Implementation of the Outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th Special Session of the General Assembly

A/RES/69/143View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 26a Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly, published in 2015.

What other versions does this mandate have?

24 versions · 2002–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/178

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/178	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly	10,753	91%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/146	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly	10,458	89%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/174	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly	9,686	92%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/188	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly	9,364	91%Compare
2022	A/RES/76/134	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly	8,785	92%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

24 reports · 2003–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/333	From commitment to implementation : advancing social development after the Doha Political Declaration report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/80/178
2025	A/80/146	Equity, economic security for all and solidarity : reaffirming social development for a sustainable future report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/79/146
2024	A/79/154	Information and digital technologies for advancing social development : opportunities and challenges for improving social policies report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/78/174
2023	A/78/211	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/188
2022	A/77/175	Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the 24th special session of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/134

What subjects does this mandate have?

12 subjects

Development Strategies Food Security Full Employment Gender Equality Human Rights Indigenous Peoples Least Developed Countries Partnership Persons with Disabilities Poverty Mitigation Social Development Social Integration

What’s in this document?

66 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;¹⁴

¹⁴A/69/157.

Welcomes the reaffirmation by Governments of their will and commitment to continue implementing the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development,Error: Reference source not found in particular to eradicate poverty, promote full and productive employment and decent work for all and foster social integration to achieve stable, safe and just societies for all;

Recognizes that the implementation of the Copenhagen commitments and the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, are mutually reinforcing and that the Copenhagen commitments are crucial to a coherent people-centred approach to development;

Reaffirms that the Commission for Social Development continues to have the primary responsibility for the follow-up to and review of the World Summit for Social Development and the outcome of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly and that it serves as the main United Nations forum for an intensified global dialogue on social development issues, and calls upon Member States, the relevant specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system and civil society to enhance their support for its work;

Expresses deep concern that the ongoing adverse impact of the world financial and economic crisis, volatile energy and food prices and food insecurity and the challenges posed by climate change, as well as the lack of results so far in the multilateral trade negotiations, have negative implications for social development;

Stresses the importance of the policy space of national Governments, in particular in the areas of social expenditure and social protection programmes, and calls upon international financial institutions and donors to support developing countries in achieving their social development, in line with their national priorities and strategies by, among other things, providing debt relief;

Recognizes that the broad concept of social development affirmed by the World Summit for Social Development and the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly has not been fully implemented in national and international policymaking and that, although poverty eradication is a central part of development policy and discourse, further attention should be given to the other commitments agreed to at the Summit, in particular those concerning employment and decent work and social integration, which have also suffered from a general disconnect between economic and social policymaking;

Acknowledges that the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997–2006), launched after the World Summit for Social Development, has provided the long-term vision for sustained and concerted efforts at the national and international levels to eradicate poverty;

Recognizes that the implementation of the commitments made by Governments during the first Decade has fallen short of expectations, and recalls the proclamation of the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008–2017) by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/205 of 19 December 2007 in order to support, in an efficient and coordinated manner, the internationally agreed development goals related to poverty eradication, including the Millennium Development Goals;

Emphasizes that the major United Nations conferences and summits, including the Millennium Summit, the 2005 World Summit, the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, the 2013 special event to follow up efforts made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the International Conference on Financing for Development, in its Monterrey Consensus,¹⁵ and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20 to 22 June 2012, have reinforced the priority and urgency of poverty eradication within the United Nations development agenda;

¹⁵Report of the International Conference on Financing for Development, Monterrey, Mexico, 18-22 March 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.02.II.A.7), chap. I, resolution 1, annex.

