The Commission for Social Development, acting by consensus on the final day of its sixty-first session, decided to forward four draft resolutions to the Economic and Social Council for adoption — including the draft resolution “Creating full and productive employment and decent work for all as a way of overcoming inequalities to accelerate the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. By its terms, the Council would note, among other things, that multiple crises, including the pandemic, have increased the number of those living in poverty, widened inequalities, increased unemployment and has continue to disproportionately impact people in vulnerable situations. It would also stress the need to address challenges faced by those working in informal or vulnerable jobs, by investing in the creation of more decent work opportunities.
The representative of Mexico expressed disagreement with preambular paragraph 33 which spotlights the 2025 Summit, calling for a transparent process and for the appointment of facilitators to steer the process. Stressing that the family is a sociological concept that changes when development takes place, she noted that the resolution forgets to mention the diversity of the family.
The representative of Malaysia voiced disappointment that the interest of developing countries continues to be stonewalled, resulting in the adoption of resolutions that are incongruent with the realities in developing countries. He disassociated from the term “multigender forms of discrimination” and said they “do not agree with these terms but we hope that future resolutions on priority issues will reflect the legitimate concerns of member states in order to reach a real consensus.”
The representative of Senegal emphasized that the resolution falls in a post-COVID context, seeking to bolster social protections by facilitating decent jobs and reducing inequality. Opposing non-consensus-based language, he disassociated from the terms “multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination”, as well as references to families which are in odds with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The representative of Hungary disassociated from preambular paragraph 19, noting that the mention of certain minorities — including migrants — excludes others who are equally vulnerable and deserve equal attention from the international community.
The Permanent Observer for the Holy See, describing the inclusion of controversial language related to discrimination as “regrettable”, noted that the expression “multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination” lacks a definition agreed upon by the international community. He added that the term “gender” is grounded in biological and sexual identity.
The representative of the United Kingdom highlighted the universalization of social protection, including the recent efforts for global accelerator for social protection. Reducing the disability gap is a key priority for his Government, he said, also stressing the importance of ensuring that young people, as well as family units are supported by the labor market.
The representative of Nigeria insisted on the importance of the family in social protection and regretted the attempt to use the family as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, adding that the family is very present in the legally binding instruments of human rights, it is therefore the core of society and the provisions of some of these instruments have therefore allowed universal ratification and should not be questioned. He also regretted that some have tried to obstruct the wording concerning the family since these are priority issues. As for “multisexual forms of discrimination”, regret disagreement leaving room for interpretations as those categories are not agreed upon at the international level.
The representative of Djibouti stressed that the family is the central element of all social development, adding that he deplored the counterproductive efforts to introduce controversial language about families. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that measures benefiting the family can make a real difference, giving it even more relevance, he noted.
The representative of Iran underlined the essential role that the family plays in all social coverage and service delivery policies, adding that they consider it unfortunate to have chosen a wording that was not agreed upon in negotiations and is not consistent with their legislation, raising reservations to operational paragraphs 26 and 34.
The representative of the United States expressed concern about the lack of an agreed-upon definition of the term “illicit financial flows” and he disassociated from preambular paragraph 30.
The representative of Libya expressed reservations over the language used in paragraphs 42 and 45 as they are not internationally agreed terms and are inconsistent with Libya’s national culture.
The representative of Mauritania stressed the importance of the concept of the family, which is the main unit of society. Based on Mauritania’s religious and social convictions, gender represents either a man or a woman; therefore, she expressed reservations about the use of language that contravenes such ideas.
Delivering brief closing remarks, Commission Chair Alya Ahmed Saif al Thani (Qatar) summarized the session, noting: “We emphasized the need for strong financing of global public goods, reforming the international financing architecture to fund actions for sustainable development, [and] bolstering strategies to reduce informality, promote decent work and universalize social protection. Now it is time to commit ourselves to taking actions in our respective national contexts to create decent work opportunities for all, and to reduce inequality for the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda,” she said.
Immediately following the closure of the sixty-first session, the Commission opened the first meeting of its sixty-second session. Acting by acclamation, it elected Ruchira Kamboj (India) as its Chair. The Commission then elected, also by acclamation, Jon Ivanovski (North Macedonia), Carla María Carlson (Dominican Republic) and Thomas Lammar (Luxembourg) as Vice-Chairs of the sixty-second session.
Sources: United Nations Press and own elaboration.
