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Compilation
of the Family-Specific recommendations of the WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT The World Summit for Social Development was held in Copenhagen; Denmark, from 5 to 12 March 1995, under three core themes: poverty, employment and social integration. Family issues were addressed by the Summit and are incorporated in the Copenhagen Declaration and the Programme of Action, adopted by the Summit. In accordance with the principles, goals and commitments of the Copenhagen Declaration, and those of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Programme of Action of the Summit contains numerous specific elements regarding the family, as they relate to, inter alia, promoting an enabling environment based on a people-centered approach to sustainable development, eradication of poverty, expansion of productive employment and the reduction of unemployment, and social integration. Copenhagen Declaration The Declaration consists of three sections: A. Current social situation and reasons for convening the Summit, B. Principles and goals, C. Commitments. [Paragraph 3 ] We acknowledge that our societies must respond more effectively to the material and spiritual needs of individuals, their families and the communities in which they live throughout our diverse countries and regions. We must do so as a matter of urgency, but also as a matter of sustained and unshakable commitment through the years ahead. A. Current social situation and reasons for convening the Summit [Paragraph 20 ] The goals and objectives of social development require continuous efforts to reduce and eliminate major sources of social distress and instability for the family and for society. We pledge our particular focus on and priority attention to the fight against worldwide conditions that pose severe threats to the health, safety, peace, security and well-being of our people. .... B. Principles and goals [Paragraph 26] (h) Recognize the family as the basic unit of society and acknowledge that it plays a key role in social development and as such should be strengthened, with attention to the rights, capabilities and responsibilities of its members. In different cultural, political and social systems various forms of family exist. It is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. C. Commitments Commitment 2 (d) Develop and implement policies to ensure that all people have adequate economic and social protection during unemployment, ill health, maternity, child rearing, widowhood, disability and old age. Commitment 3 (f) Foster policies that enable people to combine their paid work with their family responsibilities. Commitment 4 (k) Strengthen institutions that enhance social integration, recognizing the central role of the family and providing it with an environment that assures its protection and support. In different cultural, political and social systems, various forms of the family exist. Commitment 5 (a) Promote changes in altitudes, structures, policies, laws and practices in order to eliminate all obstacles to human dignity, equality and equity in the family and in society, and promote full and equal participation of urban and rural women, and women with disabilities, in social, economic and political life, including in the formulation, implementation and follow-up of public policies and programmes. (g) Promote equal partnership between women and men in family and community life and society, emphasize the shared responsibility of men and women in the care of children and support for older family members and emphasize men's shared responsibility and promote their active involvement in responsible parenthood and responsible sexual and reproductive behavior. Programme of Action The Programme of Action consists of the following chapters: I. An enabling environment for social development, II. Eradication of poverty, III. The expansion of productive employment and the reduction of unemployment, IV. Social integration, V. Implementation and follow-up. 1. An enabling environment for social development Basis for action and objectives [Paragraph
8]
Against this background, we will promote an enabling environment II. Eradication of poverty Actions A. Formulation of integrated strategies [Paragraph 27] Governments are urged to integrate goals and targets for combating poverty into overall economic and social policies and planning at the local, national and, where appropriate, regional levels by: (a) Analyzing policies and programmes, including those relating to macroeconomic stability, structural adjustment programmes, taxation, investments, employment, markets and all relevant sectors of economy, with respect to their impact on poverty and inequality, assessing their impact on family well-being and conditions, as well as their gender implications, and adjusting them, as appropriate, to promote a more equitable distribution of productive assets, wealth, opportunities, income and services; [Paragraph 29] There is a need to periodically monitor, assess and share information on the performance of poverty eradication plans, evaluate policies to combat poverty, and promote an understanding and awareness of poverty and its causes and consequences. This could be done, by Governments, inter alia, through: (a) Developing, updating and disseminating specific and agreed gender disaggregated indicators of poverty and vulnerability, including income, wealth, nutrition, physical and mental health, education, literacy, family conditions, unemployment, social exclusion and isolation, homelessness, landlessness and other factors, as well as indicators of the national and