2016 Theme: A Just Transition - environmentally sustainable economies and societies
Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous
coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of
social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of
indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we
remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race,
ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.
For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice for all is
at the core of our global mission to promote development and human
dignity. The adoption by the International Labour Organization of the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization
is just one recent example of the UN system’s commitment to social
justice. The Declaration focuses on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all
through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and
fundamental principles and rights at work.
The General Assembly proclaimed 20 February as World Day of Social Justice
in 2007, inviting Member States to devote the day to promoting national
activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the World Summit for Social Development
and the twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly. Observance of
World Day of Social Justice should support efforts of the international
community in poverty eradication, the promotion of full employment and
decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being and
justice for all.
New Vision for the Economy
The world has changed dramatically. We no longer live in a world
relatively empty of humans and their artifacts. We now live in the
"Anthropocene era" in a full world where humans are dramatically
altering their ecological life-support systems. Our traditional economic
concepts and models were developed in an empty world. If we are to
create sustainable prosperity, if we seek "improved human well-being and
social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risk and
ecological scarcities," we are going to need a new vision of the economy
and its relationship to the rest of the world that's better adapted to
the new conditions we face.
We are going to need an economics that respects planetary
boundaries, that recontinues the dependence of human well-being on
social relations and fairness, and that recognises that the ultimate
goal is real, sustainable human well-being , not merely growth of
material consumption.
The new economics recognises that the economy is embedded in a
society and culture that are themselves embedded in an ecological
life-support system, and that the economy can't grow forever on this
finite planet.
