Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity

Eradication of Poverty and Youth Unemployment were the focus of
the 50th session of the United Nations Commission on Social Development which
took place at UN Headquarters in New York in February, 2012.
 The Civil Society Forum prepared by the NGO Committee on Social Development preceded the Commission. The theme of the Forum was “The Social Protection Floor.” During the Forum, committee members presented more than 10,000 signatures of members of civil society who support the Social Protection Floor Initiative.  This initiative aims to examine strategies for poverty reduction and empowerment of vulnerable members of society.  Countries adopting this initiative invest in essential basic services such as food, water
  and sanitation, health services, and education for their citizens who are most  in need. Several UN agencies as well as some Member States also support this  initiative. The International Labor Organization works with countries who
  request its services to implement the initiative in a manner that is coherent  with the goals and resources of their governments.

"We cannot call development sustainable if we are leaving almost one in every seven people behind, victims of undernourishment," FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in looking towards Rio+20 and the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals.

"With the United Nations Rio+20 Conference we have the opportunity to explore the convergence between the agendas of food security and climate change, choosing the path of a more sustainable and inclusive development model," Graziano da Silva argues.

Specific areas requiring concerted action: 

• Adopting more sustainable production approaches and technologies to produce more food with less impact
• Shifting to healthier diets to tackle the emerging problem of obesity and reduce pressure on natural resources essential to food production
• Cutting the 222 million tons of food thrown away or wasted in industrialized countries each year
• In areas  affected by repeated food insecurity crises, such as the Horn of Africa, moving beyond disaster response to promote local development and long term resilience
• Creating anti-poverty programs that provide poor rural communities with food security safety nets as well as more economic opportunities, with a particular focus on women and youth.

Spanish
 http://www.fao.org/news/story/es/item/52011/icode/
French
http://www.fao.org/news/story/fr/item/52011/icode/

“Today we have the largest generation of young people the world has ever known. They are demanding their rights and a greater voice in economic and political life. We need to pull the UN system together like never before to support a new social contract of job-rich economic growth. Let us start with young people!”
                    ~UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Across regions, young people are disproportionately affected by unemployment, underemployment, and vulnerable employment.   In recent years, the global financial and economic crisis has hit young people particularly hard.

  Between 1998 and 2008, the youth labour force participation fell from 54.7 to 50.8 %.  In 2009, 75.8 million youth were unemployed, marking the largest annual increase over the 20 years of available global estimates. (International Labour Organization)

The research shows the need to provide more and better jobs for young people exists across countries. The developed world has been most significantly affected by youth unemployment, its core challenge is to provide work opportunities for young people entering the labour market.

The developing countries are home to 87 % of the world’s youth, who are often underemployed and working in the informal economy under poor conditions. The core challenge is to generate new employment opportunities for young people, but to also improve the quality of all jobs available to them.

In low-income economies, young people have limited or no social safety nets on which to fall back.  Few young people can afford to stay out of work. Therefore, the unemployment rate does not capture the full extent of difficulties facing young people in developing economies, where youth are more likely to accept any job.

"Decent work"  refers to the overall aspirations of people in their working lives. It consists of four pillars: job creation, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue, with gender equality as a cross-cutting objective."
~International Labor Organization

Full Report in Spanish and French
http://unworldyouthreport.org/

As Rio+20 approaches, nations, NGOs and UN agencies are developing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around essential issues that must be addressed to insure the well-being of all persons sharing this planet.  Water and Food are two of them.  Their interconnection is in the forefront of the discussions leading up to the Rio+20 Conference to be held June 20-22, 2012 in Brazil.

Over the coming decades, feeding a growing global population and ensuring food and nutrition security for all will depend on increasing world-wide food production.  This, in turn, means ensuring sustainable usage of the critical but finite resource – water.

Agriculture is the main user of freshwater.  Hunger will not be ended if water is not available and used wisely in farming.  If water  is not available famine could result and with it the migration of people in search of food and the political instability that comes with such movements of populations.

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life.  In order to have food security, water resources are essential.  

Changing eating habits is one way to bring about a dramatic impact on the water supply; for example, producing 1 kilo of rice requires about 3,500 liters of water, 1 kilo of beef uses  15,000 liters, and a cup of coffee about 140 liters.  A dietaryshift away from crops and foods that require large amounts of water would result in preserving water for use in farming those crops that will feed larger populations and not tax the water resources in a detrimental way.  MORE

Solutions for many sustainable development problems,  including challenges related to cities, energy, water, food and ecosystems, are known.

