The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a special meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD), highlighting remaining challenges such as extreme poverty, systemic inequality, climate change and environmental degradation.
8 June 2015: The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a special meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD), highlighting remaining challenges such as extreme poverty, systemic inequality, climate change and environmental degradation.
In opening remarks, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson highlighted the need to address youth unemployment leading to marginalization and radicalization, arguing that the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are needed to respond to these issues. He said the outcomes of three upcoming UN conferences – the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD 3) in July, the UN summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda in September, and the Paris Climate Change Conference in December – must complement and support each other.
ECOSOC Vice-President Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, said the WSSD was “one of the major building blocks” in establishing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and contributed to common understanding of the need for a balanced integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. [UN Press Release] [Statement of Deputy Secretary-General] [IISD RS Coverage of WSSD in 1995]