The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its resolutions 43/195 of 20 December 1988, 44/212 of 22 December 1989, 45/213 of 21 December 1990, 46/141 of 17 December 1991 and 47/197 of 22 December 1992 related to international cooperation for the eradication of poverty in developing countries,
Reaffirming also its resolutions S-18/3 of 1 May 1990 and 45/199 of 21 December 1990, as well as all the declarations, commitments, plans and programmes of action containing provisions related to the eradication of poverty in the framework of activities of the United Nations system,
Reaffirming further the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, in particular principle 5 thereof, Agenda 21, in particular chapter 3 thereof entitled "Combating poverty", the Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests, in particular principle 7 (a) thereof, and all other decisions and recommendations adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development relating to the eradication of poverty,
Underlining that the eradication of poverty, especially in developing countries, is one of the priority development objectives for the 1990s,
Recognizing that poverty is a complex and multidimensional problem with origins in both the national and international domains, and that its eradication constitutes an important factor in ensuring sustainable development,
Recognizing the central role that women play in the eradication of poverty and the necessity of addressing the needs of women in poverty eradication programmes,
Considering that the efforts made at the national and international levels need to be enhanced to ensure the eradication of poverty, in particular in the least developed countries, the countries in sub-Saharan Africa and other countries that have areas of concentrated poverty,
Reaffirming the need for the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to coordinate better and harmonize their activities in the field of the eradication of poverty, bearing in mind the relevant paragraphs of General Assembly resolution 47/199 of 22 December 1992, in particular the paragraphs dealing with mechanisms and instruments of coordination at the field level,
Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General,
1. Stresses the importance of domestic policies, including effective budgetary policies, to mobilize and allocate domestic resources for the eradication of poverty through, inter alia, the creation of employment and income-generating programmes, the implementation of food security, health, education, housing and population programmes and the strengthening of national capacity-building execution programmes;
2. Reaffirms that a supportive international economic environment which takes into account resource flows and structural adjustment programmes, in which social and environmental dimensions are integrated, is vital to the success of efforts of developing countries, in particular, to deal with the eradication of poverty;
3. Invites all countries to undertake national strategies and programmes for the eradication of poverty that are, inter alia, sensitive to gender considerations, taking into account cultural, religious and social particularities, and that involve more active participation by the targeted communities, as well as by the most vulnerable groups, in initiating, implementing, following up and evaluating specific projects;
4. Reiterates its request to the international community to adopt specific and effective measures designed to increase financial flows to developing countries, and urges the developed countries, which have reaffirmed their commitment to reach the accepted United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance, to the extent that they have not yet achieved that target, to agree to augment their aid programmes in order to reach that target as soon as possible, some developed countries having agreed to reach the target by the year 2000, while other developed countries, in line with their support for reform efforts in developing countries, agree to make their best efforts to increase their level of official development assistance;
5. Invites the international community and the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system to continue to support development programmes in developing countries, including the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development related to the eradication of poverty, particularly chapter 3 of Agenda 21 entitled "Combating poverty";
6. Requests the Secretary-General to urge the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, in the framework of the help they give to developing countries, to strengthen their institutional capacities for implementing their poverty eradication programmes and to adopt a coordinated and integrated approach that takes into account, inter alia, the role and needs of women, with attention to social services, income generation and the increased participation of local communities;
7. Invites preparatory bodies and all relevant forthcoming major meetings and conferences of the United Nations system, particularly the International Conference on Population and Development, the World Summit for Social Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace and the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), to take specific measures and decisions to meet, by the early part of the twenty-first century, the challenge of the eradication of poverty;
8. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session an updated report focusing, inter alia, on the development of appropriate inputs to country programmes by relevant agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, based on exchange of information on and analysis of the operations of actual programmes and on the identification of constraints and weaknesses of operational and coordinating capacities owing to a lack of resources, as well as focusing on elements for the elaboration of multisectoral strategies;
9. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-ninth session the item entitled "International cooperation for the eradication of poverty in developing countries".
86th plenary meeting
21 December 1993
