URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

Dansk Interparlamentarisk Gruppes bestyrelse 2021-22, Udenrigsudvalget 2021-22
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OUR

COMMON

AGENDA

Report of

the Secretary-General

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

OUR

COMMON

AGENDA

Report of

the Secretary-General

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

Our Common Agenda – Report of the Secretary-General

Published by the United Nations

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URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

Summary

We are at an inflection point in history.

In our biggest shared test since the Second World War, humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown

or a breakthrough.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is upending our world, threatening our health, destroying economies

and livelihoods and deepening poverty and inequalities.

Conflicts continue to rage and worsen.

The disastrous effects of a changing climate – famine, floods, fires and extreme heat – threaten our very

existence.

For millions of people around the world, poverty, discrimination, violence and exclusion are denying them

their rights to the basic necessities of life: health, safety, a vaccination against disease, clean water to drink,

a plate of food or a seat in a classroom.

Increasingly, people are turning their backs on the values of trust and solidarity in one another – the very

values we need to rebuild our world and secure a better, more sustainable future for our people and our planet.

Humanity’s welfare – and indeed, humanity’s very future – depend on solidarity and working together as

a global family to achieve common goals.

For people, for the planet, for prosperity and for peace.

Last year, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, Member States agreed

that our challenges are interconnected, across borders and all other divides. These challenges can only

be addressed by an equally interconnected response, through reinvigorated multilateralism and the United

Nations at the centre of our efforts.

Member States asked me to report back with recommendations to advance our common agenda. This

report is my response.

In preparing the report, we have engaged with a broad array of stakeholders, including Member States,

thought leaders, young people, civil society and the United Nations system and its many partners.

One message rang through loud and clear: the choices we make, or fail to make, today could result in further

breakdown, or a breakthrough to a greener, better, safer future.

The choice is ours to make; but we will not have this chance again.

That is why

Our Common Agenda

is, above all, an agenda of action designed to accelerate the implementation

of existing agreements, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

First,

now is the time to re-embrace global solidarity

and find new ways to work together for the common

good. This must include a global vaccination plan to deliver vaccines against COVID-19 into the arms of

the millions of people who are still denied this basic lifesaving measure. Moreover, it must include urgent

and bold steps to address the triple crisis of climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution destroying

our planet.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

SUMMARY

Second,

now is the time to renew the social contract between Governments and their people and within

societies,

so as to rebuild trust and embrace a comprehensive vision of human rights. People need to see

results reflected in their daily lives. This must include the active and equal participation of women and

girls, without whom no meaningful social contract is possible. It should also include updated governance

arrangements to deliver better public goods and usher in a new era of universal social protection, health

coverage, education, skills, decent work and housing, as well as universal access to the Internet by 2030 as a

basic human right. I invite all countries to conduct inclusive and meaningful national listening consultations

so all citizens have a say in envisioning their countries’ futures.

Third,

now is the time to end the “infodemic” plaguing our world

by defending a common, empirically backed

consensus around facts, science and knowledge. The “war on science” must end. All policy and budget

decisions should be backed by science and expertise, and I am calling for a global code of conduct that

promotes integrity in public information.

Fourth,

now is the time to correct a glaring blind spot in how we measure economic prosperity and progress.

When profits come at the expense of people and our planet, we are left with an incomplete picture of the

true cost of economic growth. As currently measured, gross domestic product (GDP) fails to capture the

human and environmental destruction of some business activities. I call for new measures to complement

GDP, so that people can gain a full understanding of the impacts of business activities and how we can and

must do better to support people and our planet.

Fifth,

now is the time to think for the long term, to deliver more for young people and succeeding generations

and to be better prepared for the challenges ahead.

Our Common Agenda includes recommendations for

meaningful, diverse and effective youth engagement both within and outside the United Nations, including

through better political representation and by transforming education, skills training and lifelong learning.

I am also making proposals, such as a repurposed Trusteeship Council, a Futures Lab, a Declaration on

Future Generations and a United Nations Special Envoy to ensure that policy and budget decisions take

into account their impact on future generations. We also need to be better prepared to prevent and respond

to major global risks. It will be important for the United Nations to issue a Strategic Foresight and Global

Risk Report on a regular basis, and I also propose an Emergency Platform, to be convened in response to

complex global crises.

Sixth,

now is the time for a stronger, more networked and inclusive multilateral system, anchored within

the United Nations.

Effective multilateralism depends on an effective United Nations, one able to adapt to

global challenges while living up to the purposes and principles of its Charter. For example, I am proposing

a new agenda for peace, multi-stakeholder dialogues on outer space and a Global Digital Compact, as well

as a Biennial Summit between the members of the Group of 20 and of the Economic and Social Council, the

Secretary-General and the heads of the international financial institutions. Throughout, we need stronger

involvement of all relevant stakeholders, and we will seek to have an Advisory Group on Local and Regional

Governments.

