Doha, Qatar: More than 8,000 participants representing UN Member States, the United Nations system, civil society, academia, the private sector, and youth will convene in Doha for the Second World Summit for Social Development.

The gathering aims to renew the global commitment to social justice and ensure that people remain at the heart of sustainable development efforts.

Taking place from November 4 to 6 in Doha, the Summit will focus on strengthening international partnerships and advancing inclusive policies that create fair and equitable opportunities for all. This was announced during a curtain-raiser press briefing for the Second World Summit for Social Development at UN headquarters in New York.

President of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock and Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations H E Sheikha Alya bin Saif Al Thani attended the press conference. Addressing the press conference, Sheikha Alya said, "The Doha Summit offers a unique opportunity to renew shared commitment to social progress and inclusion and to accelerate achievement of the SDGs. It is truly a defining moment for global social development."

In convening this summit, she said Qatar reaffirms its long-standing commitment to social justice, inclusive development, and multilateral cooperation.

She said that from the 2008 Financing for Development Conference to UNCTAD 13 in 2012 and COP 18 in the same year, and as well at the UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in 2015 and LDC 5 in 2023, among many others, Doha has emerged as a symbol of dialogue and global solidarity by hosting these milestone events for the United Nations.

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“Qatar builds on that legacy by hosting the summit next week. At the heart of the summit will be the adoption, of course, of the Doha Political Declaration on Social Development,” said Sheikha Alya.

She said that a few highlights from the declaration will include interlinked priorities of poverty eradication, full and productive employment and decent work for all, and social inclusion as essential to sustainable development.

“It underscores that social justice cannot exist without peace and security or without respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It issues a clear call to action, recommitting governments to creating the conditions for social development for all, and importantly, it includes strong provisions on implementation, follow-up, and review,” said Sheikha Alya.

She said that Qatar will host a summit that is unique in both scale and ambition. Highlights will include the first leaders' meeting of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the Doha Solutions Forum for Social Development, both designed to translate commitments into measurable actions.

Baerbock said that in Doha, leaders will meet again to underline the purpose of Copenhagen to act and to bring forward solutions to reduce poverty once and for all and to expand universal social protection before crisis strikes.

She said 30 years ago, world leaders underlined in Copenhagen that dignity, opportunity, and inclusion must be at the heart not only of development, but at the heart of the United Nations, knowing that without social justice, there will never be long-lasting peace and security. Baerbock said that they met 30 years ago in Copenhagen at a time when more than 1.3 billion people – so over a quarter of the world – lived in deep poverty, merely surviving instead of thriving.

She said,“We have made progress since then. For instance, in the three decades since Copenhagen, the share of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from roughly 30% of humanity to about 10% today.

"Yet, as we also know, within the 30 years, we have made special progress due to the 10 years ago adoption of the Agenda 2030, another milestone for social development and also the strong push for our SDGs.

Besides all these successes, still today, 30 years after Copenhagen and 10 years after the Agenda 2030, over 800 million people still live in extreme poverty."

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