Doha, February 07 (QNA) - The State of Qatar is participating in the work of the 61st session of the United Nations (UN) Commission for Social Development (CSocD61), which started Tuesday at the UN's headquarters in New York, and will continue until Feb. 15.

HE Minister of Social Development and Family Mariam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misned chaired the State of Qatar's delegation to the session.

Addressing the high-level general discussions at the opening session, which was chaired by HE Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Ambassador Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, HE the Minister of Social Development and Family called for a review of the decisions of the historic World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen.

Her Excellency added that this international agreement, which places individuals at the center of development and emphasizes social justice and development as foundations for achieving sustainable peace and security, needs reviewing in terms of the provisions that have been achieved, and the reasons for the retreat from achieving its main objectives.

Although this international declaration was reached 25 years ago, the world is still experiencing the same challenges and tribulations, whether they are embodied in poverty, epidemics, or social disintegration. The absence of justice, equality and solidarity still exists, which makes it necessary to work on a solution to these problems so that children will not live in the future with the same problems, Her Excellency said.

In this context, Her Excellency called for concerted international efforts in the path of social development and development goals, research into the causes of success and failure, and identifying steps to correct them, ahead of the 28th anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen.

Commenting on the relevant Qatari efforts, Her Excellency commended the State of Qatar's urgent response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its adoption of an approach based on the commitment to promoting labor rights and its economic returns for the entire population, by providing $20 billion to help the private sector to continue paying wages and salaries and repel the fear of financial bankruptcy, a move that placed the State of Qatar among the lowest rates of job loss during the pandemic among the countries of the world.

Her Excellency the Minister of Social Development and Family began her speech by referring to the earthquake disaster that struck Turkey and Syria, and expressed her condolences to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured.

The general discussions at the opening session of the 61st session of the CSocD61 were held under the theme 'Creating full and productive employment and decent work for all as a way of overcoming inequalities to accelerate the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'.

The agenda of the meetings of the commission includes a ministerial forum and a number of high-level discussion sessions, in addition to dialogue sessions and several forums. The outcomes of the World Summit for Social Development and the 24th special session of the relevant General Assembly will be followed up. (QNA)