For 75 years, the United Nations has gathered the world around addressing global challenges: from conflicts

and hunger, to ending disease, to outer space and the digital world, to human rights and disarmament. In

this time of division, fracture and mistrust, this space is needed more than ever if we are to secure a better,

greener, more peaceful future for all people. Based on this report, I will ask a

High-level Advisory Board,

led by

former Heads of State and Government, to identify global public goods and other areas of common interest

where governance improvements are most needed, and to propose options for how this could be achieved.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

SUMMARY

In this spirit, I propose a

Summit of the Future

to forge a new global consensus on what our future should

look like, and what we can do today to secure it.

Humanity has shown time and time again that it is capable of great achievements when we work together.

This common agenda is our road map to recapture this positive spirit and begin rebuilding our world and

mending the trust in one another we need so desperately at this moment in history.

Now is the time to take the next steps in our journey together, in solidarity with and for all people.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

KEY PROPOSALS ACROSS THE 12 COMMITMENTS

From the declaration on the commemoration

of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations

All proposed actions are in line with and designed to accelerate

the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

CLIMATE

ACTION

NEW AGENDA

FOR PEACE

GLOBAL DIGITAL

COMPACT

OUTER SPACE

DIALOGUE

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

PLATFORM FOR COMPLEX CRISES

DECLARATION

ON FUTURE

GENERATIONS

PROPOSED KEY MOMENTS

SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

HIGH-LEVEL

ADVISORY BOARD

HIGH-LEVEL TRACKS

1. Leave no

one behind

3. Promote peace and

prevent conflicts

5. Place women

and girls at

the centre

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION SUMMIT

SUMMIT OF THE FUTURE

WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT

•

Renewed social contract anchored in

human rights

social protection,

•

New era for

universal and basic

including health care

•

New agenda for peace

to:

•

Reduce strategic risks (nuclear

•

Reshape responses to all forms

of violence

•

Invest in prevention and

peacebuilding, including

Peacebuilding Fund and

Peacebuilding Commission

weapons, cyberwarfare,

autonomous weapons)

Strengthen international foresight

•

Repeal of gender-discriminatory laws

•

Promote gender parity, including

•

Facilitate women’s economic in the

inclusion, including investment

•

Include voices of

younger women

•

Eradication of violence against

through quotas and

special measures

7. Improve digital

cooperation

9. Ensure sustainable

financing

11. Listen to and

work with youth

•

Reinforce

adequate housing, education

and lifelong learning and decent work

Digital inclusivity

income security,

reaching the 4 billion

unprotected

care economy and support for women

entrepreneurs

•

World Social Summit in 2025

•

Identify

complementary measures to GDP

2. Protect

our planet

•

Peaceful, secure and sustainable use of

outer space,

including through a multi-

stakeholder dialogue on outer space

•

Support regional prevention

•

Put women and girls at the

centre of security policy

women and girls, including through an

emergency response plan

Summit

Group

•

Global Digital Compact

to:

•

BiennialEconomicbetween theCouncil,of

20, the

and Social

•

Connect all people to the Internet,

the Secretary-General and the heads of

including all schools

international financial institutions

for

•

Avoid Internet fragmentation

a sustainable, inclusive and resilient

global economy including to:

