Social development

At its forty-seventh session, the General Assembly decided to convene a World Summit for Social Development at the level of Heads of State or Government (resolution 47/92). The Summit was held in Copenhagen from 6 to 12 March 1995.

At its fifty-sixth session, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit future Reports on the World Social Situation on a biennial basis (resolution 56/177).

At its seventy-fourth session, the Assembly allocated the item to the Third Committee, where statements in the general discussion were made by 60 delegations (see A/C.3/74/SR.1–4).

References for the seventy-fourth session (agenda item 25)

Summary records A/C.3/74/SR.1–4 and 51

Report of the Third Committee A/74/391

Plenary meeting A/74/PV.50

(a) Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and of the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly

The General Assembly had the item on its agenda at its fiftieth to seventy -fourth sessions (resolutions 50/161, 51/202, 52/25, 53/28, 54/23, 55/46, 56/177, 57/163, 58/130, 59/146, 60/130, 61/141, 62/131, 63/152, 64/135, 65/185, 66/125, 67/141, 68/135, 69/143, 71/162, 72/141, 73/141 and 74/122).

At its seventy-fourth session, the Assembly decided to devote one of its high-level meetings, within existing resources, at its seventy-fifth session, in 2020, to the commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the World Summit for Social

Development, in order to celebrate the progress made so far and to further strengthen the role of social development beyond 2020, and requested the President of the General Assembly to conduct consultations with Member States in order to determine the modalities for that meeting. The Assembly also decided to include the sub -item in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fifth session, under the item entitled “Social development”, with a particular focus on significant increase and/or more efficient utilization of the resources allocated to social development in order to achieve the goals of the World Summit through national action and regional and inter national cooperation, and requested the Secretary-General to submit a report on the question to the Assembly at that session (resolution 74/122).

Document for the seventy-fifth session: Report of the Secretary-General (resolution 74/122).

References for the seventy-fourth session (agenda item 25 (a)) Report of the Secretary-General A/74/205

Summary records A/C.3/74/SR.1–4 and 51

Report of the Third Committee A/74/391

Plenary meeting A/74/PV.50

Resolution 74/122

(b) Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, persons with disabilities and the family

Implementation of the objectives of the International Year of the Family and its follow-up processes

At its forty-fourth session, the Assembly proclaimed 1994 as the International Year of the Family (resolution 44/82). It considered the question at its second, fifty-fourth, fifty-sixth to sixtieth, sixty-second, sixty-fifty-fourth, sixty-sixth to sixty-ninth and seventy-first to seventy-fourth sessions (resolutions 52/81, 54/124, 56/113, 57/164, 58/15, 59/111, 59/147, 60/133, 62/129, 64/133, 66/126, 67/142, 68/136, 69/144, 71/163, 72/145, 73/144 and 74/124).

At its seventy-third session, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit a report to it at its seventy-fifth session, through the Commission for Social Development and the Economic and Social Council, on the implementation of the objectives of the International Year and its follow-up processes by Member States and by agencies and bodies of the United Nations system (resolution 73/144).

At its seventy-fourth session, the Assembly decided to consider the topic

“Implementation of the objectives of the International Year of the Family and its follow-up processes” at its seventy-fifth session under the sub-item entitled “Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, persons with disabilities and the family” of the item entitled “Social development” (resolution 74/124).

Inclusive development for persons with disabilities

At its thirty-seventh session, the Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons (resolution 37/52). Periodic reviews of progress in its implementation were conducted in 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015.

The Assembly considered the question annually at its thirty-eighth to forty-ninth sessions, biennially at its fiftieth to sixtieth sessions and annually from its

sixty-second to seventieth sessions and has considered it biennially as from its seventy-first session (resolutions 38/28, 39/26, 40/31, 41/106, 42/58, 43/98, 44/70, 45/91, 46/96, 47/88, 48/99, 49/153, 50/144, 52/82, 54/121, 56/115, 58/132, 60/131, 62/127, 63/150, 64/131, 65/186, 66/124, 67/140, 68/3, 69/142, 70/170, 71/165 and 73/142).

At its seventy-third session, the Assembly decided to change the title of sub-item (b) of the item entitled “Social development” on its agenda to read: “Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, persons with disabilities and the family”. The Assembly also requested the Secretary-General, in coordination with all relevant United Nations entities, to submit information to it at its seventy-fifth session on the implementation of the resolution and of the outcome document of the high-level meeting of the Assembly on the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities: the way forward, a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond, and to make appropriate recommendations to further strengthen implementation. At the same session, the Assembly welcomed the launch by the Secretary-General of the 2018 United Nations flagship report on disability and development on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2018, and, recognizing that high-quality, timely, accessible, reliable and disaggregated data are critical to measuring progress and ensuring that no one is left behind, requested that data collection and analysis continue, with a view to informing policymaking, and decided to discuss, at its seventy-fifth session, how best to present these data and findings, including through a flagship report (resolution 73/142).

References for the seventy-third session (agenda item 28 (b)) Reports of the Secretary-General:

Inclusive development for persons with disabilities (A/73/211 and A/73/211/Rev.1)

Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing (A/73/213)

Plan of action to integrate volunteering into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/73/254)

Note by the Secretariat on the United Nations 2018 flagship report on disability and development: realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities (A/73/220)

Summary records A/C.3/73/SR.1–4, 44, 50 and 51

Report of the Third Committee A/73/581

Plenary meeting A/73/PV.55

Resolutions 73/142 to 73/145

References for the seventy-fourth session (agenda item 25 (b)) Reports of the Secretary-General:

Implementation of the objectives of the International Year of the Family and its follow-up processes (A/74/61)

Promoting social integration through social inclusion (A/74/133)

Follow-up to the International Year of Older Persons: Second World Assembly on Ageing (A/74/170 and A/74/170/Corr.1)

Policies and programmes involving youth (A/74/175)

Cooperatives in social development (A/74/206)

Summary records A/C.3/74/SR.1–4, 44, 47 and 51

Report of the Third Committee A/74/391

Plenary meeting A/74/PV.50

Resolutions 74/119, 74/120, 74/121, 74/124 and

74/125

(c) Literacy for life: shaping future agendas

The issue of education for all was first considered by the General Assembly at its fifty-second and fifty-fourth sessions (resolutions 52/84 and 54/122). The Assembly continued its consideration of the question biennially at its fifty-seventh to sixty-fifth sessions (resolutions 57/166, 59/149, 61/140, 63/154 and 65/183) and at its sixty-eighth, sixty-ninth, seventy-first and seventy-third sessions (resolutions 68/132, 69/141, 71/166 and 73/145).

At its seventy-third session, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to submit to it at its seventy-fifth session a report on the implementation of the resolution (resolution 73/145).

Document for the seventy-fifth session: Note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (resolution 73/145).

References for the seventy-third session (agenda item 28 (c))

Note by the Secretary-General transmitting the report of the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on literacy for life: shaping future agendas (A/73/292)

Summary records A/C.3/73/SR.1–4 and 44

Report of the Third Committee A/73/581

Plenary meeting A/73/PV.55

Resolution 73/145