Second World Summit for Social Development: What is at Stake? – A Conversation at the 2025 ILO Conference

9 June 2025 – Geneva: At the 2025 International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, global leaders and experts from the International Labour Organization (ILO) discussed what is at stake for the upcoming Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD2). The conversation underscored the Summit’s significance as a unique opportunity to rally the international community around social progress, justice, and inclusion—fundamental drivers of sustainable development, peace, and security.

A Landmark Event for Global Social Progress

From 4 to 6 November 2025, the world will turn its attention to Doha, Qatar, where the Second World Summit for Social Development will be held. Coming 30 years after the historic Copenhagen Summit, WSSD2 will assess global achievements, identify persistent gaps, and chart a renewed global social contract to promote inclusive, people-centered development.

Key Objectives of the Summit

The discussions at the ILO highlighted how WSSD2 will focus on three interlinked pillars of social development.

The first is poverty eradication, ensuring that every person has the means to live with dignity and equal opportunity. The second is decent work and social protection, which includes advancing employment opportunities, ensuring rights at work, and creating universal safety nets. The third is social inclusion and justice, tackling systemic inequalities across gender, race, and ethnicity while fostering stronger social cohesion.

The ILO stressed the urgency of expanding global social protection, with a realistic target of increasing coverage by at least 2% annually—a goal already achieved by 42 countries in recent years.

Brazil and Other Countries’ Priorities

Brazil is advancing a “Dignity First” agenda, championing policies that place inclusion and justice at the center of development efforts. This includes ensuring racial and ethnic equity for Afro-descendants, Indigenous Peoples, and traditional communities.

Brazil also emphasized gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights, while pushing back against global rollbacks on reproductive and sexual health rights. In addition, the country calls for urgent action on health security, particularly addressing tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and promoting local and regional production of health products. These priorities align closely with the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, which highlights employment, social protection, and dialogue as fundamental for building fairer and more resilient societies.

Addressing Global Challenges

The Summit takes place amid a challenging geopolitical environment, marked by political fragmentation, shrinking international solidarity, and post-COVID austerity measures. Today, 3.8 billion people lack any form of social protection, underscoring the urgent need for renewed commitments and financing strategies.

The Fourth Conference on Financing for Development, held in June 2025 in Seville, will play a pivotal role in shaping the resources and commitments that WSSD2 can secure for advancing social development goals.

The Way Forward

The Summit aims to deliver a strong, action-oriented political declaration that places people’s rights and inclusion at the heart of global development. The Summit will seek to establish a roadmap for universal social protection and decent work by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will also encourage collaborative solutions involving governments, civil society, the private sector, and international organizations to accelerate social progress for all.