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OPENING STATEMENT
 BY
MR. KIM HAK-SU
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
AND THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this first session of the Subcommittee on Socially Vulnerable Groups.  This meeting represents the culmination of our joint efforts to revitalize ESCAP in order to make it more effective and more responsive to the needs of Members and Associate Members.

In the revitalization process that I set in motion, the programme of work, the secretariat and the conference structures have been revised and made congruent with each other.  Thus, the Committee on Emerging Social Issues reviews the programme of work in that area to be implemented by the secretariat's Emerging Social Issues Division.  The Committee meets every other year and in the intervening year, two Subcommittees meet, namely the Subcommittee on Health and Development and this Subcommittee on Socially Vulnerable Groups.  This structure permits Members and Associate Members to give focused and specialized guidance to the secretariat in planning and implementing its programmes.

Distinguished Delegates,

There are two main purposes of this first session of the Subcommittee.  First, the session will permit us to review regional implementation of the Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social Development, held at Copenhagen in 1995.  The secretariat will take into account your reports to this Subcommittee in the preparation of a report by the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Copenhagen Programme of Action.  Second, the secretariat will seek your guidance on priority areas for inclusion in the relevant programme of work for 2006-2007.

As you are aware, the three broad goals of the Copenhagen Programme of Action are poverty alleviation, employment generation and social integration.  ESCAP has made poverty reduction its overarching goal.  I have established a Millennium Development Goals Centre in my office with the mandate to review achievement of those goals and targets, particularly the goal of reducing poverty by half between 1990 and 2015.  This Centre assesses progress and issues periodic reports for the region.  We have also mainstreamed poverty concerns in all other areas of our programme of work, including that on emerging social issues.

You will observe that a note by the secretariat for this meeting indicates that overall employment in the region has not kept pace with the growth of the labour force, and that youth unemployment is a major issue.

The major focus of this Subcommittee is on the third priority area of Copenhagen – social integration.  By examining the situation of socially vulnerable groups, we can identify effective practices in integration and expose the gaps in the process.  A note by the secretariat will permit a special focus on the Pacific island developing countries in assessing progress towards the goals of the Copenhagen Programme of Action.

Distinguished Delegates,

This Subcommittee was established in order to allow us to give special attention to those groups who benefit least from the social and economic progress being achieved in the region.  This session will focus on the poor, international migrants and their families, older persons and persons with disabilities.  Until each of these groups is integrated into mainstream development efforts, comprehensive development cannot take place and countries will not be able to reach the targets they have set for themselves in global, regional and national plans of action in the social sphere.

While women in general should not be considered a disadvantaged group, women who live in poverty, female migrants, older women and women with disabilities are often particularly vulnerable to neglect or exploitation.  Last week ESCAP convened the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review Regional Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.  The report of that meeting will be presented to you during this session.

This first session of the Subcommittee will also give you the opportunity to review the programme performance of ESCAP in the area of emerging social issues during 2002-2003.  We also wish to obtain your recommendations concerning priority areas to be included in the programme of work for 2006-2007.

Your deliberations will be important not only for strengthening the work of ESCAP but also for giving impetus to national efforts toward social development and social inclusion.

I wish this first session of the Subcommittee every success.