Why is a Global Pact for Inclusive Social Development Necessary

The position document presented by ECLAC in the framework of the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Social Development analyzes the scope of this proposal formulated by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Second World Summit for Social Development, which will take place on November 4-6 in Doha, Qatar, represents an opportunity to forge a global pact for inclusive social development, with a view to attaining the social targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and proactively and effectively addressing the challenges of the coming decades, according to the document Latin America and the Caribbean 30 Years on from the World Summit for Social Development: Towards a Global Pact for Inclusive Social Development, which ECLAC is presenting at the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (Brasilia, September 2-4).

The Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development has formulated a series of proposals that, if approved at the meeting in Brasilia, will be submitted for consideration at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Qatar. These propositions include the need to combat poverty, hunger and inequality as a priority for the region and the world; to move towards universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems with care policies and quality public policies to leave no one behind; to promote action for inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean (which includes implementation of the Regional Agenda for Inclusive Social Development, approved in 2019); and to agree upon a global pact for inclusive social development.

In the last 30 years, the incidence of poverty has fallen to nearly half its previous rate and extreme poverty by nearly one-third in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nonetheless, in 2023, more than one-fourth of the region's population experienced food insecurity, despite it being the biggest food-exporting region in the world. Inequality in income distribution has also declined over the last three decades, but Latin America and the Caribbean continues to be the world's most unequal region, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warns in this publication, which also analyzes the evolution of key indicators on education, health, employment, housing and basic services, among others.

The expansion of social protection systems and strengthening of social institutional frameworks are some of the factors that contributed to the region's recent progress, ECLAC sustains in the document. However, structural gaps remain and are compounded by multiple crises (geopolitical, social, health, environmental and economic) as well as demographic, epidemiological and technological changes and new forms of violence and organized crime.

The Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean has posed, for instance, the urgent need for "the region's countries, through their ministries of social development (or equivalent entities), to invest at least 1.5%-2.5% of GDP or 5%-10% of annual public spending in non-contributory social protection policies, with a view to eradicating poverty."

"Universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems are the backbone of an inclusive social development strategy, and Social Development Ministries are their main driver," Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of ECLAC's Social Development Division, stressed during the presentation of the position document on the first day of the intergovernmental meeting that runs through Thursday and has gathered senior authorities from social ministries and related institutions in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

ECLAC sustains that an approach with comprehensive public policies for social and labor inclusion, high-quality education and universal access to health is needed to make progress on eradicating poverty and reducing inequalities. It is also key for countries to move forward on a multidimensional measurement of inequality for designing and implementing comprehensive policies that would be effective and efficient.

The Director of ECLAC's Social Development Division explained that achieving inclusive social development entails that all people attain a life free of poverty and have a level of well-being based on high, sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, which would allow them to develop their capacities in a context of freedom and dignity, with the full exercise of their economic, social, cultural and environmental rights guaranteed, and with spaces for recognition and participation.

The Second World Summit for Social Development, which will take place in November in Qatar, is a unique opportunity to point up urgencies, set priorities, make decisions and take on commitments that would allow for addressing the persisting and emerging challenges that limit inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the world, Alberto Arenas de Mesa concluded.

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