Photo courtesy of: americansforpositivechange.com
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a ministerial declaration at its 2012 High-level Segment by consensus on Tuesday, successfully closing week-long deliberations on promoting productive capacity, employment and decent work to eradicate poverty by means of inclusive, sustainable and equitable economic growth for achieving the internationally agreed upon UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and beyond.
The High-level opened on July 2, focusing on the global jobs crisis with discussions searching for ways to stimulate real impact on full, decent and sustainable employment as 205 million people around the world find themselves currently unemployed.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Report for the Annual Ministerial Review of the High-level Segment, states that global unemployment has increased from 170 million in 2007 to 197 million in 2011, noting employment impacts were particularly strong in developed economies, where jobs growth turned negative.
"Boosting productive capacity, strengthening development cooperation and creating decent, sustainable work", the theme of the Segment brought in more than 500 participants, including government ministers, heads of international organizations and civil society groups, and the private sector to hone in on how to stimulate full employment and decent job creation in developing and developed nations, alike.
On Tuesday, some member states, including the Group of 77 and China and the European Union had some reservations or wishes surrounding the Declaration's text, derailing Monday,
July 9th's scheduled closing; some concerns, editorial nature and others of political importance, but member states managed to come to agreement on critical international issues by Tuesday afternoon, reflecting ECOSOC's President, Milos Koterec's sentiments that , "unemployment is the biggest challenge of our time he said, underlining how important it is to put our act together", he told member states.
At day one of the High-level Segment, the UN Secretary-General emphasized that getting the global economy back on track will require decisive action, and underlined the need to pursue a “new model of growth within the framework of sustainable development and enhanced international cooperation.”
The day also highlighted a series of national voluntary presentations, as part of the annual ministerial review, which allows countries to explain the progress and challenges that they have encountered throughout the last year, in the interest of sharing best practices, and learning new techniques to meet the needs of their citizens.
Day two focused onpolicy dialogue with the executive heads of the international financial and trade institutions who discussed the state of the world economy and its implications for the achievement of the United Nations development agenda.
Day three focused on future development cooperation, and accountability issues. Day four took in the lessons of South-South and triangular cooperation, and day five honed in high-level discussions on accountability, transparency and sustainable development.
ECOSOC'SMinisterial Declaration calls for the strengthening of partnerships amongst Governments, the private sector and civil society to tackle current economic, social and environmental challenges and turn those challenges into sustainable development opportunities with a focus on forging full employment and decent work.