Also emphasizes that poverty eradication policies should tackle poverty by addressing its root and structural causes and manifestations and that equity, inclusivity, the reduction of inequalities and the empowerment of the poor need to be incorporated into those policies;

Reaffirms that each country has the primary responsibility for its own economic and social development and that the role of national policies and development strategies cannot be overemphasized, and underlines the importance of adopting effective measures, including new financial mechanisms, as appropriate, to support the efforts of developing countries to achieve sustained economic growth, sustainable development, poverty eradication and the strengthening of their democratic systems;

Stresses that an enabling environment is a critical precondition for achieving equity and social development and that, while economic growth is essential, entrenched inequality and marginalization are an obstacle to the broad-based and sustained growth required for sustainable, inclusive and people-centred development, and recognizes the need to balance and ensure complementarity between measures to achieve growth and measures to achieve economic and social equity and inclusion in order for there to be an impact on overall poverty levels;

Also stresses that stability in global financial systems and corporate social responsibility and accountability, as well as national economic policies that have an impact on other stakeholders, are essential in creating an enabling international environment to promote economic growth and social development;

Recognizes the need to promote respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms in order to address the most pressing social needs of people living in poverty, including through the design and development of appropriate mechanisms to strengthen and consolidate democratic institutions and governance;

Stresses the importance of economic, social and cultural rights and the importance of the principles of non-discrimination, inclusivity and meaningful participation for the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development;

Reaffirms the commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women, as well as to the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all development efforts, recognizing that they are critical for achieving sustainable development and for efforts to combat hunger and malnutrition, poverty and disease and to strengthen policies and programmes that improve, ensure and broaden the full participation of women in all spheres of political, economic, social and cultural life, as equal partners, and improve their access to all resources needed for the full exercise of all their human rights and fundamental freedoms by removing persistent barriers, including ensuring equal access to full and productive employment and decent work for all, as well as strengthening their economic independence;

Encourages Governments to promote effective participation of people in civic, social, economic and political activities, as well as in the planning and implementation of social integration policies and strategies, in order to better achieve the goals of poverty eradication, full employment and decent work and social integration;

Reaffirms the commitment to the promotion of opportunities for full, freely chosen and productive employment, including for the most disadvantaged, as well as decent work for all, including respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, also reaffirms that there is an urgent need to create an environment at the national and international levels that is conducive to the attainment of full and productive employment and decent work for all as a foundation for sustainable development, that an environment that supports investment, growth and entrepreneurship is essential to the creation of new job opportunities and that human resources development strategies should be premised on national development objectives that ensure a strong link between education, health, training and employment, help to maintain a productive and competitive workforce and are responsive to the needs of the economy, and further reaffirms that opportunities for men and women to obtain productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity are essential to ensuring the eradication of hunger and poverty, the improvement of economic and social well-being for all, the achievement of sustained economic growth and sustainable development of all nations and a fully inclusive and equitable globalization;

Stresses the importance of removing obstacles to the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, in particular of peoples living under colonial or other forms of alien domination or foreign occupation, which adversely affect their social and economic development, including their exclusion from labour markets;

Reaffirms the need to address all forms of violence in its many manifestations, including domestic violence, particularly against women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, and discrimination, including xenophobia, recognizes that violence increases challenges to States and societies in the achievement of poverty eradication, full and productive employment and decent work for all and social integration, and further recognizes that terrorism, trafficking in arms, organized crime, trafficking in persons, money-laundering, ethnic and religious conflict, civil war, politically motivated killing and genocide present fundamental threats to societies and pose increasing challenges to States and societies in the attainment of conditions conducive to social development and that they also present urgent and compelling reasons for action by Governments individually and, as appropriate, jointly to foster social cohesion while recognizing, protecting and valuing diversity;

Requests the United Nations funds, programmes and agencies to mainstream the goal of full and productive employment and decent work for all into their policies, programmes and activities, as well as to support the efforts of Member States aimed at achieving this objective, and invites financial institutions to support efforts in this regard;

Recognizes that promoting full employment and decent work for all also requires investing in education, training and skills development for women and men, and girls and boys, strengthening social protection and health systems and applying international labour standards, and urges States and, as appropriate, the relevant entities of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates, as well as civil society, the private sector, employer organizations, trade unions, the media and other relevant actors, to continue to develop and strengthen policies, strategies and programmes to enhance, in particular, the employability of women and youth and to ensure their access to full and productive employment and decent work for all, including by improving access to formal and non-formal education, skills development and vocational training, lifelong learning and retraining and long-distance education, inter alia, in information and communications technology and entrepreneurial skills, particularly in developing countries, including with a view to supporting the economic empowerment of women in the different stages of their lives;

