Civil Society Call to Action

 

Peoples’ needs are changing in response to a quickly evolving context. People want more responsive action to address these key challenges. Today, we need to envision a different kind of world. A disconnected and fragmented approach to social, economic and environmental policies has not produced the desired results toward poverty eradication and reducing inequality. We need leadership to establish a renewed social contract integrating social, economic, environmental and political justice at both national and international levels. We, the members of the NGO Committee on Social Development, call upon Member States to:

▪ Include people with lived experience of any kind, in the design, implementation, and assessment of policy responses for effective and impactful outcomes.

▪ Ensure equal access to affordable and adequate housing, low-cost nutritional food, quality healthcare, basic income, quality education, public infrastructure and services, including access to water, sanitation, energy and digital technology.

▪ Establish nationally owned, human rights-based, and well-financed universal social protection systems and floors.

▪ Prioritize and measure the well-being of people and the planet, using multidimensional indicators, beyond GDP, in economic policy-making.

▪ Extend debt relief and forgiveness for the least developed countries based on values of justice and solidarity.

▪ Mainstream a gender perspective into all policies and empower women of all ages in all aspects of their lives, as effective ways to eradicate poverty and achieve gender equality.

▪ Recognize Care as a societal responsibility and adopt policies to recognize and redistribute this vital, yet often unpaid work, in a more equitable way between men and women and
across society.

▪ Advance Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources as an effective way to protect critical ecosystems, waterways and biological diversity, and to include the
rights of women to own and inherit land.

Between Poverty and Sexual Violence

At the session on Family and Childhood: Between Poverty and Sexual Violence a panel of presenters from Mexico spoke about the vulnerability that comes with living in poverty that makes children easier prey for perpetrators of physical and emotional violence. They explored various aspects of poverty and inadequacies in state measurements that rely only on income as an indicator. Having a supportive family life and peers is a stronger indicator of vulnerability than low income. Other factors like access to higher education, healthcare, and social services also need to be taken into account.  Young people and children living in poverty, without a supportive family system, without access to education, healthcare, and social services are classified as living in extreme poverty and are most vulnerable to predators in the real or virtual environment. Online bullying, grooming and exploitation as well as sextortion happens to those in extreme poverty, but also to those from families with a higher income but without adequate social supports. The immediate stigma of being victimized as well as long term psychological impacts need further study. 

Role of Youth in Digital Transformation

At the UN session on The Role of Youth in Digital Transformation: Towards Inclusive Growth and Social Justice, members of the permanent mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN and the Blue Tree Foundation gave examples of youth in Korea and other parts of the world using technology for the social good, solving problems like cyber-bullying and sextortion using AI generated apps to get users to pause and rethink before reacting agressively or violently to what they see and hear.  This effort decreased the escalation of online bullying 93% in places where the program was put in place. Through similar efforts over 23 million youth are taking advantage of initiatives to cultivate a more socially productive and safer space online. Fostering youth entrepreneurship and utilizing their quick learning abilities, creativity and courage are crucial to a positive digital transformation and productive, safe space for online learning and social programs.

Bridging the Gap Between Generations

                                    

How do we bridge the growing gap between generations and communities?” Rapidly growing economic disenfranchisement of the two youngest generations (particularly young women) is occurring as the two oldest generations (partially males in those generations) increase their accumulation of global wealth. Deloitte’s 2023 survey of Millennials and Gen Z in 44 nations found the top three concerns of young people to be climate change, job insecurity and mental health. A young Peruvian Geologist (Anell Greysy Burga Estela), an Australian IBVM/CJ UN-NGO intern (Lauren Grant), an Indian Rainbow Student Scholar with an MA in Public Administration (Puja Dey), and a Canadian Sanctuary Scholar and Project Coordinator for S4Collective (Brantella Williams) spoke to the impact of international poverty, domestic violence and job insecurity on young people in their respective regions. My question is how do we fund research to measure the impact of poverty, homelessness, job insecurity, migration, and domestic violence on mental health in young people and provide effective measures to heal and break the cycle?

Women’s Right to Land and Habitat

Women and children are the most impacted by homelessness but there is currently inadequate documentation of women’s land rights and ownership of land worldwide. We know access to land rights, tenure rights, loans and financing are severely limited or non existent in many parts of the globe. Social norms, legal barriers, inability to travel, inability to obtain education and materials needed to make the most of the land or build on it, gender bias and discrimination in the courts, are some of the main obstacles to women attaining, retaining, and maintaining land. Challenging these barriers can lead to domestic violence keeping women from pursuing their rights. Women’s access to land is essential for women’s economic security. It is a basic human right. Owning land provides security and bargaining power. It is a pathway out of hunger, homelessness and poverty. Sixty percent of the world lacks formal identification and therefore access to education, financial support, and legal representation. Policies do exist but they need to be updated and implemented through consultation with people in the know. A materialistic world view of humanity as greedy, jealous, competitive, narcissistic and vulgar needs to be transformed into a positive view of humanity as generous, empathic, reflective, compassionate and blessed. Compassion and consultation are needed to create better policies.

