Statement by
Mr. Darmansjah Djuala
Minister Counsellor
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia
to the United Nations

Before
The Forty-first Session of
The Commission for Social Development

On

Agenda Item 3:
Follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development and
The Twenty-Four Special Session of the General Assembly:
For Social Development

New York, 13 February 2003

Mr. Chairman,

Let me begin by extending my delegation’s congratulations to you on your election to the chairmanship of the 41st session of the Commission for Social Development. We pledge our full support in helping you carry out your formidable tasks.

Let me also express our appreciation to Mr. Johan Scholvinck for his informative introductory remarks to the Secretary-General’s report on the priority theme for this year. I should also like to associate my delegation with the statement of H.E. Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki of the Kingdom of Morocco on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Mr. Chairman,

People-centered development, designed to ensure that all people can live their lives with dignity and fulfillment, is an imperative of our time. Thus, the Summit on Social Development in 1995, which put the critical dimensions of social development on the map, together with the Millennium Summit and the more recent International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, have called for international cooperation and have underscored their collective responsibility for upholding and managing economic and social development. Indeed, the outcome of WSSD has emphasized the close interrelationship of the three pillars or components of sustainable development including that of social development.

In the wake of these crucial conferences, the international community in presented with a great opportunity to revitalize its efforts for bringing social issues to the forefront of its agenda. The priority theme of this 41st session, organized around five sub-themes, is a further extension of these longstanding interests of the international community.

Indeed, this year’s theme logically follows upon last year’s focus on the coherence and integration of social and economic development policies. At that time it was emphasized that neither of these dimensions of development could be considered in isolation from the other. Yet, while the issues of both dimensions are closely inter-related and linked, there is at the same time a broad divergence in their implementation.

To amplify briefly, seven years have now passed since the Summit on Social Development took place and over two years have gone by since the Millennium Summit. Yet, little or no significant progress has been registered. Despite the fact that each of these conferences have amply addressed the problems facing social development and each has generated significant policy development, the implementation of their central goals has fallen far short of expectations.

In this context, we recognize a number of constraints. To begin, we can agree with the analysis in the report which asserts that, while international economic cooperation has been the norm and is a longstanding pursuit of the United Nations, cooperation for social development is regarded as being largely in the national domain. In addition, economic development is considered comparatively short-term and largely concerned about means while social development focuses more on ends and encompasses long-term development objectives. Too often international discussions tend to focus solely on the means of development and largely neglect to focus on ends. As a result, social development goals do not attract the attention or resources of the international community, particularly that of the private sector, as does economic goals.

To meet these challenges, Indonesia attaches great importance to this year’s theme of national and international cooperation for social development. We are convinced that it would take an increase in it such cooperation for social development to be meaningfully addressed in today’s globalized world. In this connection, we believe that the sub-theme of the report on sharing experiences and identifying best practices, particularly in the areas of capacity building, could greatly help to bolster that cooperation. In fact, we see national responsibility for social development as closely related to the development of such capacity, particularly in the areas of human and institutional capacities. The international community should therefore pay more attention to focusing their cooperation on capacity building in these areas. Likewise, South-South partnership should also be fully utilized in sharing experiences and expertise as well as in building capacities. This, we believe, is particularly important for enhancing national ownership.

Forging partnerships is central to promoting national and international cooperation for social development. We are therefore encouraged by the partnership emphasis embodied in several UN major conferences and summits including FfD and WSSD as well as the partnership arrangements of the NEPAD. We believe that the partnership initiatives generated in Johannesburg for the implementation of Agenda 21 could provide us with a model for helping to advance social development. Among the five key areas identified by the UN Secretary-General at WSSD under the acronym of WEHAB, we see great potential for exploring partnership initiatives in social development particularly in the pressing area of health, including that of HIV/AIDS.

At the same time, Indonesia is convinced that a conducive enabling environment is critical to ensure the advancement of social development. This would include improving the core issues of development such as increased access to export markets, financial flows and technology, including information technology as well as debt relief from unsustainable debt burdens.

Being aware, Mr. Chairman, of the lack of adequate financial resources to promote social development, we call on the developed countries to make concrete efforts towards achieving the target of 0.7 per cent of their respective GNPs as ODA to developing countries. It is also crucial to substantially increase ODA for achieving internationally agreed development goals and objectives. For this purpose, we should further improve national and international development policies and strategies so as to enhance the effectiveness of development assistance.

As to the need to effectively address poverty and other social development goals, we see employment as crucial. Thus, development partners should place productive employment opportunities at the very center of their development policies. In this context, broad-based, labour-intensive job creation, open to all sectors of the community, is critical for combating poverty and promoting economic and social development.

In Indonesia’s experience, particularly in the wake of the Asian financial crisis that rolled back decades of burgeoning annual growth rates and resulting in enormous increases in the ranks of the poor it is clear that labour-intensive employment had a major role to play. Despite Indonesia’s economic setbacks, its determination to achieve the goals of Copenhagen have not been weakened. Rather, poverty eradication and the creation of an enabling environment for social development are an integral part of our development strategies. The challenge of how to integrate national level social development policies into local level planning is an ongoing priority. For instance, only three weeks ago we established a working group on Indonesia social and welfare protection system to explore how the poor could better benefit from the country’s social and welfare system and to make this initiative part and parcel of the country’s poverty eradication programme.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, since the social and economic dimensions of development are, to a large extent, two faces of the same coin, it follows that the harmonization of economic growth and social policy is crucial to ensure successful social outcomes. In this context, while we acknowledge the merit of moving the social agenda items of the Third Committee into the Second Committee, we also believe that we should exercise caution and not rush blindly into adopting such proposals. Rather, this question should be seen in its broader context, bearing in mind the ongoing work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Integrated and Coordinated Implementation of and Follow up to Major UN Conferences and Summits in the Economic and Social Fields. This Group, which is headed by the President of the General Assembly, is scheduled to end by this coming June. I should add that my delegation remain open-minded, and while not to pre-judging the results of the Ad Hoc Working Group we would like to further explore which arrangements would be in the best interests of all the Member States.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

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