international causes underlying poverty; for this purpose, gathering comprehensive and comparable data, disaggregated by ethnicity, gender, disability, family status, language groupings, regions and economic and social sectors; B. Improved access to productive resources and infrastructure [Paragraph 34] Urban poverty should further be addressed by: (h) Ensuring that special measures are taken to protect the displaced, the homeless, the street children, unaccompanied minors and children in special and difficult circumstances, orphans, adolescents and single mothers, people with disabilities, and older persons, and to ensure that they are integrated into their communities. C. Meeting the basic human needs of all [Paragraph 37] Access to social services for people living in poverty and vulnerable groups should be improved through: (e) Promoting cooperation among government agencies, health-care workers, non¬governmental organizations, women's organizations and other institutions of civil society in order to develop a comprehensive national strategy for improving reproductive health care and child health-care services and ensuring that people living in poverty have full access to those services, including, inter alia, education and services on family planning, safe motherhood and prenatal and postnatal core, and the benefits of breast-feeding, consistent with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. D. Enhanced social protection and reduced vulnerability [Paragraph 38] Social protection systems should be based on legislation and, as appropriate, strengthened and expanded, as necessary, in order to protect from poverty people who cannot find work,. people who cannot work due to sickness, disability, old age or maternity, or to their caring for children and sick or older relatives; families that have lost a breadwinner through death or marital breakup; and people who have lost their livelihoods due to natural disasters or civil violence, wars or forced displacement. Due attention should be given to people affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Actions to this end should inc1ude: (g) Expanding and strengthening social protection programmes to protect working people, including the self-employed and their families, from the risk of falling into poverty, by extending coverage to as many as possible, providing benefits quickly and ensuring that entitlements continue when workers change jobs; [Paragraph 39] Particular efforts should be made to protect children and youth by: (a) Promoting family stability and supporting families in providing mutual support, including in their role as nurturers and educators of children; (b) Promoting social support, inc1uding good quality child core and working conditions that allow both parents to reconcile parenthood with working life; (c) Supporting and involving family organizations and networks in community activities; (e) Improving the situation and protecting the rights of children in especially difficult circumstances, inc1uding children in areas of armed conflict; children who lack adequate family support, urban street children, abandoned children, children with disabilities, children addicted to narcotic drugs, children affected by war or natural and man-made disasters, unaccompanied minor refugee children, working children and children who are economically and sexually exploited or abused, inc1uding the victims of the sole and trafficking of children; and ensuring that they have access to food, shelter, education and health core and are protected from abuse and violence, as well as provided with the necessary social and psychological assistance for their healthy reintegration into society, family reunification consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and substituting education for child work; (g) Addressing the special needs of indigenous children and their families, particularly those living in poor areas, enabling them to benefit adequately from economic and social development programmes, with full respect for their cultures, languages and traditions; (h) Improving the condition of the single parent in society and ensuring that single-parent families and female-headed or female-maintained households receive the social support they need, including support to adequate housing and child care. [Paragraph 40] Particular efforts should be made to protect older persons, including those with disabilities, by: (a) Strengthening family support systems; (d) Providing assistance to grandparents who have been required to assume responsibility for children, particularly of parents who are affected by serious diseases, including AIDS or leprosy, or others who are unable to care for their dependants; III. The expansion of productive employment and the reduction of unemployment Basis for action and objectives [Paragraph
46]
Much unremunerated productive work, such as caring for children and [Paragraph
47] There is therefore an urgent need, in the overall context
