In 2025, the Ministry of the Future, a powerful global organization fighting for the rights of future generations, convinces bankers and economists to enact sweeping policies to reverse the effects of the devastating climate crisis and deliver a fairer and cleaner global economy.
If that sounds like science fiction, that’s because it is: this is the plot of Kim Stanley Robinson’s influential novel The Future Ministryenvision such an agency being established as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement about climate change
But perhaps not as strange as you might think: this September, at the United Nations Headquarters, the fate of future generations will be at the center of Summit of the Futurea momentous event where world leaders will pledge to protect a better future for all.
Young people attend International Youth Day at the United Nations Headquarters.
As part of the Comprehensive Pact for the Future, expected to be adopted at the Summit, a Statement on future generations is expected to be hammered out. Alongside commitments to end inequality, provide quality education for all and ensure long-term planning, the Declaration proposes a new addition to the UN, a Special Envoy for Future Generations, who will be tasked with advocating across the UN system for better long-term thinking and sharing the findings of United Nations Future Laboratoryresearch department of the organization.
But with so many people facing hardship right now, why is the United Nations considering creating a new office to look after the rights of the 10 billion people yet to be born this century?
In fact, concern for future generations is recognized in United Nations CharterThe founding document of the Organization, written in 1945. Since then, a series of international agreements have noted the importance of remembering the needs of our children and grandchildren, and above all, nearly 400 General Assembly resolutions have explicitly referred to future generations.
Moreover, the very concept of sustainable development is defined as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” but the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has argued that we “violate this principle every day.”
Young people attend a voting event at an education funding event at the United Nations headquarters.
Young people need a seat at the table
Promoting a renewed focus on the future, Mr. Guterres was careful to point out that this does not mean neglecting the needs of people living today. Indeed, “upholding the rights and meeting the needs of people living today is a prerequisite for ensuring a better future,” he said. write.
The head of the United Nations has also made clear that young people – who are often told that Surname are the future, implying that they will have to sort out the mess created by today’s leaders – “should not shoulder the burden of protecting our children and grandchildren, but they deserve a separate and dedicated seat at the negotiating table.”
Ensuring that today’s youth have a greater say in decisions that affect them has been a focus of United Nations policy for more than a decade. A United Nations Youth Envoy has worked to coordinate the inclusion of youth voices in major international events and to help the entire United Nations system work with and for youth.
In December 2023, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed the first Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, whose mandate is to enhance youth engagement in areas such as sustainable development, human rights, peace and security.
A day of youth action
Felipe Paullier, former director general of Uruguay’s National Youth Institute, is the first person to take up the position. He said he wants to ensure that the Future Summit promotes issues important to young people.
The voice of young people will be the main theme of the Summit: a youth-led conference Day of Action in the iconic General Assembly Hall on Friday 20 September, featuring activists, celebrities, musical performances and dialogues featuring Mr Paullier and Mr Guterres; on Monday 23 September, an interactive dialogue will take place in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, on how to strengthen the global system for present and future generations.
