Launch of the Second World Summit for Social Development
Doha – November 4–6, 2025
In the early 1990s, as the world emerged from the shadows of the Cold War, nations began seeking a new vision for development — one that placed people, not profits, at its core.
At that time, the Government of Denmark, with the support of other Nordic countries such as Sweden and Norway, known for their strong traditions of equity and human rights, proposed convening a global summit focused on the social dimensions of development.
The United Nations embraced the proposal, and in 1993, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 47/92, calling for the summit. Two years later, in 1995, the Danish capital Copenhagen hosted the First World Summit for Social Development, attended by more than 100 heads of state and government.
That landmark event produced the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and a ten-chapter Programme of Action, centered around three key objectives:
Combating poverty in all its forms.
Providing decent and productive work for every individual.
Strengthening social inclusion, equality, and justice.
The summit represented a genuine turning point, placing human well-being at the heart of global progress, rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Three decades later, the Second World Summit for Social Development is convening in Doha, Qatar, in 2025, at the invitation of the United Nations, to assess global achievements since Copenhagen and to formulate a new social compact grounded in dignity, fairness, and participation.
At Medline for Human Rights (MRH), our participation reflects our deep conviction that the human being is both the purpose and the driver of development, and that justice is not a favor—it is an obligation.
Our presence sends a clear and urgent message to the international community:
Development cannot be reduced to figures in reports while millions continue to live beneath the threshold of dignity.
Poverty is not a number—it is a lived reality for families struggling daily for medicine, food, and a home worthy of human life.
We understand that the challenge is not merely a shortage of resources, but the inequitable distribution of those resources and the narrowing civic space that limits people’s participation in shaping their own futures.
At the Summit, MRH Advocates for:
Expanding social protection systems to reach the most vulnerable populations.
Prioritizing education and healthcare as the truest and most lasting investment in people.
Empowering civil society to play a genuine role in oversight, transparency, and accountability.
Redirecting public expenditure toward citizens’ real needs rather than symbolic or prestige-driven projects.
We reaffirm that true development is not measured by buildings or budgets, but by the relief on faces once marked by struggle.
The Second World Summit for Social Development is a vital opportunity to remind the world that human dignity is the foundation and measure of every form of progress.
