Kicking off the Summit of the Future (22-23 September) ahead of the General Assembly’s annual high-level week, Secretary-General António Guterres called for change made the stakes plain: “We cannot build a future fit for our grandchildren with systems built for our grandparents.”
The “Pact for the Future” was a key initiative associated with the United Nations’ Summit of the Future 2024. This pact aimed at securing commitments and strategies for strengthening global cooperation and multilateralism to tackle contemporary global challenges. The summit itself had focused on issues like peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights, aligning with the UN’s push for reform and the implementation of the SDGs. Key potential outcomes of the Pact for the Future include: 1. Strengthened Multilateralism. 2. Global Governance Reforms: It includes proposals for updating the UN Security Council and other decision-making bodies. 3. Climate and Environmental Action. 4. Technology and Digital Governance: A focus on how to better manage new technologies, especially artificial intelligence and data, in ways that are ethical and inclusive. 5. Human Rights and Social Protection: A push for enhancing international mechanisms to protect human rights and address issues like global inequality, migration, and social protections for all, especially in a post-pandemic context. 6. Crisis Prevention and Response: Mechanisms to better prepare for and respond to global crises, including pandemics, conflicts, and natural disasters, ensuring that international cooperation is more proactive rather than reactive. These outcomes are designed to build a “future we want,” particularly in line with the SDGs and the ideals set by the UN’s Our Common Agenda report, which seeks to create a fairer and more sustainable world.