Our Common Humanity in the Information Age. Principles and Values for Development

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL’S ROLE IN OUR 
COMMON HUMANITY IN T HE INFORMATION AGE
H.E. Ambassador Ali Hachani, President of the United Nations Economic 
and Social Council
The work of the United Nations in the economic and social fields is an incarnation of 
“our common humanity”. For example, the agenda of the Economic and Social Council 
connects social development, gender equity, poverty eradication, sustainable 
development and other major contemporary issues that are all the expression of a search 
for increased freedom, solidarity, equity and shared responsibility at the global level. The 
ethical dimension of our work should not be underestimated. However, in order to move 
our agenda ahead and to achieve better results in our common objectives, we should 
become imbued with these values and use them as guiding principles towards a better 
world.

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Chapter I – Introduction | 9 
As the Secretary -General said in his report entitled “In larger freedom” and as recognized 
by the World Leaders at the 2005 Summit, freedom has to be considered both in its 
political and security dimension, “freedom from fear”, but also in its economic and social 
dimension, “freedom from want”. In today’s world, over a billion people still live on less 
than a dollar a day and each year, eleven million children die before reaching their fifth 
birthday. At the same time, the world has the resources and technology to free the human 
race from want. Our efforts should therefore focus on making the right to development a 
reality for everyone. The value of solidarity is to be emphasized in this re gard.
The Economic and Social Council is deeply involved in the promotion of fairness and 
solidarity in international economic relations. In addition to its coordination and policy 
role in the economic and social field, for which it is a pillar of the United Nations 
machinery, it has been mandated by the leaders of the World to review the 
implementation of the commitment made at the United Nations Conferences and 
Summits, including the Millennium Development Goals, and to establish regular forums 
to promote and improve international development cooperation. The fact that an 
intergovernmental body has a clear competency to monitor and assess development 
performances and results, including the efficiency of development support, is a major 
step forward. No doubt that ECOSOC in its sessions in the years ahead will enable us to 
measure the extent to which our values influence our policy decisions and to advocate for 
more resolute actions towards the principles of our common humanity. Let me also 
mention the need to connect more directly the search for peace and the actions taken to 
improve the economic and social conditions of our peoples. The two no doubt go together 
and are mutually reinforcing. Freedom and tolerance without solidarity and shared 
responsibility would not solve contemporary challenges, which are complex and 
multidimensional in nature.
The topic of Our Common Humanity in the Information Age rightly connects values to 
the opportunities provided by information and communication technologies. ICTs have 
the potential to leapfrog development performances in many regions of the world, thus 
generating important opportunities. International institutions like the United Nations and 
its Economic and Social Council, in particular, have a responsibility to ensure that these 
opportunities are not missed. My country, Tunisia, has been highly involved in the World 
Summit on the Information Society by hosting the second phase of the Summit in Tunis 
last year. The Economic and Social Council will review the imple mentation of the 
Summit outcomes, while the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, 
a subsidiary body of ECOSOC, is strengthened in order to continue the consideration of 
policy issues in this field 

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10 | Our Common Humanity in the Information Age 
I am convinced that our common values will not flourish without a genuine spirit of