| |
|
|
Social Action Update
|
|
| Volume 3, No. 3, December 2003 |
|
ISSN No.
102-8992 |
|
 Resolutions
at ESCAP’s Fifty-Ninth Commission Session |
The fifty ninth-commission session of ESCAP adopted three
important resolutions related to
emerging social issues.
The Resolution 59/1 on ‘Regional action in follow
up to the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS’
builds on a previous resolution adopted in April 2001
by ESCAP issuing a regional call for action to fight HIV/AIDS.
It also follows up on major resolutions adopted by the
UN General Assembly, notably the UN Millennium Declaration
in September 2000 and the Declaration of Commitment on
HIV/AIDS in June 2001.
Resolution 59/1 recognizes HIV/AIDS as a major development
challenge of our times and emphasizes the need for a sustained
multisectoral approach to addressing this challenge. It
notes with particular concern the continuing high rates
of infection among young people in the Asian and Pacific
region and the urgent need for increased investment in,
and implementation of, HIV prevention strategies
for young people.
The Resolution, among other things, calls upon all members
and associate members to:
- Respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic with political commitment
at the highest decision-making levels;
-
Mainstream HIV/AIDS into national economic
and social development planning;
-
Generate adequate resources, both through
domestic resource mobilization and by encouraging donors
to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 per
cent of gross national product for official development
assistance;
-
Promote policies that prevent the spread
of HIV/ AIDS through high-risk behaviour and improve
access to affordable care and treatment;
-
Promote the implementation of comprehensive
interventions for HIV prevention among drug users, together
with drug abuse prevention strategies;
-
Support action to address the gender-specific
dimensions of the epidemic;
-
Improve the accessibility by, and availability
for, the poor of antiretroviral and other life-saving
drugs;
-
Strengthen support for children living
with HIV/AIDS, orphans of parents who have died of AIDS-related
illnesses and older persons affected by the death of
adult offspring as a result of HIV/AIDS.
Resolution 59/2 on ‘Strengthening social safety
in the Asian and Pacific region’ recalls the World
Summit for Social Development in 1995 as also the Copenhagen
Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of
Action of the World Summit, which established a consensus
to place people at the core of the concerns for sustainable
development.
It acknowledges that while globalization, technological
advances and rapid economic growth in some countries of
the region have offered unprecedented opportunities and
brought about substantial progress on poverty eradication
and social integration, they have also presented serious
challenges for the people in the region. The Resolution
emphasizes the importance of fostering an integrated social
safety net and the need to mobilize resources at both
the national and regional levels for social safety, to
expand opportunities for productive employment and to
invest in the development of human resources, entrepreneurship
and employability.
In terms of action and implementation Resolution 59/2
calls upon members and associate members to:
-
Renew their commitment to implementing
the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and
the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social
Development, held in 1995;
-
Strengthen efforts to foster social
integration and an enabling environment for social development,
by promoting productive and gainful employment and eradicating
poverty;
-
Emphasize the need to continue to allocate,
and enhance the allocation of, resources as appropriate
to education, vocational and management training, occupational
safety and health;
-
Stress the need to improve methods
for collection and analysis of basic employment data,
disaggregated by, inter alia, age, sex and relevant
socioeconomic categories, as appropriate in the country
context and assess the feasibility of developing and
improving mechanisms to measure unremunerated work;
-
Consider devising arrangements, as
appropriate, to meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable
groups, having regard to available resources and;
-
Strengthen partnerships, as appropriate,
among the public sector, the private sector and other
stakeholders concerned with social welfare and social
safety.
The third resolution adopted at the fifty-ninth session
of ESCAP, Resolution 59/3 was on ‘Regional implementation
of the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards
an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for
Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific during
the Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003-2012’
This resolution too builds on earlier resolutions adopted
by the Commission, namely resolution 58/4 of 22 May 2002
on promoting an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based
society for people with disabilities in the Asian and
Pacific region in the twenty-first century. It also recalls
the successful
High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Conclude the Asian
and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993- 2002, held
at Otsu City, Shiga, Japan, from 25 to 28 October 2002,
and its adoption of the Biwako Millennium Framework for
Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based
Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the
Pacific, The Biwako Millennium Framework identifies the
following seven priority areas:
-
Self-help organizations of persons
with disabilities and related parent and family associations
and related family and parent associations;
-
Women with disabilities;
-
Early detection, intervention and education;
-
Training and employment, including
self-employment;
-
Access to built environments and public
transport;
-
Access to information and communications,
including information, communication and assistive technologies;
and
-
Poverty alleviation through capacity
building, social security and sustainable livelihood
programmes.
Resolution 59/3 calls upon all members and associate
members to support the implementation of the Biwako Millennium
Framework at the national level and through international
cooperation and partnership.
It further urges Governments in the region, which have
not done so, to sign the Proclamation on the Full Participation
and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian
and Pacific Region and invites all Governments, donor
agencies and the private sector to continue to contribute
to the technical assistance trust fund for the extended
Decade, 2003-2012.
|
| |
|
|
