UN Summit of the Future 2024: Towards a Renewal of Multilateralism?

The consequences of climate change, poverty, growing inequalities, malnutrition, armed conflicts, and pandemics are challenges that must be addressed for the benefit of current and future generations. However, international cooperation, reliant on a fragile balance of power, is currently undermined by numerous ongoing conflicts.

In this context, the United Nations General Assembly will organize the "Summit of the Future" on September 22-23, 2024, bringing together states, civil society organizations, the private sector, and youth.

Titled "Summit of the Future: Multilateral Solutions for a Better Future", this Summit will reaffirm commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Paris Agreement, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.

Summit of the Future: Keeping Promises for Future Generations

In a declaration adopted on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations in September 2020, ember States recognized that "the world envisioned by the founders of the UN 75 years ago has not yet materialized."

Acknowledging this, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s report "Our Common Agenda" (2021) calls for a multi-stakeholder meeting aimed at taking concrete measures to address future challenges based on multilateralism, i.e., adherence to a method of international cooperation founded on a shared system of norms and values.

The report also highlights the underrepresentation of young people and future generations in global decision-making, noting that by 2030, 60% of the world’s population will live in cities, with over half of these urban dwellers being under 18 years old. The Summit intends to explore the possibility of appointing a UN Special Envoy for Future Generations, an option long advocated by the World Future Council. The UN should also create a foresight lab to better predict the impact of public policies over time.

Key Issues of the Summit

The objective of this Summit is to agree on a final document entitled "Pact for the Future" to be adopted by consensus following intergovernmental negotiations and endorsed by Heads of State and Government during the Summit. The Pact for the Future will address the following issues :

• Global economic and financial architecture
• Human rights and participation
• Sustainable Development Goals
• Global Digital Compact
• Effective environmental governance
• Peace and security
• The UN and innovation in global governance

In preparation for the Summit, a 60-member UN commission published in February 2023 the Maastricht Principles on the Human Rights of Future Generations, stating that human rights such as the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment have no generational limits.

The UN Secretary-General has issued eleven guidance notes detailing the proposals of "Our Common Agenda" to help Member States prepare for the Summit:

1. A New Agenda for Peace : focusing on conflict prevention globally, an updated approach to peace operations, and a stronger collective security mechanism.
2. A global financial system that works for everyone : an international financial architecture that invests in the SDGs, climate action, and future generations.
3. Economic indicators beyond GDP to cover what is needed for prosperity, human well-being, and environmental protection.
4. A pact to harness the benefits of digital technologies and artificial intelligence and manage their risks.
5. A voluntary code of conduct on online information integrity, often used for misinformation and hate.
6. New protocols to better manage global shocks.
7. Enhanced cooperation in outer space : more inclusive space governance.
8. A transformation of education systems : recognizing education as a global public good and supporting commitments made at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit.
9. Genuine inclusion of youth in global decision-making through national youth advisory bodies and means for youth participation in UN decision-making processes, and a permanent UN youth forum.
10. Means to preserve the future and uphold the rights of future generations.
11. A "UN 2.0" to improve UN expertise in innovation, data, digital, strategic foresight, and behavioral sciences.

The UN Civil Society Conference held in Nairobi from May 9-10, 2024, brought together 3,600 civil society representatives, 64 governments, and a hundred journalists. Young participants aged 18 to 34, who made up 40% of the attendees, placed climate at the center of concerns. Participants also called for "raising the bar for multilateralism" to ensure a participatory and inclusive process ahead of the Summit for the Future.

On June 17-18, SDSN Portugal held an international conference titled "Paving the Way to the Pact for the Future". This hybrid conference addressed several UN agenda themes in preparation for the Summit, focusing on challenges for achieving a sustainable future, educational transformation, youth involvement in decision-making and policy development, and valuing indicators beyond GDP.

Campaigns and Mobilizations Ahead of the Summit of the Future

A limited number of side events, organized by UN member states, international organizations, and other stakeholders, will take place on September 20-21. Ahead of this international gathering, civil society organizations are mobilizing for youth involvement in political decision-making.

• The High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB) mobilizes former heads of state and government and high-level civil society representatives to foster ambitious reforms for an effective and inclusive multilateral system.

• Plan International publishes the report "Our Voices for our Tomorrow," presenting the visions and recommendations of young people worldwide for the Summit of the Future. Among respondents, 90% believe that youth will be the driving force for achieving gender equality rather than governments. Plan International calls on policymakers to combat violence against women and girls, invest in girls’ education and SRHR, and involve youth in political processes.

• At the ECOSOC Youth Forum held from April 16-18, 2024, the UN Youth Office called for signing its open letter advocating for greater youth representation in decision-making roles in the public and private sectors, civil society, academia, and the UN.

  

• Participate in the "One Million Actions for Our Common Future" challenge by ActNow, the UN campaign encouraging action for the SDGs, and speak up to show that citizens worldwide are mobilizing for a more sustainable future.