At Rio+20, countries will seek ways to make them work.
► Making the transition to greener economies while focusing on poverty eradication.
► Protecting our oceans from overfishing, the destruction of marine ecosystems and the adverse effects of climate change.
► Making our cities more liveable and more efficient.
► Broadening the use of renewable energy sources that can significantly lower carbon emissions as well as indoor and outdoor pollution, while promoting economic growth.
► Better managing forests toprovide a broad range of benefits— reducing deforestation by half through 2030 could avoid an estimated US$ 3.7 trillion in climate change damages from greenhousegas emissions — and that’s not
counting the value of jobs and income, biodiversity, clean water and medicines provided by forests.
► Improving the way we conserve and manage our water resources, in order to promote development and guard against desertification.
http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/

The co-chairs of Rio+20 Conference have issued “ zero draft outcome document” , titled “The Future We Want”.  It is the official
document to be negotiated by United Nations Member States in the months leading up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), June 20-22, 2012.

 UN leadership sees the document as a reaffirmation the Member States’ commitment to work together for 
  ·   A prosperous, secure and sustainable future for both people and the planet;
 ·    Renewed  efforts to eradicate hunger, want, and all forms of poverty; 
·     Progress on already internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The zero draft invites Member States to reaffirm the Rio Principles agreed to in 1992, at the first UN conference that challenged all nations to live more sustainably as evidence was mounting
that the earth and its resources were being diminished by over consumption and poor use of natural resources.  read more
 
Note: Spanish and French available
http://www.earthsummit2012.org/

In 2005, the UN launched the Decade  “Water for Life, 2005-2015.”   What has become evident in the reviews of the Millennium Development Goals and in the current  preparations for Rio+20 is that the focus on water and sanitation must continue  to be a central focus in trying to bring about sustainable development for all people.  It is slated to become one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will focus local, national and international resources towards creating a “Future We Want.”

Water is essential for life. No living being on planet Earth can survive without it. It is a prerequisite for human health and well-being as well as for the preservation of the environment. However, four of every ten people in the world do not have access to even a simple pit latrine; and nearly two in ten have no source of safe drinking water.

According to the World Health Organization, each and every day some 3,900 children die because of dirty water or poor hygiene; diseases transmitted through water or human excrement are the second-leading cause of death among children worldwide, after respiratory diseases. Water scarcity, poor water quality, and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices, and educational opportunities for poor families across the world.
 Read More
http://www.un.org/spanish/waterforlifedecade/
http://www.un.org/french/waterforlifedecade/

Portugal is the latest European country to join the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking. At any given time, an estimated 140,000 victims of human trafficking are trapped in a vicious cycle of violence, abuse and degradation across Europe. UNODC  (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) research shows that victims are often duped by a recruiter who is a relative, a supposed friend or someone they trust.

Of the victims trafficked in Europe 32% come from the Balkans, 19 % from the former Soviet Union, 13 % from South America, 7% from Central Europe, 5% from Africa and 3% from East Asia. Because of its geographic location, Portugal is both a destination and transit country for victims of human trafficking.

The Blue Heart Campaign was launched in Portugal by Ms. Teresa Morais, Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Equality. "I hope to see this Blue Heart symbolizing active solidarity with victims around the world ," said Ms. Morais. "Launching the Blue Heart Campaign in Portugal is part of our national plan to combat human trafficking - being a global campaign, it allows us to extend the reach of our prevention work," added Mr. Albano, Portuguese National Rapporteur for Human Trafficking.    The campaign aims to raise awareness about human trafficking among decision makers, civil society, the media and the general public in order to gather support in combating this crime.

The intention is that the Blue Heart becomes the symbol of solidarity in working against  Human Trafficking as the red ribbon is the symbol for  solidarity in working against HIV/AIDS

Click on the link below for  Brochures, Fact Sheets, Testimonials and Media in English, Spanish and French
http://www.unodc.org/blueheart/en/campaign-tools.html

Over the last two decades, there have been many examples of successful sustainable development in such areas as energy,
agriculture, and urban planning.
► In Kenya, innovative financing has stimulated new
investments in renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, small hydro, biogas and municipal waste energy, generating income and employment.
► In Uganda, a transition to organic agriculture has generated  income for small holder farmers while benefiting the economy, society and the environment.
► In Brazil, a  Clean Development Mechanism  in  Sao Paulo  transformed two of the city’s biggest waste dumpsites into sustainable landfills. Betweem  2004 and 2011, the landfills  transformed  352,000 tons of methane into over one million megawatts of electricity.
► In Nepal, community forestry — led by local forest user
groups — contributed to restoring forest resources after a steady decline in the 1990s.
► In France, an estimated 90,000 jobs were created in green sectors between 2006 and 2008, mostly in the fields of energy conservation and the development of renewable energy.
► In Haiti, the Côte Sud Initiative is expected to benefit an
estimated 205,000 people through the recovery and sustainable development of a severely degraded land area about half the size of Greater London.

