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2005 Report on the World Social
Situation 
The 2005 Report on the World Social Situation:
the Inequality Predicament was launched
on August 25. The Report sounds alarm over persistent
and deepening inequality worldwide, focusing on the
chasm between the formal and informal economies, the
widening gap between skilled and unskilled workers, the
growing disparities in health, education and
opportunities for social, economic and political
participation.
The
Report has been introduced by Mr. Jose Antonio Ocampo,
Under-Secretary-General and Mr. Johan
Schölvinck, Director, Division for
Social Policy and Development, DESA on Thursday August 25, 2005.
The 2005
Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS) will focus
on the international aspects of inequality. As
emphasized by the ten-year review of the implementation
of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action,
there has been uneven progress in many areas of social
development (e.g., access to health and education), with
important regression in others (e.g., inequality and
social integration). The analysis of the underlining
causes for this state of affairs highlights several
issues, among which the reduced emphasis received in the
decade since Copenhagen in the committments made during
the World Summit on social development especially in the
areas of equality, equity and social justice stands out.
Actual trends
in inequality and the changing nature that inequality
itself has acquired in the recent decade call for a more
in-depth analysis. Thus the main assumption of the RWSS
2005 is that issues of equity and inequality has
acquired such importance nowadays that it renders a
difficult task to strengthen the development agenda
without first addressing the segmentation of society
that, among other reasons, rising levels of inequality
have produced.
The Report of
the World Social Situation 2005 (Sales No. 05.IV.5, ISBN: 9211302439)
may be
obtained at the price of US $15.00
from:
United Nations
Publications,
Two UN Plaza, Room DC2-853,
Dept. PRES
New York, NY 10017, USA
tel: +1
800 253 9646 or +1 212 963 8302,
fax: +1 212 963
3489, e-mail: publications@un.org; or
Internet: http://www.un.org/publications
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2003 Report on the World Social
Situation
The 2003
Report on the World Social Situation is the sixteenth in
a series of reports on the subject dating back to 1952.
It is available as a United Nations sales publication.
Its main theme is " Social vulnerability". The present
Report is the first produced on a biennial basis. This
is not, however, the only change to the Report. Its
content should be seen as part of the new initiatives
put forward by the Secretary-General in his quest to
renew the capacity of the Organization to provide a
space for genuine dialogue and to serve as a catalyst
for effective action.
There are two new main
features in the 2003 RWSS compared to previous reports.
First, by taking a thematic approach as its starting
point, the 2003 RWSS addresses in depth one priority
theme: the issue of social vulnerability. The objective
of the Report is to develop a frame of reference for
identifying the sources of social vulnerabilities as
well as discussing strategies to reduce vulnerabilities
of selected social groups. The second new feature of the
2003 RWSS is an attempt to increase its policy
relevance, putting forward explicit policy
recommendations. Every effort has been made to address
these issues in a concise way, making the RWSS a more
readable, shorter and better focused
document.
The Report of
the World Social Situation 2003 (Sales No. E.03.IV.10,
ISBN 92-1-130231-5)
may be obtained at the price of
US $15.00 from:
United Nations
Publications,
Two UN Plaza, Room DC2-853,
Dept. PRES
New York, NY 10017, USA
tel: +1
800 253 9646 or +1 212 963 8302,
fax: +1 212 963
3489, e-mail: publications@un.org; or
Internet: http://www.un.org/publications
