Prime Minister of Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson speaks to the United Nations General Assembly during Summit of the Future, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024 at U.N. headquarters. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
Talk of the future is dark
The Pact of the Future says world leaders are gathering “at a time of profound global transformation,” and it warns of “rising catastrophic and existential risks” that could tip people everywhere “into a future of persistent crisis and breakdown.”
Yet, it says, leaders are coming to the U.N. at a time of hope and opportunity “to protect the needs and interests of present and future generations through actions in the Pact for the Future.”
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.”
Secretary-General Guterres singled out a number of key provisions in the Pact of the Future and two accompanying annexes, a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.
The pact commits world leaders to reform the 15-member Security Council, to make it more reflective of today’s world and “redress the historical injustice against Africa,” which has no permanent seat, and to address the under-representation of the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.
It also “represents the first agreed multilateral support for nuclear disarmament in more than a decade,” Guterres said, and it commits “to steps to prevent an arms race in outer space and to govern the use of lethal autonomous weapons.”
The Global Digital Compact “includes the first truly universal agreement on the international governance of artificial intelligence,” the U.N. chief said.
The compact commits leaders to establish an Independent International Scientific Panel in the United Nations to promote scientific understanding of AI, and its risks and opportunities. It also commits the U.N. to initiate a global dialogue on AI governance with all key players.
The pact’s actions also include measures “to mount an immediate and coordinated response to complex shocks” including pandemics, Guterres said. And it includes “a groundbreaking commitment by governments to listen to young people and include them in decision-making.”
As for human rights, Guterres said, “In the face of a surge in misogyny and a rollback of women’s reproductive rights, governments have explicitly committed to removing the legal, social and economic barriers that prevent women and girls from fulfilling their potential in every sphere.”
Eighteen months of negotiations on the pact were led by Germany and Namibia. Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba said leaders must leave the summit committed to a path toward peace — not one that leads to “an environmental catastrophe, widening inequality, global conflict and destruction and the rise of dangerous technologies that threaten our security.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that If countries don’t unite and implement the pact’s more than 50 actions, “not only would history judge us … but also young people around the world.”
“The road is rocky,” he said. “But was that ever any different?”
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Publish date : 2024-09-22 09:44:00
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