Truly the tragedy of child trafficking is coming center stage around the world.  Recent research has brought forth more disturbing  information on the nature and extent  of child trafficking.  However, the true magnitude of it can only be guessed.  Since it is a crime, it is often hidden from those who would investigate it. The International Labor Organization’s estimation is that 1.2 million children being trafficked each year . (Every Child Counts, New Global estimate on Child Labour).  http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742

Children’s age, maturity, vulnerability, ways of thinking, language, relationship with adults need to be honored and  considered when trafficking is suspected.   Therefore, UNICEF is assisting in the effort to help those who work with children who have been trafficked by developing and training responsible personnel on child friendly interviewing techniques. 

 UNICEF is also supporting training of professionals working with children including social workers, health workers, police and border officials and governments in setting standards in dealing with child trafficking. Protecting trafficked children requires:
·        *** Identifying their situation as quickly as possible,
·         ***placing them in safe environment,
·        *** providing them with social services, health care,   and  psychosocial support,
·         *** and reintegrating them with family and community, if it is proven to be in their best interest.  

http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58005.html
http://www.unicef.org/spanish/
http://www.unicef.org/french/

June 16, 2011 was a landmark day for Domestic Workers around the world. On that day, the International Labor Organization (ILO), comprising 183 member countries and employer and labor representatives, adopted the groundbreaking Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
This convention establishes the first global standard for the estimated 53 million-100 million domestic workers worldwide of whom the vast majority are women and girls. It aims at protecting and improving the working and living conditions of domestic workers everywhere. It recognizes the specific
context in which domestic work takes place, namely in the home, and strikes a balance between the right to privacy of family members and the right to
protection of the workers. read more

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three women
champions of peace and justice: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, her compatriot Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. This was the first time the Nobel Committee’s citation included a direct reference to
Security Council resolution 1325 which focused attention on the vulnerable situation of women and girls during and after armed conflict.

 Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, while lauding the selection of the three women, challenged the UN and Member Nations on the 10th anniversary of the unanimously passed Resolution to do more to implement it in every country. She acknowledged some successes but also spotlighted gaps in making it real in the lives of women and girls during conflict who often suffer inhumane treatment and
are often excluded from the decision-making involved in peace-making and  peace-building.

She called for national plans that member states would be held
accountable for in the areas of: 
1.  Prevention-through vigilance, information about threats, increased prosecution of offenders;
2.  Participation-through official roles of women in conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and recovery;
3.  Protection-through protection patrols, escorts and community policing;
4. Relief and Recovery-through awareness and appropriate responses to women and girls post-conflict in a variety of
areas e.g. basic health services, employment, support in the local community.
 
More on women moving from victims to society builders post
conflict. Read more in English , in French 

 Knowing that more than 1.4 billion people still struggle to live on  less than $1.25 a day,  it is
  obvious that much more needs to be done to eradicate the scourge of extreme  poverty.  At present, 80% of the global population does not enjoy social guarantees that enable them to live a life of dignity and enjoy their basic human rights. Ensuring a social protection floor for these people is one of the fastest ways to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, invest in social justice and sustainable economic development. 
 
The concept of a social protection floor is very clear. No one should live below a certain income level and everyone should be able to access at least basic health services, primary education, housing, water, sanitation, food security and adequate nutrition. Social transfers, in cash or in kind, that provides income security as well as food security must be guaranteed. 
  
The United Nations Social Protection Floor Initiative (SPFI)promotes universal access to essential social transfers and services. Social protection measures act as cushions for individuals and families against economic shocks and other life contingencies, thus enhancing their capacity to manage and overcome the challenges that affect their well-being.
 
Poverty is not a condition particular to a fixed group of individuals, but rather one that everyone is at risk of experiencing at some point in the life cycle. The right to social security calls for a progressive move towards universal social protection so as to ensure the basic well-being of all citizens everywhere, all the time. 
 
The SPFI is a policy that must be tailored to the needs of each country and which builds on the country’s existing social protection mechanisms. It aims to make it possible for every citizen to enjoy the human rights expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It sets minimum standards of access to essential services. When people stand on a solid floor, they are able to live with dignity and invest in their own skills and development, gradually moving to higher levels of well-being.
 
The NGO Social Development committee is sponsoring an Online Signature Campaign in support of this initiative which already enjoys considerable support from various UN entities as well as representatives from many countries. The goal of the campaign is to collect large numbers of signatures of individuals and well as organizations from as many countries as possible. The petition with all its signatures will be presented to member states as evidence of civil society’s support for the Social Protection Floor being implements in all countries.