February 20: World Day Of Social Justice

This observation was borne out of the need to achieve a “society for all”, the United Nations at its 62nd session of its General Assembly in November 2007 proclaimed 20th February of every year as World Day of Social Justice.

The United Nations recognized that for economic growth to be achieved, that there should be equitable distribution of income and greater access to resources through equity and equality and opportunity for all; respect for all human rights and fundamental freedom.

That the observance of the day should contribute to the further consolidation of the efforts of the international community in poverty eradication, promotion of full employment and decent work, gender equity and access to social well being and justice for all.

This year 2020 theme, “Closing the Inequalities gap to achieve Social Justice” pointed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Number 10. For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice is at the core of their global mission.

The adoption by the International Labour Organization of the declaration on Social Justice for a fair Globalization in 2008 was just an example of the UN system’s commitment to Social Justice. The declaration which focused on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, fundamental principles and rights at work.

Inequality within and among nations continues to be a significant concern despite progress in and efforts at narrowing disparities of opportunity, income, and power. Income inequality continues to rise in many parts of the world, even as the bottom 40 percent of the population in many countries has experienced positive growth rates.

Greater emphasis will need to be placed on reducing inequalities in income as well as those based on other factors. Additional efforts are needed to increase zero-tariff access for exports from the least developed countries and developing countries, and assistance to the least developed countries and small island developing States.

Following the report released by the Secretary-General UN in 2019 SDGs review on the progress so far on GOAL 10 (Reducing Inequalities).

In more than half of the 92 countries with comparable data during the period 2011–2016, the bottom 40 percent of the population experienced a growth rate that was higher than the overall national average. However, the bottom 40 percent received less than 25 percent of the overall income or consumption. In many places, the increasing share of income going to the top 1 percent of earners is of significant concern.

Robust and sound financial systems are essential for supporting equal access to financial services. High loan asset impairment, measured by the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans for deposit takers, is a potential risk to the soundness of the banking system. For almost half of the 138 reporting countries, the percentage of non-performing loans to total loans was less than 5, while the average median for the period 2010–2017 was 4.3 percent.

While countries in developing regions represent over 70 percent of the membership of the General Assembly and World Trade Organization, which utilize a one member, one vote system, their voting share in other international organizations remains far below these levels.

Governance reforms are being negotiated at the International Monetary Fund, and changes were adopted at the World Bank in October 2018. However, full implementation will leave developing countries with just over 40 percent of the voting rights, still short of the 75 percent they represent in World Bank membership in terms of the number of countries.

Duty-free access continued to increase for least developed countries, small island developing States and developing regions at large. More than 50 percent of expo

rts from developing countries are now eligible for duty-free treatment. The increase of duty-free access in world markets was the largest for least developed countries, namely in the industrial and agricultural sectors.

In 2017, total receipts by developing countries from donors of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, multilateral agencies and other key providers were $414 billion, of which $163 billion were ODA. Total ODA to small island developing States from all donors was $4.3 billion in 2017, a decrease of 33 percent in real terms over 2016, due to exceptional debt relief operations for Cuba in 2016

While the data demonstrate that the world is not yet on a trajectory to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, this fails to tell the full story of the response to Goals over the past four years.

The 2030 Agenda has kicked off dynamic efforts to implement its vision in many countries and among many communities. Actions have come in many forms. Communities have focused on establishing foundations for transformation.

Governments and others are grappling with complex and interconnected development challenges that require deep changes to systems people have relied on for decades to govern their societies and manage their economies.

Though such actions represent an almost universal commitment to implementation, they have not gone far enough to adequately respond to the paradigm shift required by the 2030 Agenda and will need to be built upon and scaled up over the coming years to significantly accelerate progress.