Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0246/02465.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 10KB | 172 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02465}
$Pretitle{276}
$Title{Mongolia
On World Social Situation}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of Mongolia, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Mongolia, Washington DC}
$Subject{social
development
world
human
countries
economic
international
problems
cent
conditions}
$Date{1991}
$Log{}
Country:     Mongolia
Book:        Mongolia on World Problems
Author:      Embassy of Mongolia, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of Mongolia, Washington DC
Date:        1991

On World Social Situation

     My delegation has read with keen interest the Addendum to the 1989
Report on the World Social Situation, and the Human Development Report 1990,
prepared by UNDP.

     These mutually complementary studies provide thought provoking analysis
of the relationship between trends in the world economy and in the social
situation as well as conceptual and practical insights from which governments
could benefit in updating their national human development programmes
tailored to local priorities.

     As can be seen from the above reports, the overall picture of the world
social situation at the beginning of the 1990s is uneven and complex. The year
that has passed witnessed dramatic and sweeping changes in the world social
scene. The developments in the countries of Eastern Europe constitute a
special case in point. Encouraging progress has been made towards solution of
a number of regional conflicts that caused much havoc and enormous social
misery. New opportunities for substantial reductions in armaments and armed
forces are opening up. There is a growing awareness of the international
community that both old and newly emerged generations of social problems could
not be tackled without multilateral efforts.

     Such trends have evoked a certain sense of optimism. Unfortunately,
however, the Gulf crisis has wrought a serious adverse effect capable to
aggravate international economic problems. Important documents and
authoritative statements in this Committee and elsewhere in this great world
forum have rightly expressed a deep concern over the negative repercussions
of the crisis on the world economic and social situation, at least for certain
period. In this connection my delegation is gratified to note that the
Secretary General's report to the 45th GA Session has timely drawn the
attention of the world community to the need for serious efforts to be made
"to mitigate the economic and social consequences of the crisis and to see how
to provide a safety net for developing countries ill-equipped to cope with
such situations". The negative effect is going to be strongly felt especially
in the oil importing countries including my own country, Mongolia. The need of
empathy and solidarity cannot be overstressed.

     Furthermore, the legacy of the 1980s is truly dismal. According to the
estimates made in the reports, at the end of the past decade some 20 per cent
of the world's population - about 1 billion people, lived in conditions of
absolute poverty. 55 per cent of them live in Asia despite sustained growth in
a number of countries of the region. Problems of poverty became more severe in
Africa with 38 per cent of the total. New groups of population afflicted by
poverty arose in the process of political and economic upheavals in a number
of countries. Living conditions in most countries of Africa and Latin America
declined persistently during 80s. 1.5 billion people are still deprived of
primary health care and 1,75 billion people still have no access to a safe
source of water throughout the globe. Nearly 3 million children die each year
from immunisable diseases. And there still are about 100 million children of
school age in the developing countries unable to attend school. Thus,
arresting and reversing these trends is the principal challenge of development
in the last decade of the 20th century.

     Interdependence and international cooperation are the key words that can
best carry the main characteristic features of today's world developments.
This interdependence has come to encompass each and every domain of human
endeavour. There is nowadays a growing awareness and recognition of the
inherent interrelationship and indeed indivisibility of economic and social
dimensions in the developmental process. Without a sound social policy truly
human economic progress is not possible. Policy measures, thus, should focus
not only on economic growth as such, but also and largely on the human
dimension of development and in particular, on the full realization of the
potential of man as the ultimate object and the determining force of
development. This equally applies to all countries irrespective of their
level of development.

     My country, Mongolia is undergoing a dynamic process of restructuring.
Priority emphasis at present is centered on the human and social dimensions of
development. Placing man in the focus of public and state attention,
augmenting the possibilities for tapping and enhancing the political,
spiritual and labour capabilities of individuals constitute the essence of my
Government's policy, which goes in line with the main objectives defined in
the Human Development Report 1990.

     Despite overall development achievements attained during the years of
people's rule Mongolia still finds itself facing a host of unsolved social
problems, in particular those related to the rural population.

     While the country is basically self-sufficient in our staples such as
meet, dairy and grain, we still face serious nutritional problems. While we
have attained well over 90 per cent of literacy rate and school enrollment, we
are required to do a lot to enhance our educational system. While we have
developed a nation-wide network of health services, we need to put a lot of
efforts to improve the efficiency, quality and expertise of the medical
service. In addition to all this statistics show that one fifth of the total
number of families have to live in conditions below the subsistence minimum,
which is estimated to be 230 tugrugs (about 40 US dollars) in the cities and
140 tugrugs (about 25 US dollars) in rural areas. And this is in a country,
which has probably one of the most unfavorable climatic conditions which
greatly increases the living costs.

     The Government is taking a variety of social security measures by
improving the overall system of wages, state pension and unemployment
allowances. 1.5 billion tugrugs have been additionally earmarked for these
purposes in the years 1991-1995. Wages of agricultural cooperative members
will be raised by 30 per cent, thus being equalled to that of workers. Minimum
size of old-age pension will be raised by 20 per cent and some new types of
social security allowances will be created to meet the needs of big families,
single mothers with many children, the handicapped and the unemployed through
no fault of their own.

     The number of able-bodied unemployed people has reached about 30
thousand, while such branches of national economy as animal husbandry and
construction are experiencing a shortage of labour force. To tackle this newly
emerging social problem the Government has taken measures to open up greater
scope of activities for cooperatives and individual enterprises and expanded
leasing, contracting and other forms of fuller utilization of labour force. A
Labour Ministry was set up to ensure the development and efficient use of
available labour resources and pursue unemployment preventive policy.

     These and other efforts exerted by my Government and aimed at greater
utilization of human development factor can only be successful when they are
reinforced by favourable international conditions and increased development
cooperation.

     The general positive changes in the world political climate augur well
for making the international cooperation in the social field more meaningful
and sustainable.

     Having in mind the future global joint work in the social field, my
delegation would like to stress the exceptional importance