The summit

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The 1995 Copenhagen Social Summit promised action on poverty, employment and social integration -- pledging governments to deliver greater social justice to the world's six billion inhabitants. But...

The 1995 Copenhagen Social Summit promised action on poverty, employment and social integration -- pledging governments to deliver greater social justice to the world's six billion inhabitants. But in the five years since Copenhagen, the gap between the rich and the poor actually widened, while development assistance from the industrialized donor countries went into sharp decline. In June 2000 heads of state held a special session of the UN General Assembly to review progress on the Social Summit. Government leaders gathered in Geneva -- the city where Jean Jacques Rousseau first conceived the idea of a 'social contract' -- for what was to become known as the 'Justice Summit.' This program brings together some key players in the debate -- from both developing and developed countries: Eveline Herfkens, Minister for Development Cooperation in the Dutch government; Nitan Desai, Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs and Faith Innerarity from the Jamaican government delegation, as well as the heads of UN agencies from around the world.

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