of promoting Empowerment of women, gender balance in decision-making processes at all levels and gender analysis in policy development to ensure equal employment opportunities and wage rates for women and to enhance harmonious and mutually beneficial partnerships between women and men in sharing family and employment responsibilities; .... Actions A. The centrality of employment in policy formulation [Paragraph 50] Promoting patterns of economic growth that maximize employment creation requires: (g) Encouraging community economic development strategies that build on partnerships among Governments and members of civil society to create jobs and address the social circumstances of individuals, families and communities; [Paragraph 51] Enhancing opportunities for the creation and growth of private-sector enterprises that would generate additional employment requires: (d) Improving opportunities and working conditions for women and youth entrepreneurs by eliminating discrimination in access to credit, productive resources and social security protection, and providing and increasing, as appropriate, family benefits and social support, such as health core and child core; B. Education, training and labour policies [Paragraph 52] Facilitating people's access to productive employment in today's rapidly changing global environment and developing better quality jobs requires: (b) Introducing new and revitalized partnerships between education and other government departments, including labour, and communications and partnerships between Governments and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, local communities, religious groups and families; C. Enhanced quality of work and employment [Paragraph 55] To achieve a healthy and safe working environment, remove exploitation, abolish child labour, raise productivity and enhance the quality of life requires: (e) Designing labour policies and programmes to help eradicate family poverty, which is a main cause of child labour, eliminating child labour and encouraging parents to send their children to school through, inter alia, the provision of social services and other incentives; [Paragraph 56] The full participation of women in the labour market and their equal access to employment opportunities require: (c) Improving women's access to technologies that facilitate their occupational and domestic work, encourage self-support, generate income, transform gender-prescribed roles within the productive process and enable them to move out of stereotyped, low-paying jobs; (d) Changing those policies and attitudes that reinforce the division of labour based on gender, and providing institutional support, such as social protection for maternity, parental leave, technologies that facilitate the sharing and reduce the burden of domestic chores, and flexible working arrangements, including parental voluntary part-time employment and work-sharing as well as accessible and affordable quality child-care facilities, to enable working parents to reconcile work with family responsibilities, paying particular attention to the needs of single-parent households; (e) Encouraging men to take an active part in all areas of family and household responsibilities, including the sharing of child-rearing and housework. D. Enhanced employment opportunities for groups with specific needs [Paragraph 59] Programmes for entry or re-entry into the labour market aimed at vulnerable and disadvantaged groups can effectively combat the causes of exclusion on the labour market by: (b) Increasing the level of skills, and also improving the ability to get a job through improvements in housing, health and family life. [Paragraph 63] There is need for intensified international cooperation and national attention to the situation of migrant workers and their families. To that end: (a) Governments are invited to consider ratifying existing instruments pertaining to migrant workers, particularly the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, (b) In accordance with national legislation, Governments of receiving countries are urged to consider extending to documented migrants who meet appropriate length-of-stay requirements and to members of their families whose stay in the receiving country is regular, treatment equal to that accorded their own nationals with regard to the enjoyment of basic human rights, including equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of religious practices, working conditions, social security, participation in trade unions and access to health, education, cultural and other social services, as well as equal access to the judicial system and equal treatment before the law; E. A broader recognition and understanding of work and employment [Paragraph 64] A broader recognition and understanding of work and employment requires: (b) Developing a more comprehensive knowledge of work and employment through, inter alia, efforts to measure and better understand the type, extent and distribution of unremunerated work, particularly work in caring for dependents and unremunerated work done for family farms or businesses, and encouraging, sharing and disseminating information, studies and experience in this field, including on the development of methods for assessing its value in quantitative terms, for possible reflection in accounts that may be produced separately from, but consistent with, core national accounts; (e) Examining a range of policies and programmes, including social security legislation, and taxation systems, in accordance with national priorities and policies, to ascertain how to facilitate flexibility in the way people divide their time between education and training, paid employment, family responsibilities, volunteer activity and other socially useful forms of work, leisure and retirement, giving particular attention to the situation of women, especially in female-maintained households; [Paragraph 65] The development of additional socially useful new types of employment and work requires, inter alia: (b) Helping older persons who are dependent or providing support for families in need of educational assistance or social support; IV. Social integration Basis for action and objectives [Paragraph 68] …, there are negative developments that include social polarization and fragmentation; widening disparities and inequalities of income and wealth