United Nations Summit of the Future: A Deep Dive

The Summit of the Future: An Overview

The United Nations (UN) is gearing up for the Summit of the Future, set to take place at its headquarters in New York on 22-23 September 2024. This event, part of the 79th session of the General Assembly, is expected to see leaders from 193 Member States reaffirm their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 goals with a 2030 deadline. The Summit of the Future was initiated by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his 2021 report, "Our Common Agenda". The UN argues that this Summit is crucial due to the rising catastrophic and existential risks confronting us, many of which are a result of our own choices.

Trust in the UN: A Decline

However, the UN's credibility has been severely undermined since 2020. Its health arm, the World Health Organization (WHO), has been criticized for promoting policies that have led to mass impoverishment, loss of education, child marriage, and escalating rates of preventable diseases. The UN's focus is on the fear of future crises that could undo decades of human progress, rather than addressing the current crisis.

The UN's Role in the Covid-19 Response

The UN has been actively pushing for measures such as border closures, society shutdowns, mass vaccinations, and removal of access to formal education during the Covid-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, it has been promoting censorship of dissenting voices. Despite these actions, the UN and world leaders are planning to approve three political, non-binding documents: a Pact for the Future, a Declaration on Future Generations, and a Global Digital Compact.

Pact for the Future: A Closer Look

The Pact for the Future is filled with general, generous, and hypocritical promises. It contains 60 actions grouped under several themes, such as sustainable development, international peace and security, and science technology and innovation. However, the document is filled with generalizations and internally contradictory statements that could justify almost any future action.

Declaration on Future Generations: An Analysis

The Declaration on Future Generations, another document to be approved, raises questions about who the future generations are and who can legitimately represent them. It also brings up the issue of whether it is acceptable to sacrifice the welfare of present generations for hypothetical future generations.

Global Digital Compact: A UN Attempt to Control the Digital Revolution

The Global Digital Compact aims to set the goal of an "inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe and secure digital future for all". However, it contains multiple unclear and contradictory commitments. It also pushes for the UN to play a role in promoting capacity-building for responsible and interoperable data governance.

Bottom Line

While these documents do not have binding force, they are a dangerous practice at the UN. They create a network of interlocking strands that are extremely difficult to trace, verify, and analyze. They also demonstrate the inability of both States and the UN to implement the SDGs, burying this fact in a cascade of unimplementable promises. These texts, if approved, should be seen as a distraction from the serious commitment to implement the SDGs by 2030. They also contain wording that could further erode post-World War Two human rights, removing the sovereignty and sanctity of 'We the Peoples' to a level at, or below vague concepts whose definition is at the will of whoever wields power. What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe the UN is on the right track with these documents, or are they a diversion from the real issues at hand? Share this article with your friends and let's get the conversation started. And don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, delivered every day at 6pm.