Human/Social Development excerpt
"In spite of the recent elimination of super-Power confrontation, the overall reduction of military expenditures and advances in human rights and democracy, social development problems increase as is evidenced by the vast numbers of people suffering in so many places in the world. The death of 40,000 children a day is a stark reminder. The Secretary-General's note responds to this crisis with its overriding theme of putting people at the center of development. People, it asserts, are the principal and ultimate resource of nations. Sustainable development, therefore, must enhance human well being in harmony with nature. The main objectives of the summit are accordingly - 1) to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, 2) to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, 3) to enhance world peace and security through greater social peace, and 4) to unleash the latent potential for public and private social development initiatives at the national level - including, among others, the significant ways in which trade unions, NGO's, churches and religious denominations and the academic community can contribute (Addendum 16). Topics to be included on the summit's agenda are: gender discrimination, availability of food and housing, improvement in health care and educational opportunities, children, the elderly, the handicapped, crime prevention, criminal justice, population policies, consumption and traffic of narcotic drugs, spread of AIDS and migration."
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