage governments to comply and ratify with important ILO Conventions is to give
priority when granting aid and trade preferences to countries which implement genuine, effective social development
strategies. This could be a worthwhile contribution by the European Union to the increase in the resources assigned
to social development which will be necessary, even if the Summit succeeds in using existing resources more
efficiently. In this context, the Committee welcomes Council Regulation (EC) No 3281/94 of 19 December last year
applying a four year scheme of Generalised Tariff Preferences (1995-1998) in respect of certain industrial products
originating in developing countries.

2.6.
The Commission’s proposals can help to create more humane living and working conditions for child
workers. Child labour can gradually be stamped out by the introduction of general measures to improve ‘well-being’
(working conditions, opportunities for education, etc.).

2.7.
Ratification and compliance with ILO Conventions are as much a function of good governance as is the
effective development of social policies. The trade and aid policies proposed in the previous paragraph will ensure
that existing resources are used more effectively. The developed and developing countries should in parallel introduce
measures to reduce corrupt practices in North/South business dealings. These practices are a grave impediment to
social and economic progress.

2.8.
If the European Union really wishes to include social development in the policies developed by IMF, World
Bank and regional development banks, it must actively use its influence in these institutions to convince them that
they must cooperate with the ILO much more intensively than in the past, in particular on structural adjustment
operations. The EU must take proper account of the impact of structural adjustment programmes on the poor, for
example, in health, education and agricultural policy changes.

2.9.
The Committee reiterates its view, expressed in earlier Opinions, that it is high time to construct the
conditions and the instruments which can stimulate economic growth, trade and distribution of wealth and
opportunities at the global level and link this to a process of development which is compatible with social progress
and protection of the environment. This requires that the EU commits itself to strengthen coherence between its
external, security, trade, agriculture and development polices. The Committee urges the EU to make this commitment
at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, given the coincidence in time of this Summit meeting
and the establishment of the WTO.

3. Means: resources and follow-up

The Committee wishes to stress the importance of the Commission’s intention to help developing countries (and in
particular the poorest among them) by measures which stimulate gradual integration of the informal sector into the
formal economy.
including farmers’
In this connection the Committee stresses the important role NGOs,
organizations, cooperatives and women’s organizations can play in addition to employers’ and trade union
organizations.

4. Conclusions

4.1.
The Committee is pleased with the determination of the European Union, expressed in its Conclusions, to
step up its contribution to multilateral negotiations on standards and Conventions. This must be done with a clear
division of roles and responsibilities. The Committee refers, in this context, to its Own-initiative Opinion on the
Relations between the EU and the International Labour Organization (ILO), adopted last month.

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4.2.
Finally, the Committee strongly recommends that the European Union, involving workers, employers and
other relevant socio-economic interest groups, make a clearly focused contribution to the follow-up process of the
Social Summit by selecting for coordinated, EU-wide action, a limited number of initiatives in the fields of
employment creation, the fight against poverty, and social integration. Implementation of the Summit decisions will
be a matter for individual governments. However, the Summit should, and probably will, stress the significance of
regional cooperation in the implementation process. It is important for the success of the Social Summit that a major
group of countries, such as those united in the European Union, set an example of such cooperation in their own
region. The Commission is invited to work out a proposal on the basis of existing European Union policies on
employment, poverty, and social exclusion.

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Follow-up to the Fourth World
Conference on Women’

(2000/C 168/11)

On 27 January 2000, the Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 23(3) of its Rules of
Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the above-mentioned subject.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee’s work on the
subject, adopted its opinion on 14 April 2000. The rapporteur was Ms Florio.

At its 372nd plenary session (meeting of 27 April 2000) the Economic and Social Committee adopted
the following opinion with 116 votes in favour and two abstentions.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
The UN Fourth World Conference on Women, held in
Beijing on 4-15 September 1995, adopted a Declaration and
Platform for Action, defining objectives and strategies for the
development, advancement and equal participation of women.

1.2.
Five years after the Fourth Conference, the UN General
Assembly adopted Resolutions 52/100 and 52/231, convening
a special session on ‘Women 2000: gender equality, develop-
ment and peace for the 21st century’, to be held in New York
on 5-9 June 2000.

The purpose of the special session is to assess the
1.3.
progress made in implementing the Platform for Action
adopted in Beijing, identify the main obstacles and recommend
future action to combat gender-based discrimination.

Vienna in 1993, which were approved at the International
Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in
1994, and at the World Summit on Social Development, held
in Copenhagen in 1995.

1.5.
The Vienna Conference on Human Rights of 14-25
June 1993 reaffirmed clearly that the human rights of women
throughout the life cycle are an inalienable,
integral and
indivisible part of universal human rights.

1.6.
The Cairo Conference of 5-13 September 1994 con-
firmed the key role women play in development and popu-
lation growth issues. For the first time, the conference high-
lighted the need to improve the social and economic status of
women, and launch education and training programmes to
raise their awareness of their rights. Better access to education,
information and healthcare is the sine qua non for an improved
demographic policy.

1.4.
In order to assess the extent to which the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action have been implemented,
the session will of necessity have to take into account the
reports on the World Conference on Human Rights, held in

1.7.
The Copenhagen World Summit (6-12 March 1995)
highlighted, for the first time, the ‘feminisation’ of poverty,
and asserted the principle that sustainable development can
only be launched by means of economic policies which take
social factors and, especially gender differences, fully into
account.