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The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled "Cooperatives and Social Development" (A/RES/54/123) on 17 December 1999. This resolution falls just short of adopting the Guidelines. Instead it welcomes the draft and requests UN member states to provide their views on the draft and provide, if necessary, a revised version of the Guidelines for adoption at the 56th General Assembly in 2001.
Link to the first version of the UN Secretary-General's Report containing Guidelines and the revised version 2001 http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/docs/2001/e2001-68.pdf.
You will find the official version of the resolution UN web site at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resfiles/a54r123.pdf (this is a PDF file requiring Acrobat reader) and the revised version. However, COPAC has also made the text of the document available below for those who do not have Acrobat reader. You will also find excerpts of the press release reporting on the adoption of the resolution.
| The General Assembly Recalling its resolutions 47/90 of 16 December 1992, 49/155 of 23 December 1994 and 51/58 of 12 December 1996, in which it requested the Secretary-General to ascertain in cooperation with the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, the desirability and feasibility of elaborating United Nations guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General on the status and role of cooperatives in the light of new economic and social trends and the draft guidleines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, annexed to the report; Recognizing that cooperative, in their various forms, are becoming a major factor of economic and social development by promoting the fullest possible participation in the development process of women and all population groups, including youth, older persons and people with disabilities, are are increasingly providing an effective and affordable mechanism for meeting people's needs for basic social services; Recognizing also the important contribution and potential of all forms of cooperatives to the follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and the World Food Summit, including their five-year reviews;
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| ....The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this morning to begin considering social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family... Documents A report of the Secretary-General on the status and role of cooperatives in light of new economic and social trends (document A/54/57) contains information on legislation governing cooperatives which can be found in international conventions and standards, national constitutions and laws, subsidiary legislation and in by-laws. It states that cooperatives are generally covered by the basic human rights guaranteed under national constitutions. The report also contains information on legislative and administrative initiatives taken in Western Europe, North America and Japan related to the legal administrative framework for cooperatives, as well as on initiatives taken in the 1990s. Regarding initiatives taken in the 1990s, the report defines three groups of countries. The first are those countries which reported that no substantial or significant changes had recently taken place which would have affected cooperative development. The second group are countries in which some significant changes were introduced within the last decade affecting the status, the legal and administrative framework governing the activities of cooperatives. The third group is composed of countries where amendments to the national legal and administrative framework governing activities of cooperatives are still in the process of elaboration. The report also contains information on the participation of the cooperative sector in reforming cooperative legislation, as well as on the process of elaborating United Nations guidelines for the development of cooperatives. Further, the report´s annex includes guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives. The report states that the legislative and administrative initiatives governing cooperatives in former socialist countries or those in transition had the appearance of being democratic. Thus, membership in "cooperatives" was considered to be voluntary but, in reality, people were compelled to join. When such countries started their transition to free market economies, they faced the challenge of elaborating a totally new legal and administrative framework for almost all aspects of life, including cooperative arrangements. Those countries have expressed their readiness to contribute to elaborating United Nations guidelines. The report also contains information on legislative and administrative initiatives taken in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In many of those countries, governments preferred to have State-controlled and State-funded cooperatives as a tool or an extension of public administration. Among the initiatives taken during the 1990s by those countries was a State withdrawal from supervising cooperatives. Also, according to the report, those countries would consider guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, as elaborated by the United Nations, to be of great value for reforming and updating their national legislations. Finally, the report states that the majority of Western European and North American countries, as well as Japan, considered it important to offer balanced and practical rules for all legal entities, including cooperatives... |