Also recognizes that full and productive employment and decent work for all, which encompass social protection, fundamental principles and rights at work, tripartism and social dialogue, are key elements of sustainable development for all countries and are therefore an important objective of international cooperation, and supports the promotion of innovative approaches in the design and implementation of employment policies and programmes for all, including the long-term unemployed;

Encourages States to design and implement policies and strategies for poverty eradication, full employment and decent work for all, including the creation of full and productive employment that is appropriately and adequately remunerated, as well as policies and strategies for social integration that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and address the specific needs of social groups such as young people, persons with disabilities, older persons, migrants and indigenous peoples, taking into account the concerns of those groups in the planning, implementation and evaluation of development programmes and policies;

Stresses the need to allocate adequate resources for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in the workplace, including unequal access to labour market participation and wage inequalities, as well as reconciliation of work and private life for both women and men;

Acknowledges the important nexus between international migration and social development, and stresses the importance of effectively enforcing labour laws with regard to migrant workers’ labour relations and working conditions, inter alia, those related to their remuneration and conditions of health, safety at work and the right to freedom of association;

Recognizes the responsibility of Governments to urgently and significantly scale up efforts to accelerate the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services;

Acknowledges that universal health coverage implies that all people have access, without discrimination, to nationally determined sets of needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative basic health services and essential, safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, while ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the users to financial hardship;

Recognizes that, since the convening of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, advances have been made in addressing and promoting social integration, including through the adoption of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002,¹⁶ the World Programme of Action for Youth,¹⁷ the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,¹⁸ the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples¹⁹ and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;²⁰

¹⁶Report of the Second World Assembly on Ageing, Madrid, 8–12 April 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.02.IV.4), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.

¹⁷Resolution 50/81, annex, and resolution 62/126, annex.

¹⁸United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2515, No. 44910.

¹⁹Resolution 61/295, annex.

²⁰Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.

Stresses that the benefits of economic growth should be inclusive and distributed more equitably and that, in order to close the gap of inequality and avoid any further deepening of inequality, comprehensive social policies and programmes, including appropriate social transfer and job creation programmes and social protection systems, are needed;

Recognizes the importance of providing social protection schemes for the formal and informal economy as instruments for achieving equity, inclusion and stability and cohesion of societies, and emphasizes the importance of supporting national efforts aimed at bringing informal workers into the formal economy;

Stresses that poverty eradication policies should, inter alia, ensure that people living in poverty have access to education, health care, water and sanitation and other public and social services, as well as access to productive resources, including credit, land, training, technology, knowledge and information, and also ensure that citizens and local communities participate in decision-making on social development policies and programmes in this regard;

Recognizes that the social integration of people living in poverty should encompass addressing and meeting their basic human needs, including nutrition, health, water, sanitation, housing and access to education and employment, through integrated development strategies;

Reaffirms that social integration policies should seek to reduce inequalities, promote access to basic social services, education for all and health care, eliminate discrimination, increase the participation and integration of social groups, particularly young people, older persons and persons with disabilities and address the challenges posed to social development by globalization and market driven reforms in order for all people in all countries to benefit from globalization;

Urges Governments, with the cooperation of relevant entities, to develop systems of social protection that support labour market participation and address and reduce inequality and social exclusion and to extend or broaden, as appropriate, their effectiveness and coverage, including for workers in the informal economy, invites the International Labour Organization to strengthen its social protection strategies and policies on extending social security coverage, urges Governments, while taking account of national circumstances, to focus on the needs of those living in, or vulnerable to, poverty and to give particular consideration to universal access to basic social security systems, including the implementation of social protection floors, which can provide a systemic base upon which to address poverty and vulnerability, and in this regard takes note of the International Labour Organization recommendation on social protection floors;

Requests the United Nations system to continue to support national efforts of Member States to achieve inclusive social development in a coherent and coordinated manner;