within and among nations; problems arising from uncontrolled urban development and the degradation of the environment; marginalization of people, families, social groups, communities and even entire countries; the strains on individuals, families, communities and institutions as a result of the rapid pace of social change, economic transformation, migration and major dislocations of population, particularly in the areas of armed conflict. [Paragraph 69] Furthermore, violence, in its many manifestations, including domestic violence, especially against women, children, older persons and people with disabilities, is a growing threat to the security of individuals, families and communities everywhere. Total social breakdown is an all to a real contemporary experience. .... B. Non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual respect for and value of diversity [Paragraph 73] Eliminating discrimination and promoting tolerance and mutual respect for and the value of diversity at the national and international levels requires: (c) Taking specific measures, in the context of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, to remove long-standing legal and social barriers to employment, education, productive resources and public services; assist women in becoming aware of and realizing their rights, and ensure the elimination of intra-family discrimination for the girl child, especially in regard to health, nutrition and education; C. Equality and social justice [Paragraph 74] Governments should promote equality and social justice by: (i) Ensuring that the expansion of basic education is accompanied by improved quality, appropriate attention to children of different abilities, cooperation between family and school, and a close link between the school curriculum and the needs of the work place; D. Responses to special social needs E. Responses to specific social needs of refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers, documented migrants and undocumented migrants [Paragraph 77] To promote the equitable treatment and integration of documented migrants, particularly documented migrant workers and members of their families: (b) … Consistent with article 10 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and all relevant universally recognized human rights instruments, all Governments, particularly those of receiving countries, must recognize the vital importance of family reunification and promote its integration into their national legislation in order to ensure protection of the unity of the families of documented migrants. Governments of receiving countries must ensure the protection of migrants and their families, giving priority to programmes and strategies that combat religious intolerance, racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia and gender discrimination, and that generate the necessary public sensitivity in that regard; [Paragraph 78] In order to address the concerns and basic human needs related to undocumented migrants: (d) Governments are urged to promote effective measures to protect all undocumented migrants and members of their families against racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia. F. Violence, crime, the problem of illicit drugs and substance abuse [Paragraph 79] Addressing the problems created by violence, crime, substance abuse and production, the use and trafficking of illicit drugs, and the rehabilitation of addicts requires: (e) Establishing partnerships with non-governmental organizations and community organizations to make adequate provision for the rehabilitation and reintegration into society of offenders, especially young offenders; measures will include efforts to maintain links with their families during detention and to reintegrate them into productive employment and social life after their release from detention; G. Social integration and family responsibilities [Paragraph 80] The family is the basic unit of society and as such should be strengthened. It is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. In different cultural, political and social systems, various forms of the family exist. Marriage must be entered into with the free consent of the intending spouses, and husband and wife should be equal partners. [Paragraph 81] Helping the family in its supporting, educating and nurturing roles in contributing to social integration should involve: (a) Encouraging social and economic policies that are designed to meet the needs of families and their individual members, especially the most disadvantaged and vulnerable members, with particular attention to the care of children; (b) Ensuring opportunities for family members to understand and meet their social responsibilities; (c) Promoting mutual respect, tolerance and cooperation within the family and within society; (d) Promoting equal partnership between women and men in the family. V. Implementation and follow-up [Paragraph 82] Nothing short of a renewed and massive political will at the national and international levels to invest in people and their well-being will achieve the objectives of social development. Social development and the implementation of the Programme of Action of the Summit are primarily the responsibility of Governments, although international cooperation and assistance are essential for their full implementation. At all levels of implementation, the crucial and essential requirements are: … Partnership involving States, local authorities, non-governmental organizations, especially voluntary organizations, other major groups as defined in Agenda 21, the media, families and individuals; ....
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