23-09-2024
On September 22, 2024 world leaders gathered at the UN Headquarters in New York adopted the potentially game-changing Pact for the Future. They did so by consensus, with a small group of just seven countries holding out, having failed to pass a last-minute amendment tabled by Russia (most likely for domestic consumption).
The centrepiece of the Summit of the Future is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the multilateral system and steer humanity on a new course to meet existing commitments and solve long-term challenges.
The pact is seen by many in the so called global south as both a well-intended and necessary collective effort at UN renewal as well as a personal legacy for a quite popular UN secretary general António Guterres.
Guterres told the summit that the pact’s aim was ‘to bring multilateralism back from the brink at a time when the world [is] heading off the rails’.
Despite its inherent limits document, the pact does provide pointers of what should be achieved in other forums including the IMF, at Cop and at the G20. It comes across as an unusual document in its admission of how multilateralism is currently failing.
The document covers reform and expansion of the UN security council to make the body more representative of the 21st century – as recently proctored by Atlas -, a UN role in governing artificial intelligence, the phasing out of fossil fuels in energy systems, reform of multilateral financial institutions, a recommitment to full nuclear disarmament and modernising UN peacekeeping so it evolves into war prevention.
The pact includes 56 actions on issues including eradicating poverty, mitigating climate change, achieving gender equality, promoting peace and protecting civilians, and reinvigorating the multilateral system to ‘seize the opportunities of today and tomorrow’.
Read the full draft resolution containing the Pact for the Future here whose section 59 says ‘We recognize that children and youth are distinct groups from future generations. We must ensure that decision-making and policymaking today takes greater account of the needs and interests of the generations to come, and that they are balanced with the needs and interests of current generations. We have annexed a Declaration on Future Generations to the Pact for the Future that details our commitments in this regard.’
You can also read the Declaration on Future Generations annexed to the Pact for the Future here.
More analysis will follow.