Reaffirms the commitment to promote the rights of indigenous peoples in the areas of education, employment, housing, sanitation, health and social security, and notes the attention paid to those areas in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

Recognizes the need to formulate social development policies in an integral, articulated and participative manner, recognizing poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon, calls for interlinked public policies on this matter, and underlines the need for public policies to be included in a comprehensive development and well-being strategy;

Acknowledges the role that the public sector can play as an employer and its importance in developing an environment that enables the effective generation of full and productive employment and decent work for all;

Also acknowledges the vital role that the private sector can play in generating new investments, employment and financing for development and in advancing efforts towards full employment and decent work for all, and encourages the private sector, including small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives, to contribute to decent work for all and job creation for both women and men, and particularly for young people, including through partnerships with Governments, the United Nations system, civil society and academia;

Recognizes that steps should be taken to anticipate and offset the negative social and economic consequences of globalization, giving priority to agricultural and non-farm sectors, and to maximize its benefits for poor people living and working in rural areas, while paying special attention to the development of microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in rural areas, as well as subsistence economies, to secure their safe interaction with larger economies;

Stresses that more concerted efforts are required to boost smallholder productivity in a sustainable manner, including scaling up public investments in agriculture, attracting responsible private investment in agriculture, improving the quality and quantity of rural extension services and ensuring that smallholder farmers, in particular women, have access to the necessary resources, assets and markets;

Recognizes the need to pay necessary attention to the social development of people in urban areas, especially the urban poor;

Also recognizes the need to give priority to investing in and further contributing to sustainable development, including sustainable agricultural development, and to a financial infrastructure that provides access to a variety of sustainable products and services for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship cooperatives and other forms of social enterprises, and the participation and entrepreneurship of women as means to promote full and productive employment and decent work for all;

Reaffirms the commitments made in respect of meeting the special needs of Africa at the 2005 World Summit,²¹ underlines the call of the Economic and Social Council for enhanced coordination within the United Nations system and the ongoing efforts to harmonize the current initiatives on Africa, and requests the Commission for Social Development to continue to give due prominence in its work to the social dimensions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development;²²

²¹Resolution 60/1, para. 68.

²²A/57/304, annex.

Also reaffirms, in this context, that international cooperation has an essential role in assisting developing countries, including the least developed countries, in strengthening their human, institutional and technological capacity;

Stresses that the international community should enhance its efforts to create an enabling environment for social development and poverty eradication through increasing market access for developing countries, technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, financial aid and a comprehensive solution to the external debt problem;

Also stresses that international trade and stable financial systems can be effective tools to create favourable conditions for the development of all countries and that trade barriers and some trading practices continue to have negative effects on employment growth, particularly in developing countries;

Acknowledges that good governance and the rule of law at the national and international levels are essential for sustained economic growth, sustainable development and the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition;

Underlines the fact that the fulfilment of all official development assistance commitments is crucial, including the commitments by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance to developing countries by 2015 and the target of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance to the least developed countries, and urges developed countries that have not yet done so to fulfil their commitments for official development assistance to developing countries;

Stresses the essential role that official development assistance plays in complementing, leveraging and sustaining financing for development efforts in developing countries and in facilitating the achievement of development objectives, including the internationally agreed development goals, in particular the Millennium Development Goals, and welcomes steps to improve the effectiveness and quality of aid based on the fundamental principles of national ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability;

Urges Member States and the international community to fulfil all their commitments to meet the demands for social development, including social services and assistance, that have arisen from the global financial and economic crisis, which particularly affects the poorest and most vulnerable;

Encourages Member States to reflect in their development strategies current trends in global growth, including nascent recoveries in some economies that offer new opportunities for trade, investment and growth;

Welcomes the contribution to the mobilization of resources for social development by the initiatives taken on a voluntary basis by groups of Member States based on innovative financing mechanisms, including those that aim to provide further drug access at affordable prices to developing countries on a sustainable and predictable basis, such as the International Drug Purchase Facility, UNITAID, as well as other initiatives such as the International Finance Facility for Immunization and the Advance Market Commitments for Vaccines, and notes the New York Declaration of 20 September 2004, which launched the Action against Hunger and Poverty initiative and called for further attention to raising funds urgently needed to help to meet the Millennium Development Goals and to complement and ensure the long-term stability and predictability of foreign aid;

