Let’s try to reschedule those 10 days for you. This year, some 235 events and hundreds of speakers later, the focus has been on what the world is facing – how to move forward in reforming an outdated global economic order, create new paths to peace and find solutions to the growing threat of nuclear war, global public health challenges, climate change and dangerous levels of impunity, inequality and uncertainty.
Begin Future Summit (September 22-23) before the annual high-level week of the General Assembly, Secretary General António Guterres‘ The clear call for change makes the point clear: “We cannot build a future fit for our children and grandchildren with the systems built for our grandparents.”
More than 140 leaders spoke in the action-packed meeting while the United Nations was taken over by youth and civil society. The ultimate goal? The torchbearers of change are trying to chart a course to recast a UN that is fit for purpose and ready to respond to the 21st The challenges of the century with modernized, upgraded institutions do not reflect the world of 1945.
The good news is that they have agreed on a rescue plan to right the ship. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) back on track, a breakthrough Pact for the future that now needs to be done. Despite a last-minute challenge from a group of countries opposed to the treaty, UN member states actually signed a deal – and agreed on the need for justice and reform.
Big wins? Committed to economic justice includes the promise to reform the international financial architecture so that developing countries reeling under the burden of debt can begin to invest in development and not be crippled by debt repayments. Security Council reform sees a groundswell of support for expanding and balancing member rights. Strong support has been expressed for Africa to have permanent representation on the Security Council – alongside other candidates such as Brazil, India and Japan. South African Prime Minister Cyril Ramaphosa called for the Security Council to be “more representative and inclusive,” noting that Africa and its 1.4 billion people remain excluded from this important decision-making structure. .
A group of experts has come up detect about the critical need to embrace digital innovation and exploit how artificial intelligence can transform our world; but equally close the digital divide and ensure safeguards around responsible progress for humanity.
ONE Global Digital Compact was agreed, with the aim of opening the door to a brave, new and responsible digital world order.
On the sidelines, a dark moment was captured in the above conversation The future of women in Afghanistan – actress Meryl Streep asks how cats and birds can have more freedom in a country where girls are banned from going to school. “A cat can squat forward and feel the sunlight on its face. She can chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a little girl in Afghanistan today because public parks are closed to women and girls by the Taliban,” Streep said. “This is the suppression of natural law.”
In a devastating testimonial during a ministerial meeting “The cost of inaction in Sudan”Sudanese activist Nisreen al-Saem lamented that the war in her country was a “war against women” and called out: “Oh, Burhan and Hemediti, we are tired, unite the Sudanese people and put down your weapons.”
When the General Assembly began its 79th termth At this session, 190 of the 193 Member States spoke in what was not a debate at all – but an opportunity for governments to speak their minds on the state of the world. their world or region or pressing global issues. Underscoring an embarrassing truth, Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfeld Gylfadottir – as one of only 19 women to speak in the hallowed hall – chastised: “I thought we had gone further than that. This”.
Another female leader, Barbados’s outspoken prime minister, Mia Mottley, is a fierce advocate of the policy Bridgetown Initiative aimed at launching a process of global financial restructuring, encouraged global institutions to give developing countries – especially small, vulnerable ones – “seats at the decision-making table.” “.
The chorus speaks loudly of the need for institutional reform at the United Nations, raising fears of an outdated and archaic institution unable to keep pace with a profoundly changed world.
According to India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, if the United Nations is to become a “central platform for finding common ground” then “it cannot happen if it remains outdated”. In his swan speech, US President Joe Biden reminded his fellow leaders: “Never forget we are here to serve the people, not vice versa.”
The blurring of multilateralism and international law continues to emerge – Singapore’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, warns that multilateralism is not an option but an existential necessity in when Amery Browne, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago pointed the finger at selective respect for international law.
A refrain heard over and over again about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza has been echoed by the Danish Foreign Minister, Lars Rasmussen, who is concerned that respect for international law is gradually weakening and flagging that, “Wars of aggression and changing borders are – and should remain – a thing of the past.”
Many people have sounded the alarm about the climate security nexus with President Ramkalawan of Seychelles seeing it as an existential problem that will cause hardship for future generations – a view shared by activists Children flocking to the United Nations widely repeated.
As country after country speaks out about the unimaginable devastation and destruction in Gaza following the terrorist attacks launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and with the drums of war growing in the region, Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula issued warnings: “The right to defense has become the right to revenge.” While pledging to send forces to combat the deteriorating security situation in Haiti, President William Ruto of Kenya regretted that the foundations of the Charter had been shaken.
the Chairman of the General AssemblyPhilemon Yang pleaded for an end to the growing conflict and revenge between Israel and Gaza, and a return to a solution based on international law for the benefit of Israelis and Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to the United Nations to “set the record straight” in a session that was poorly attended because of the dropout – but his speech was watched by a record number online illustrates how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has dominated discussions.
The entire session of the General Assembly is supposed to be about the future, to raise commitments to put the world back on a path of sustainable development, to rethink how we can make the world should be more equitable and effective, finding ways to address public health threats such as Anti-bacterial and showcase how the world can take advantage of the potential of new technology. However, the focus is firmly on what the Secretary-General calls “the purgatory of polarization” and the threat of an “age of impunity”.
In the spirit of Pact for future generationsHeartwarming moments came from the young people present at the Action Festival and the SDG Media Zone. Sanjana Sanghi, a United Nations Development Program climate activist from India, praised the positivity of the younger generation for inspiring hope. She summarizes the buzz around the UN campus: “I am deeply inspired by these young change-makers who are working passionately to solve climate problems and ensuring a sustainable future for everyone.”
*This is not an official record. That is the image of this year’s General Assembly High-Level Week.
