The last time leaders gathered for the World Summit for Social Development, it was Copenhagen in 1995.
The world was still reeling from the Rwandan genocide, which had claimed nearly a million lives the year before. The internet had barely entered homes, and less than 15% of American adults were online. And global extreme poverty, according to the World Bank, hovered around 33%.
In Denmark, leaders agreed to eradicate poverty, expand employment, and build more inclusive societies — ultimately signing the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development, a set of commitments. Thirty years later, they’ve arrived at the summit’s second iteration to do the same — now in Qatar’s gleaming capital, and amid an entirely different world.