Second World Summit for Social Development’s Doha declaration: Ambition must be backed by action
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Article summary
Declaration makes ambitious commitments but action on debt, international tax cooperation and ending IMF and World Bank mandated austerity policies are needed to renew the social contract.
The World Summit for Social Development – the second meeting of UN member states and stakeholders to tackle social issues, poverty, inclusion and jobs – was held in Doha from 4 – 6 November. The commitments of the first summit held in Copenhagen 30 years ago remain unrealised, with an estimated 4 trillion dollars per year needed for developing countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. During the Summit the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) campaign released a ‘people’s declaration’ calling for transformation of the international financial architecture and an end to austerity, and over 100 civil society organisations called for commitments on social spending for public services.
The Summit’s Doha declaration includes commitments on social protection, care economies and ending inequality, and reiterates the centrality of human rights and labour rights. Its ambition was lauded as a success for multilateralism in an increasingly fractured geopolitical context. Yet, as President Ruto of Kenya, speaking for the African Group argued, pledges on inequality must involve urgent action on the debt crisis, including a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt and international cooperation on tax. The ambition of the Doha declaration is a step forward but as Isabel Ortiz, Director of the international think tank Global Social Justice, argued in an op-ed for Inter Press Service, austerity policies which undermine the social contract and aspirations of the Doha declaration are a political choice that needs to be challenged to ensure that its pledges are realised.
