Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, delivering a speech at Doha Summit in Qatar on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), delivered an urgent call to action at the opening of the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha on November 4, 2025. He emphasized that despite three decades of "extraordinary social and economic progress" since the Copenhagen Summit, the world is dangerously off track in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"Only 35 per cent of SDG targets are on track," President Thapa noted, pointing to a global landscape grappling with rising inequalities, diminishing job opportunities, and growing insecurity.
The President praised the new Doha Political Declaration as a "milestone," thanking Qatar for hosting the Summit and highlighting the tireless efforts of negotiators from Morocco and Belgium. He stressed that the Declaration directly addresses the urgency of strengthening the social dimension of sustainable development by focusing on three core, interrelated priorities: ending poverty, ensuring full and productive employment and decent work for all, and promoting social inclusion.
The Global Crisis: poverty and erosion of trust
President Thapa painted a stark picture of the current global social crisis. Over 800 million people still live in extreme poverty, with billions more perilously close to the poverty line, vulnerable to even a minor shock. Informal employment is rampant, affecting up to 80% of workers in Africa and 70% in Asia.
Furthermore, economic concentration is worsening, with the world’s richest one per cent owning more wealth than 95 per cent of humanity. Social protection coverage remains inadequate for nearly half the global population, leaving billions without vital safety nets.
Thapa also warned that deepening distrust, fueled by misinformation, is fracturing social cohesion and eroding confidence in institutions, further undermining efforts to achieve the SDGs.
ECOSOC's renewed mandate
Looking ahead, President Thapa affirmed that addressing these issues lies at the heart of the Council’s mandate. He framed the Council's 80th anniversary as an opportunity to renew the commitment to its core values of cooperation, inclusive development, and human dignity.
ECOSOC will fully mobilize its strengths—including policy guidance, evidence-based support, and providing a platform for diverse voices like youth, women, and persons with disabilities—to advance the commitments made in Doha. The Council will also support the General Assembly in the five-year review process agreed upon in the new Declaration.
Concluding his address, the President called on global leaders to "carry forward the spirit of Doha with unity of purpose and a shared determination to build societies rooted in dignity, opportunity and inclusion for all."
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