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UN Summit Declaration Receives Critical Response – OpEd

When the much-publicized two-day Summit of the Future concluded on September 23, world leaders adopted a Pact for the Future which covered a broad range of themes including peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, digital cooperation, human rights, gender, youth and future generations, and the transformation of global governance. The pact also included a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations. But in a critical analysis, Oxfam International’s Executive Director Amitabh Behar said the hijacking of multilateralism by a few powerful nations has crippled theUN’s ability to deliver on its mandate on peace and security. “The Pact does reiterate some key core principles, but it is far removed from the expectations of this generation, and hardly recognizes the gender identity spectrum or the need for emissions cuts.” This is partly because the process was top-down and lacked meaningful civil society participation throughout. The Pact has been adopted while the digital divide is widening and powerful nations lead on the AI race and other resources, he argued. “Real reform should start with dismantling the outdated power structures of the UN, especially its Security Council. The decades-old UN Charter needs a full overhaul to better reflect today’s world and challenges”. True change will only come from people power—when grassroots organizations and local activists take center stage, pressuring powerful nations to deliver meaningful results,” Behar declared. 21st century challenges Striking a more positive note, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “I called for this Summit because 21st century challenges require 21st century solutions: frameworks that are networked and inclusive; and that draw on the expertise of all of humanity.” “I called for this summit because our world is heading off the rails—and we need tough decisions to get back on track. Conflicts are raging and multiplying, from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan, with no end in sight. Our collective security system is threatened by geopolitical divides, nuclear posturing, and the development of new weapons and theatres of war,” he pointed out. Resources that could bring opportunities and hope are invested in death and destruction. Huge inequalities are a brake on sustainable development. Many developing countries are drowning in debt and unable to support their people, said Guterres in his opening statement to the summit. PNND Meanwhile, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND) said following an unsuccessful effort by Russia and its allies to render the PACT toothless in national jurisdictions, it was adopted without vote, i.e. by consensus. This Pact is the culmination of an inclusive, years-long process to adapt international cooperation to the realities of today and the challenges of tomorrow, PNND said. As the Secretary-General has said, “we cannot create a future fit for our grandchildren with a system built by our grandparents.” “While innovative and ground-breaking, the PACT is not as ambitious as hoped by many like-minded governments and civil society networks who had advanced a range of even stronger proposals for better global governance to ensure peace, environmental protection, human rights, democracy and sustainability for current and future generations,” declared PNND, pointing out the example of thePeoples Pact for the Future. There were also reactions from theWorld Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy(WFM) andMobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance(MEGA). UNFOLD ZERO, a platform for UN-focused initiatives and actions for the achievement of a nuclear-weapons-free world, said the Pact included commitments on preventing nuclear war and achieving global nuclear disarmament. However, these commitments were vague and did not include comprehensive measures for implementation, nor a timeframe for achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Peace and disarmament organizations, including members ofUNFOLD ZERO, had submitted stronger nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament proposals, some of which were included in thePeoples Pact for the Future, a joint civil society advocacy document for the Summit. In an event, scheduled for October 1, civil society leaders involved in the UN Summit of the Future, and in the global nuclear abolition movement, will discuss the nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament commitments agreed at the Summit, as well as the civil society proposals to the Summit, and campaigns for theirimplementation. The Pact for the Future Meanwhile, in an op-ed piece in “Diplomacy Now”, Jamal Benomar, a former UN diplomat who had worked at the UN for 25 years, including as special envoy for Yemen and special adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said thePact for the Futurecovers everything from culture and sports to climate change, Sustainable Development Goals, human rights, gender equality, ending poverty, social cohesion, peace and security, Security Council reform, disarmament, science and technology, youth, reform of financial institutions, data governance, artificial intelligence, and, believe it or not, even outer space. “What is striking is that the majority of the text is made up of rehashed and recycled wording from previously agreed upon UN documents and the language is largely vague and aspirational.” There are hardly any concrete, actionable conclusions that could advance the lofty objectives of the Summit. Instead, there are more calls for reports by the Secretary General and more global meetings, said Benomar. For example, in peace and security, the outcome document doesn’t address the reasons for the accelerated decline of UN mediation and the crisis in UN peacekeeping in recent years, as in one country after another, parties in conflict bypass or reject the good offices of the Secretary-General and call for the departure of peacekeeping operations. Instead, it calls for “a review” on peace operations and for more global meetings “to discuss matters pertaining to peace operations, peacebuilding and conflicts.” In classic UN tradition, when it has no answers or a path forward, the UN calls for more reports and more meetings, he said.