Decommodifying People, Places and Planet

 

With the acceptance of a ‘growth at all costs’ mindset, the fulfillment of basic human needs has been made contingent on individuals’ contributions to a profoundly unfair economy. Similarly, the planet has been recast as an economic entity that is only valuable insofar as it generates profit, disregarding its inherent value as the source of all life. As such, true eradication of both homelessness and poverty necessitates breaking the cycle perpetuated by the insufficient and incomplete framework we currently approach these issues with. A more nuanced understanding of the experiences of individuals and families in these contexts is necessary to inform effective policymaking and community engagement. Homelessness and displacement should not be seen as a personal failure but rather as the structural failure and human rights violation that they are. Social justice for all requires a paradigm shift which de-commodifies people, place, and planet, and which orients development to the full realization of human rights, regardless of one’s socioeconomic status or the extractive potential/climate vulnerability of the place they call home. It requires a new frame which exposes not just the individual injustices of homelessness, but also the broader systems which engender, foster, and profit from the unequal and unsustainable status quo in both the Global North and the Global South. When social justice is prioritized, human rights are upheld, sustainable and fair development is advanced, and widespread systemic inequalities like poverty and homelessness are addressed.

Tech for the Social Good

 

 

Challenges to the free flow of information internationally are not presented by the state, but by quasi state platforms. Responsible flow of information is driven by the ability to scrape, check and share accurate information. Some people are drawn to misinformation, but even for those intentionally seeking to share accurate information, it is not that easy to obtain. On the supply side instead of two or three reliable platforms, there are numerous platforms fracturing the information that is accessible.  In addition to concerns about youth being targeted online, cyber security research shows there are increased attacks by teenagers or groups of teenagers. Phishing has extended to age 12 and younger and each country has its own set of policies. Some countries have little or no safeguards. Another concern is the use of AI at schools and colleges employing chat bots in lieu of human counseling services.  Dating services online are using AI generated profiles to lure young people into illicit activities and sextortion. Faked recordings of real people set up zoom meetings in Hong Kong to engage young people in fraudulent schemes. These kinds of dangerous activities are growing faster than cyber security policies can be developed to address them, even in nations that are aware of the problems. The question of the day is “How can we balance the benefits of AI with the risks?” Young people are learning to navigate the arc from pessimism to optimism, moving from concerns about depressing content and demeaning experiences to optimism about meaningful uses of technology to benefit society and potential to achieve social development goals. 

 

Mainstreaming Social Considerations

United Nations Representatives gave updates on their country’ progress on meeting the social development goals by mainstreaming social considerations across development frameworks. The Austrian minister spoke about poverty and implantation of labor relations policies. The Brazilian minister asked, “Why are we not achieving our goals? Lack of equality due to socially constructed barriers contrary to human nature.” He proposed establishing a global alliance against hunger and poverty and making it the number one priority open to all members of the United Nations. The Portuguese minister spoke about making children a priority because 20% are at risk of extreme poverty. Portugal wants to guarantee free childcare for every child in Europe, and labor policies for a more just distribution of wealth, foster social dialogue between governments, companies and workers, invest in training for workers to provide the skills that answer the need of companies for skilled workers. No matter the nationality, race, language, sex, religion or any other factor that has led to discrimination in the past, all have an equal right to employment that leads to economic security.  The minister from Uganda spoke about affirmative action and equal opportunities for women, inclusivity and human rights at regional and international levels. In Uganda in the past fifteen years, life expectancy increased about 20%,  as did access to health care, access to clean water and electricity, and opportunities for women to borrow from a cooperative to build small businesses to support their families and for youth to get loans for the education needed to enter the work force. The minister from Costa Rica spoke about multilateralism and the importance of sharing new approaches to policies and plans geared toward building a better future together. They have focused on comprehensive joint planning and alliances depending on the participation of many stakeholders that ensure effective implementation. Delegates from other nations and nonprofit organizations spoke briefly from the floor on development and needs in their respective countries. Panelists responded to comments and questions from the floor and summarized multilateral interests.

Commission on Social Development

At the Opening Session of the 62nd Commission on Social Development (CSocD62) at the UN Headquarters in New York an international panel gave an overview of how we are doing to meet the UN’s social development goals. Their presentations focused on the need to prioritize projects and fund innovative practices and solutions that will yield the best results.  The declaration of the Civil Society Forum signed by over 1,000 delegates was shared with the member nations. The concensus of the assembly seems to be that we are off target globally to meet the sustainable development goals by 2030, and several  delegates called for a renewed approach to social development. Global economic policies, strategic  investment in hardest hit areas and expansion of digital access are keys to ending poverty worldwide and achieving sustainable development for all. This afternoon in the same conference room high-level panel discussion will be held on the priority theme "How can social policies become more effective in achieving inclusive, resilient and equitable societies that leave no one behind?

 

Live from New York!

Through an atmospheric river and 42 mph winds I arrived safely on JetBlue in New York City for the 62nd Session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD62) where we are discussing the importance of social justice, social policy reform, and digital transformation to the overall aim of eradicating poverty and hunger and achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The conference will include six high-level panel discussions, a ministerial forum, general debates, and a Civil Society Forum. Additionally, there will be over 50 side events organized by the member nations, various UN agencies, and non-profit organizations accredited by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). This week I am joining Dusty Farnan, the NGO rep for the Dominican Sisters Conference, at several of the side events, the plenary sessions of the UN commission on social development and the Civil Society Forum.