| ...Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the representative of Trinidad and Tobago said cooperatives had always been useful vehicles for critical social and economic progress in CARICOM countries, where cooperation and mutual help were rooted in the culture... YVONNE GITTENS-JOSEPH (Trinidad and Tobago), speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)... Mentioning the Committee´s range of work for the present session as relevant to the CARICOM countries, she said cooperatives had always been of critical social and economic importance in those countries, where cooperation and mutual help were rooted in the culture. Cooperatives had been useful vehicles for the participation of lower and middle income groups. She said some countries had a national policy for cooperative development as a way of creating jobs and developing business, especially among young people. The approach of cooperatives improved the standard of living, promoted social integration and increased personal and national capital resources by promoting sound economic attitudes. The cooperative movement also was important in the economic and financial sectors of CARICOM member States. With its financial base in industry, the community and the public sector, it had thrived and made a major contribution to national development. |
| ...Cooperatives could become sources of self-reliance for the aged, enterprise for youth and the disabled, as well as providing care for children, the representative of India told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) this morning, as the Committee continued its consideration of social development, including questions related to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family. Cooperatives promoted self-help and collective self-reliance, he continued. By pooling resources, contributing labour and bargaining collectively, societies at the grass-roots level provided themselves with health care, education, and other basic services without awaiting affirmative action by States. The representative of Mongolia added that cooperatives made an important contribution to promoting social development goals. She said her Government had established a national programme for the development of cooperatives, which would create jobs, reduce poverty and help to ensure a reliable provision of social services to the population.... OCHIR ENKHTSETSEG (Mongolia) ... Of particular relevance to her country, she continued, was the issue of cooperatives. They made an important contribution to promoting social development goals. In Mongolia, there were seven cooperative alliances comprising 2,000 individual cooperatives. A national programme for development of cooperatives from 1998 and 2005 had been set up, with a national council for monitoring implementation. The main objectives of the programme were to actively involve cooperations in promoting national development goals, in particular by creating jobs, reducing poverty and helping to ensure a reliable provision of social services to the population. ESWARY BALANDAN (India) said... Cooperatives had received less attention than they deserved, he said. In the face of globalization, there was a new role for cooperatives, especially in the arena of social development. Cooperatives were organizations for self-help and collective self-reliance. "By pooling resources, contributing labour and bargaining collectively, societies at the grass roots can provide themselves with health care, education and other basic services without awaiting affirmative action by States", he added. Also, cooperatives could become organizations of self-reliance for the aged, enterprise for the youth and the disabled, as well as for the care of children... |
| MARIA INES FONSECA (Venezuela) said ... Social development was at the heart of all aspects of Venezuela´s policy, she said. At the international level, Venezuela supported initiatives at the regional and broader levels for all vulnerable groups. At the domestic level, cooperatives were an important component of national development. A single, central fund served to encourage economic activities. A national council coordinated policies for the disabled. Nutritional and educational programmes were provided to people at all levels of society, including families, who were seen as the repositories of the culture. |
| The Committee has before it a number of draft resolutions to be introduced. By terms of a 13-power draft on cooperatives in social development (document A/C.3/54/L.11), the Assembly would, among other things, adopt the Guidelines aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, elaborated by the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives. The Assembly would request the Secretary-General to encourage wider dissemination and use of the Guidelines, and would urge Governments, international organizations and specialized agencies to collaborate with national and international cooperative organizations in giving due consideration to the role and contribution of cooperatives in follow-up to such conferences as the World Summit for Social Development. It would also urge Governments to develop the potential of cooperatives to attain social development goals and facilitate the development of cooperatives by creating a supportive and enabling environment through effective partnership between Governments and the cooperative movement. Finally, the Assembly would invite all actors to observe the International Day of Cooperatives annually on the first Saturday of July. The draft text is sponsored by Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Madagascar, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia and Trinidad and Tobago. |
| The Committee also had before it a number of draft resolutions on which it was expected to take action... By terms of a 13-Power draft resolution on cooperatives in social development (document A/C.3/54/L.11; see press release GA/SHC/3531 of 19 October for summary), the Assembly would adopt guidelines for creating a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives and would request the Secretary-General to disseminate the guidelines. It would urge governments to create a supporting environment for cooperatives through effective partnership with the cooperative movement. It would invite all actors to observe the International Day of Cooperatives annually on the first Saturday of July. In addition to the original sponsors, the following became co-sponsors when the draft was introduced by Mongolia on 19 October: Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Madagascar, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, and Trinidad and Tobago. |
Background information on the Guidelines
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Comments or questions? Contact the COPAC Coordinator.
Updated: 5 November 2001
