KOFI ANNAN OUTLINES PRIORITIES TO ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TO ERADICATE POVERTY

SG/SM/99/199
5 July 1999






Following is the opening address of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Economic and Social Council, delivered at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 5 July, 1999:



“I am pleased to see you all here today for this important session. I would like to start by paying tribute to the efforts of Ambassador Paolo Fulci as President of this Council. He has pursued with great determination his goal of bringing about a renaissance of ECOSOC, and I think everyone will agree that ECOSOC has been very dynamic during his tenure.

I also want to express my appreciation to his predecessor, Ambassador Juan Somavia, who helped to sow the seeds of ECOSOC's renewal and who remains an integral part of the ECOSOC community as Director-General of the ILO. It is fair to say that we have an increasingly new ECOSOC on our hands.

There is certainly no shortage of challenges on our agenda. One year ago, the international community was gripped by fear of a global recession. The devastating impact of the Asian financial crisis had spread to the Russian Federation and Latin America. It threatened to engulf the developed countries as well, deepening an already troubling decline in world output.

Thankfully, what was feared did not materialize. The United States economy has continued to expand. Asia and Latin America are showing encouraging signs of recovery.

Still, this is no time for complacency. First, because the risks of new crises and a slowdown in world economic growth are still significant. And second, because we continue to face a crisis of development.

As we approach the end of the twentieth century, the global community can celebrate many remarkable gains in living standards and in the struggle against poverty.

Developing countries have covered as much distance in human development during the past 30 years as the industrial world managed over more than a century.

Since 1960, the infant mortality rate has been halved, the malnutrition rate has declined by one third, and the proportion of children attending primary school has increased from 50 to 75 per cent. The choices and opportunities people enjoy have increased as well, with men and women participating more fully in decision-making owing to the spread of democracy and the principles of good governance.

However, there is an inescapable blot on this record of achievement: the extent of global poverty, in rich and poor countries alike.

In 1974, world population was 4 billion and the number of people living in absolute poverty was estimated at one quarter of the total.

Today, world population has increased to six billion, but half the world population is mired in poverty, trying to eke out a living on three dollars a day or less. AIDS, crime and conflict entrench poverty still further, while poverty itself fuels the spread of disease and disruption.

The goal of eradicating poverty is the primary focus of this Council. It may be an ambitious goal, but it is not utopian. The progress that has been made these past few decades has shown us what can be done and how to do it.

We also know what it costs. It has been estimated that the total additional investment required to achieve universal access to basic social services -- education, health, nutrition, reproductive health, family planning, safe water and sanitation -- would be roughly $40 billion per year. That is less than what Europeans spend on cigarettes, and one tenth of the world trade in illegal drugs.

Non-industrialized countries, meanwhile, who can least afford to divert their resources, spend more than three times as much on their militaries.

However, eradicating poverty is such an all-encompassing goal that it is sometimes difficult to know where to start. So it helps to set some priorities. Allow me to suggest a few.

First, the industrial nations need to enact policies that will promote higher and more balanced rates of world economic growth. A world economy growing at 2 per cent per year will not provide the resources or the enabling environment for a war on poverty. Some two billion young people in the developing world are unemployed or underemployed. Thirty-seven million people in OECD countries are without work. So our choice is clear: we can expand the world economy, or we can see social exclusion take even deeper root, with all-too-predictable consequences.

Second, the global community -- through aid, through trade, and through its decision-making at the United Nations and elsewhere -- must give the highest priority to meeting the basic needs of the world's poor.

The governments of the developing countries bear the primary responsibility for this task. Enlightened leadership is especially relevant in this regard.

We all know what we mean by an economic enabling environment. But a political enabling environment is just as crucial -- that is, a commitment by leadership to the freedoms and practices that will release the creative and entrepreneurial energies of a country's people and attract investment, both foreign and domestic. Indeed, in finding the path to prosperity, economics and politics go hand in hand.

These are admittedly huge tasks. Developing countries cannot do it all by themselves; they need help.


That is why the decline in official development assistance, now at its lowest level in half a century, must be reversed. That is why developing countries must find relief from the debt that is stifling their development and, in some cases, consuming more than half of their annual budget.

And that is why developing countries must be given greater access to the markets of the developed countries -- so that they can participate fully in the global economy and earn their way out of poverty. I should stress that the enactment of these policies is a matter not only of solidarity, but of enlightened self-interest.

Third, we must do more to advance the prospects of women. Women are among the poorest of the poor. They work long days, walk long distances to fetch water and must find time and energy for informal sector activities which are their only source of income. Their jobs are truly never done.

It has long past time to heed the experience in many countries that shows that investments in women -- and especially in the education of women and girls -- are the key to sustainable development and bring the greatest dividends to families, communities and entire societies. By right and by reason, women must have equal opportunities. To put it another way, you can no more be half equal than half free.

Given these challenges, the rejuvenation of ECOSOC occurs not a moment too soon. ECOSOC is a unique forum where economic and social issues can be discussed in all their complexity. It is increasingly open to the participation of the private sector, civil society and other stake-holders. And it has been forging closer links with the Bretton Woods institutions, for example through a series of lively and well-attended meetings that have brought together in one room much of the world's expertise on development.

These are all developments of great significance. Global policy-making needs an ECOSOC it can look to for guidance and legitimacy, and I trust we will rise to that challenge.

The extent and severity of global poverty is not just a global financial and economic crisis. It is a global moral and ethical crisis that calls for more than declarations of intent and protracted negotiations. It
calls for confronting the true deficit: not trade deficits or budget deficits but rather the deficit in political will that is our biggest obstacle.

I believe we can achieve more great things if only we put our minds and political energies to the task. In that spirit, I wish you the best for the success of your deliberations. Thank you.”