The commitments made at the Doha Summit for Social Development …
Approximately 40 heads of state and government, around 200 ministers and officials, and approximately 8,000 representatives from civil society and the business world gathered in Doha during the week of November 3 for the Second World Summit for Social Development. The assembled governments agreed in a morally—but politically – binding UN resolution to promote the eradication of extreme poverty, decent working conditions, and improved social cohesion.
The text of the resolution had been pre-negotiated and was adopted in the first few minutes of the summit. The conference dynamic thus suffered because, unlike at earlier UN summits, governments did not wrestle with each other and with civil society over positions: the “outcome” – the resolution agreed – was already set.
On the positive side, the resolution reinforces the SDGs and specifically emphasizes social security for all and overcoming informal, insecure employment. As a significant development compared to the first social summit 30 years ago, the resolution recognises the enormous role of care work; albeit, care work is instrumentalised towards making work more productive, rather than as a right to good care for those who need care, and good working conditions for those who provide care, whether unpaid within the family or paid as employees.
The text of the resolution has many other weaknesses. While it is clear to UN organizations such as UNICEF and FAO that policy measures must have transformative potential towards gender equality, the Doha resolution, like other recent declarations from UN conferences, only calls for addressing gender inequality—in other words, for acting in a “gender-responsive” manner. Instead of reproductive rights, the resolution merely refers to women’s health, thus stepping back from what had been agreed in the Agenda 2030 on “ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” (SDG 5.6).
Intersectional exclusion is not addressed, even though the concept of “social development” is very much about integration and inclusion. And although the accelerating climate disasters perpetuate hunger and poverty in a vicious cycle – as the President of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, convincingly pointed out (from minute 6.5) –only one paragraph in the text addresses the environment and climate.
In terms of conference dynamics, a new voice emerged at this summit – that of people who experience caste-based and other racialized forms of exploitation and oppression. The Global Forum of Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent brings together, among others, Bantu in Sudan, Roma and Sinti in Europe, and Dalits in South Asia. As people who are marginalised in so many intersecting ways, they can hopefully draw on the Doha resolution, which commits to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Representatives of these groups were well represented and vocal in many panels of their own and at other panels where they raised their demands.
… and next steps
Even before the summit, it was clear to progressive civil society that the Doha Summit was just a step; what is far more crucial is to take up and claim the Doha Resolution nationally and internationally in the coming months to really exert pressure and demand change.
For example, Isabel Ortiz, director of the NGO Global Social Justice, showed how austerity policies in most countries had undermined any promise of social justice. Around 6.7 billion people are affected by current austerity policies: public spending on education, health, and social security is being cut massively – often in favor of increased military spending. Such policies must be overcome.
And in Germany? 14% of the population is at risk of poverty. Germany also lags behind in terms of gender equality: the gender pay gap is 18% and the difference in retirement pensions between men and women is 30%. Forty-three percent of single parents—mostly women—are at risk of poverty. A new UNICEF report shows that over one million children are classified as deprived, meaning they have to go without basic necessities such as replacement worn-out clothing, a heated home, or warm meals. The German Council of Economic Experts reports a Gini coefficient for wealth in Germany of 0.76 – which is extremely high and is surpassed by only a few countries.
Social development in Germany is clearly lagging far behind what is needed—and what is actually possible. It is simply a question of political will, as the Special Rapporteur on the right to development pointed out to the German government just this week, citing many areas of concern in German policy making.
Some reflections on the 2nd World Summit for Social Development
The commitments made at the Doha Summit for Social Development …
Approximately 40 heads of state and government, around 200 ministers and officials, and approximately 8,000 representatives from civil society and the business world gathered in Doha during the week of November 3 for the Second World Summit for Social Development. The assembled governments agreed in a morally—but politically – binding UN resolution to promote the eradication of extreme poverty, decent working conditions, and improved social cohesion.