Reaffirms that social development requires the active involvement of all actors in the development process, including civil society organizations, corporations and small businesses, and that partnerships among all relevant actors are increasingly becoming part of national and international cooperation for social development, also reaffirms that, within countries, partnerships among the Government, civil society and the private sector can contribute effectively to the achievement of social development goals, and acknowledges the importance of efforts to promote the exchange of information and knowledge on decent work for all and job creation, including green jobs initiatives and related skills, and to facilitate the integration of relevant data into national economic and employment policies;

Underlines the responsibility of the private sector, at both the national and the international levels, including small and large companies and transnational corporations, regarding not only the economic and financial implications but also the development, social, gender and environmental implications of their activities, their obligations towards their workers and their contributions to achieving sustainable development, including social development, emphasizes the responsibility of transnational corporations to respect all applicable laws and international principles, including the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework,²³ to operate transparently, in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and to refrain from affecting the well-being of peoples, and also emphasizes the need to take further concrete actions on corporate responsibility and accountability, including through the participation of all relevant stakeholders, inter alia, for the prevention or prosecution of corruption, and to prevent human rights abuses;

²³A/HRC/17/31, annex.

Stresses the importance of promoting corporate social responsibility and accountability, encourages responsible business practices, such as those promoted by the Global Compact and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, invites the private sector to take into account not only the economic and financial implications but also the development, social, human rights, gender and environmental implications of its undertakings, and underlines the importance of the International Labour Organization Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy;

Acknowledges the inclusion in the report of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development GoalsError: Reference source not found of a goal to end poverty in all its forms everywhere and a goal to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and reiterates the continued importance of giving due consideration to poverty eradication, social integration, full employment and decent work for all in the ongoing discussion on the post-2015 development agenda;

Reaffirms the importance of rethinking and strengthening social development in the contemporary world by, inter alia, appraising progress made, identifying gaps and challenges in achieving the internationally agreed social development goals and realizing opportunities for social development;

Stresses the importance of the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen from 6 to 12 March 1995, and invites all Member States, relevant organizations of the United Nations development system and the specialized agencies, regional commissions and other international organizations, as well as civil society and private sector organizations, to actively promote and undertake activities during 2015 to support an appropriate celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the World Summit;

Decides to devote one high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly, within existing resources, at its seventieth session, in 2015, to the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the World Summit, in order to celebrate the progress made so far and to further strengthen the role of social development beyond 2015, and requests the President of the General Assembly to conduct consultations with Member States in order to determine the modalities for that meeting;

Invites the Secretary-General, the Economic and Social Council, the regional commissions, the relevant specialized agencies, the funds and programmes of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental forums, within their respective mandates, to continue to integrate into their work programmes and give priority attention to the Copenhagen commitments and the Declaration on the tenth anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development,²⁴ to continue to be actively involved in their follow-up and to monitor the achievement of those commitments and undertakings;

²⁴See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2005, Supplement No. 6 (E/2005/26), chap. I, sect. A; see also Economic and Social Council decision 2005/234.

Invites the Economic and Social Council and the Commission for Social Development to give appropriate consideration to the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the World Summit by organizing a meeting during the regular programme of work of the substantive session of the Council and a half-day meeting during the fifty-third session of the Commission, in 2015, taking into account the discussions on the post-2015 development agenda and the fact that a summit at the level of Heads of State and Government for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda will be held in September 2015;

Invites the Commission for Social Development to emphasize, in its review of the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and the Programme of Action, the increased exchange of national, regional and international experiences, the focused and interactive dialogues among experts and practitioners and the sharing of best practices and lessons learned and to remain actively engaged in the discussions on the post-2015 development agenda;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventieth session, under the item entitled “Social development”, the sub-item entitled “Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly”, and requests the Secretary-General to submit a report on the question to the Assembly at that session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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