THE 'PREHISTORY' OF Social Watch

3 - The Context and Objectives of the Social Summit

The Social Summit fell within a series of UN World conferences which all addressed different aspects of development, including the environmental, human rights, population, and gender equality. The scope for the Social Summit emerged from work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Juan Somavía, to hold comprehensive consultations with Member States on the World Summit for Social Development. Ambassador Somavía became Chile's representative to the UN following his return from exile in Mexico after the Pinochet dictatorship was sidelined in 1990.

In the analysis of Somavía the UN was entering into an 'identity crisis' after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The significance of the UN during the Cold War in politically guiding international relations through the Security Council was dramatically diminishing. Other multilateral institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the GATT - the predecessor of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) - had become important instruments for international co-operation, particularly since the inclusion of Eastern Europe in its membership. Consequentially the UN's role in international security issues declined, and its tasks in social and economic policy areas were seriously curtailed as well.6

Somavía believed that the UN should win back its mandate in social and economic areas and that 'development' should be put higher at the political agenda. In the United Nations Programme for Development (UNDP) he found an ally. This UN body launched a comeback in 1990 with the 'Human Development Report'. In this annual publication development was measured in terms of human development, as opposed to the limited traditional economic approach of the Bretton Woods Institutions. It was UNDP's attempt to win back political space by creating a vision that challenged the predominant approach, an approach criticised by an increasing number of developing countries.

UNDP also put their thinking for new initiatives strongly in the context created by the end of the Cold War. It was among others an attempt to give new meaning to the concept of 'security', a human centred idea of security. The chief editor of the Human Development Report at the time, Pakistani Mahbud Ul Haq, wrote during the first Preparatory Committee of the Social Summit:

"This is a time when the unthinkable is becoming commonplace - from the handshakes of Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin to the joint Nobel prize for Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk to the close collaboration between the United States and Russia. (..) We stand at a point in history when the very concept of security may be changing."7

In Ul Haq's view the Social Summit should provide concrete substance to the emerging concept of 'human security' developed by UNDP's Human Development Report. In the 1993 Report to the Preparatory Committee Chairman Somavía, elected at its first meeting, introduced it:

"At the heart of the Summit [is] the major issue of human security."8

Somavía saw the 1990 children's Summit as an example of how the political agenda of the UN could be moved. Choosing the right name for the Summit was a challenging question when the idea first emerged in 1991. A 'human development summit' would be too closely associated with UNDP. A 'sustainable development summit' would not distinguish sufficiently from the United Nations Development and Environment Conference (UNCED). An 'economic development summit' was likely to be too offensive vis à vis the Bretton Woods institutions. The term 'social development' was politically the most neutral term.

The nature of the meeting being a Summit was justified later by UN General Secretary Boutros Ghali to be necessary as:

"Social development goes far wider than the mandate of social ministries. It lies at the heart of economic development, of human rights and of peace and security. This is why we must raise the political level at which social issues are discussed, both nationally and internationally."9

When the proposal was launched during the United Nations General Assembly in 1992 there was more interest than had perhaps originally been anticipated. Clinton had just won the Presidential elections. US diplomats were lobbied to give up their opposition in view of the new situation. It was argued that Clinton, who was elected with a social agenda, could not possibly be against the Summit, which would be held during his period as President. After negotiations with the Clinton-team the diplomats of Bush voted in favour of resolution 47/92 of 16th December 1992 in which the United Nations decided to convene a World Summit for Social Development (see annex 1).10