28 July 1988

40th plenary meeting

Khartoum Declaration on a Human-focused Approach to Socio-economic Recovery and Development in Africa

The Economic and Social Council,

Convinced of the need for urgent and concerted measures at the national, subregional, regional and international levels to improve the human condition and sustain human resources development and utilization through the period of recovery and beyond in Africa,

1. Welcomes the thrust of the Khartoum Declaration on a Human-focused Approach to Socio-economic Recovery and Development in Africa, adopted by the International Conference on the Human Dimension of Africa's Economic Recovery and Development in March 1988;

2. Commends the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Follow-up of the Implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990 at the Regional Level for having successfully convened the Conference;

3. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of the Sudan for hosting the Conference and, in particular, to the Prime Minister of the Sudan for his patronage of the Conference;

4. Welcomes the commitment of the States members of the Economic Commission for Africa to implement the recommendations of the Khartoum Declaration by making the human dimension an essential focus of their recovery and long-term development programmes;

5. Urges international financial institutions, bilateral and multilateral donors, organizations of the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations to contribute actively to the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Khartoum Declaration, with a view to ensuring that concern for the human dimension is adequately taken into account in their programmes of assistance to African countries;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the Khartoum Declaration to the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the General Assembly on the Review and Appraisal of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990 and to the General Assembly at its forty-third session;

7. Urges the Secretary-General to institute the action necessary to mobilize the United Nations system and the international community in support of the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Khartoum Declaration;

8. Calls upon the Inter-Agency Task Force to intensify its efforts to strengthen further the co-operation among the organizations of the United Nations system in the search for solutions to Africa's problems of human development within the context of recovery and long-term development.