The text of the resolution had been pre-negotiated and was adopted in the first few minutes of the summit. The conference dynamic thus suffered because, unlike at earlier UN summits, governments did not wrestle with each other and with civil society over positions: the “outcome” – the resolution agreed – was already set.
On the positive side, the resolution reinforces the SDGs and specifically emphasizes social security for all and overcoming informal, insecure employment. As a significant development compared to the first social summit 30 years ago, the resolution recognises the enormous role of care work; albeit, care work is instrumentalised towards making work more productive, rather than as a right to good care for those who need care, and good working conditions for those who provide care, whether unpaid within the family or paid as employees.
The text of the resolution has many other weaknesses. While it is clear to UN organizations such as UNICEF and FAO that policy measures must have transformative potential towards gender equality, the Doha resolution, like other recent declarations from UN conferences, only calls for addressing gender inequality—in other words, for acting in a “gender-responsive” manner. Instead of reproductive rights, the resolution merely refers to women’s health, thus stepping back from what had been agreed in the Agenda 2030 on “ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” (SDG 5.6).
Intersectional exclusion is not addressed, even though the concept of “social development” is very much about integration and inclusion. And although the accelerating climate disasters perpetuate hunger and poverty in a vicious cycle – as the President of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, convincingly pointed out (from minute 6.5) –only one paragraph in the text addresses the environment and climate.
The Declaration completely lacks an analysis as to why 2 billion people – mainly women – work in the informal sector. The exploitative nature of global value chains remains unmentioned. In this context, we refer to the remark of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “We need to strengthen labor protections, so that profits do not come at the expense of workers’ rights” (from minute 7:32). This sounds quite different from what most governments say, and do. One session at the conference did address this explicitly, illustrating that progressive policies were needed not only for re-distributive social protection, but also for work to be decent a priori.
In terms of conference dynamics, a new voice emerged at this summit – that of people who experience caste-based and other racialized forms of exploitation and oppression. The Global Forum of Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent brings together, among others, Bantu in Sudan, Roma and Sinti in Europe, and Dalits in South Asia. As people who are marginalised in so many intersecting ways, they can hopefully draw on the Doha resolution, which commits to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Representatives of these groups were well represented and vocal in many panels of their own and at other panels where they raised their demands.
… and next steps
Even before the summit, it was clear to progressive civil society that the Doha Summit was just a step; what is far more crucial is to take up and claim the Doha Resolution nationally and internationally in the coming months to really exert pressure and demand change.
For example, Isabel Ortiz, director of the NGO Global Social Justice, showed how austerity policies in most countries had undermined any promise of social justice. Around 6.7 billion people are affected by current austerity policies: public spending on education, health, and social security is being cut massively – often in favor of increased military spending. Such policies must be overcome.
In its Global Call to Action, civil society reminded us that over 800 million people live in extreme poverty. 4.5 billion people have no access to adequate health care, and 3.8 billion people have minimal or no social security. More than 250 million children and young people have no access to educational institutions. Military spending is skyrocketing. And inequality is becoming increasingly stark: the world’s richest 1% own more wealth than 95 per cent of humanity.
And in Germany? 14% of the population is at risk of poverty. Germany also lags behind in terms of gender equality: the gender pay gap is 18% and the difference in retirement pensions between men and women is 30%. Forty-three percent of single parents—mostly women—are at risk of poverty. A new UNICEF report shows that over one million children are classified as deprived, meaning they have to go without basic necessities such as replacement worn-out clothing, a heated home, or warm meals. The German Council of Economic Experts reports a Gini coefficient for wealth in Germany of 0.76 – which is extremely high and is surpassed by only a few countries.
Social development in Germany is clearly lagging far behind what is needed—and what is actually possible. It is simply a question of political will, as the Special Rapporteur on the right to development pointed out to the German government just this week, citing many areas of concern in German policy making.
As mentioned in passing in the Doha Resolution, we need a new social contract for social justice and solidarity, actually an eco-social contract.
More on that in a future post.
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