| Germany – UN Conference on Sustainable Societies and Responsive Citizens |
| United States – New NGO Committee Against Trafficking in Persons |
| United States – International Migrants Day |
The Priority Theme was “Poverty Eradication” with special emphasis on its interrelationship with social integration and full employment and decent work for all.
Other issues regarded the review of relevant United Nations plans and programme of action pertaining to the situation of social groups
As 2011 is a review year, Commission members did not adopt any policy-shaping resolution on the priority theme of poverty eradication. However, draft resolutions on issues relating to family, youth, ageing, disability and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) were presented and they heard the report of its Special Rapporteur on disability.
In conjunction with the forty-ninth session, a Civil Society Forum was organized by the NGO Committee on social Development with the theme: “Eradication of Poverty: Human Dignity Demands It!” It took place on February 8, 2011, one day before the opening of the session. The outcome of the Forum was presented in the format of a Civil Society Declaration during the Commission.
There were two side events offered to Commission participants including NGOs, Academics, and Government pepresentatives, in which the Salesians had the collaboration of: the Philippine Government; the ILO, Unanima International, The Scalabrinis, the Good Shepherd Sisters, Hunter College Center for Community and Urban Health, Professors from Columbia University and Hunter College, and the American Psychological Association.
The first was “Poverty, Rights and Access for those Affected by or Infected with HIV.” The presentations were: Causes and Consequences: Poverty, Stigma and HIV among Children and Families; Barriers to Access: The Link Between HIV and Human Rights Protections; International Activism and Access to Care for HIV
The second was “Trafficking and Poverty: Fishing in the Stream of Migration.” Topics Covered here: Trafficking and Migration: Resolution for the UN Third Committee; Labor Migration and Worker’s Rights; Trafficked Persons on the Border: a Latin American Perspective; and, Migration and Trafficking: Best Practices from Thailand.
Fr Tom Brennan SDB moderated both panels and was also on the Writers and Gleaners committee in the preparation of the Civil Society Declaration.
Published 21/02/2011