•

Protect data

•

Apply human rights online

•

Support a

Sustainable Development

Goal investment boost,

including

•

Introduce accountability criteria

through a

last-mile alliance

to reach

for discrimination and misleading

•

United Nations Youth Office

•

Transforming Education Summit in 2022

•

Recovery barometer

to track career paths

•

High-ambition coalition

to promote green

and digital-economy job creation

and labour market outcomes for youth

Youth

Remove barriers to political participation

and measure progress through a

“youth

in politics” index

6. Build trust

•

Leaders meeting ahead of the global

stocktaking in 2023

•

Declarations of

climate emergency

•

Package of support to developing

countries

•

Account for the environment

in economic models,

carbon

and

right to a healthy environment

sooner

•

Global code of conduct that promotes

•

integrity in public information

Improve people’s experiences with

public institutions and basic services

Inclusive

national listening and

“envisioning the future” exercises

•

Promote regulation of artificial

intelligence

commons

•

Digital good as a global

public

Upgrade the

United Nations

content

to the 1.5-degree

•

Commit

zero emissions by

Celsius goal

and

net

2050 or

flexible research and

•

Provide more incentives

development

Future generations

•

Resolve

weaknesses in the debt

•

Summit of the Future in 2023

architecture

Ensure long-term thinking,

including

•

Fairer and more resilient multilateral

•

through a United Nations

Futures Lab

those furthest behind

4. Abide by

international law

and ensure justice

•

Human rights as a

problem-solving

measure, including by comprehensive

rights

online

•

Application of

human

and new

and to frontier issues

anti-discrimination laws and

promoting participation

tackle

corruption

in line

•

Action toUnited Nations Convention

with the

•

High-level Advisory Board

led

•

Measures for adaptation and resilience

•

No new coal after 2021 and phasing

out fossil fuel subsidies

pricing mechanisms and credible

commitments by financial actors

•

Universal access to the Internet as a

human right

•

Legal identity for all,

end to

Human rights mechanisms on a more

sustainable financial footing

statelessness and protection of

internally displaced persons, refugees

and migrants

technologies

•

Reformed

international tax system

structure on financial integrity

•

Jointtackling illicit financial flows

and

against Corruption

•

System-wide policy that

puts people

•

More listening, participation and

consultation (including digitally),

•

Gender parity

within the United

Nations system by 2028

building on the seventy-fifth

anniversary declaration and Our

Common Agenda

by former Heads of State and

Government on improved governance

of global public goods

at the centre,

taking into account age,

gender and diversity

•

New business models

•

Improve the

United Nations budget

process

10. Boost

partnerships

trading system,

including a

reinvigorated WTO

succeeding generations,

•

Represent

through a

repurposed

including

Trusteeship Council,

Declaration on

Future Generations,

and a

United Nations

Special Envoy for Future Generations

12. Be prepared

•

Annual meetings between the United

Nations and all heads of

regional

•

Stronger

engagement between the

organizations

United Nations system, international

financial institutions and regional

development banks

•

Emergency Platform

to be convened in

response to complex global crises

Global Risk Report

•

Strategic Foresight and

every five years

by the United Nations

•

Post-2020 biodiversity framework

for

•

Transforming food systems

fairness

sustainability, nutrition and

General

•

Action by the

threats of

Assembly

territorial

climate

change

and to prevent, protect and

resolve situations of environmental

displacement

•

New vision for the

rule of law

•

Global road map

for the development

and effective implementation of

international law

•

Re-establish the Secretary-General’s

Scientific Advisory Board

•

More systematic engagement with

parliaments, subnational authorities

and the private sector

•

“Quintet of change”

for United Nations

•

Civil society focal points

in all United

2.0, including innovation, data,

Nations entities

strategic foresight, results orientation

and behavioural science

including accessibility online

Office

•

United Nations

access

for Partnerships

consolidate

and inclusion,

•

On global public health:

•

Global vaccination plan

•

Empowered WHO

•

Stronger global health security and

preparedness

•

Accelerate product development in

and access to health technologies

•

Universal health coverage

and

low- and middle-income countries

addressing determinants of health

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

Contents

I. A wake-up call ....................................................................................................... 12

A. The choice before us ............................................................................................................................. 14

B. Renewing solidarity ............................................................................................................................... 14

C. Our Common Agenda............................................................................................................................. 18

II. We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights ..................... 22

A. Foundations of a renewed social contract ............................................................................................. 22

B. Trust ...................................................................................................................................................... 24

C. Inclusion, protection and participation .................................................................................................. 27

D. Measuring and valuing what matters to people and the planet .............................................................. 33

III. Succeeding generations: shaping the future........................................................... 38

A. Solidarity with younger generations ...................................................................................................... 39

B. Solidarity with future generations ......................................................................................................... 43

IV. Nations large and small: a new global deal to deliver global public goods

and address major risks ......................................................................................... 48

A. Protecting the global commons and delivering global public goods ...................................................... 48

B. Addressing major risks .......................................................................................................................... 64

C. Next steps ............................................................................................................................................. 65

V. Purposes and principles: adapting the United Nations to a new era ........................ 72

A. For the Secretariat and the United Nations system ................................................................................ 72

B. For Member States’ consideration ......................................................................................................... 76

VI. Moving forward...................................................................................................... 82

Annex:

Process for consultations on Our Common Agenda ...........................................

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

A wake-up call

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER I

A wake-up call

I. A wake-up call

1. Seventy-five years ago, the world emerged from

a series of cataclysmic events: two successive

world wars, genocide, a devastating influenza

pandemic and a worldwide economic depression.

Our founders gathered in San Francisco

promising

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of

war; to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,

in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the

equal rights of men and women and of nations large

and small; to establish conditions under which

justice and respect for international law can be

maintained; and to promote social progress and

better standards of life in larger freedom. They

believed in the value of collective efforts to achieve

a better world and founded the United Nations to

that end.

2. The Charter of the United Nations is an exceptional

achievement. Since 1945, international norms and

institutions have delivered independence, peace,

prosperity, justice, human rights, hope and support

for billions of people. For many others, however,

these aspirations were never fully realized and

are now receding. Too many people are also being

excluded from the opportunities and benefits of

technology and transitioning economies, facing a

bleak future if we do not act fast.

3. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic

has been a challenge like no other since the Second

World War, revealing our shared vulnerability

and interconnectedness. It has exposed human

rights concerns and exacerbated deep fragilities

and inequalities in our societies. It has amplified

disenchantment with institutions and political

leadership as the virus has lingered. We have

also seen many examples of vaccine nationalism.

Moreover, with less than a decade to go, the

Sustainable Development Goals have been thrown

even further

off track.

4. At the same time, the pandemic has led to a surge

of collective action, with people working together to

respond to a truly global threat. The world needs to

THE COSTS OF COVID-19

Global GDP decreased by

an estimated

3.5 per cent in 2020.

The pandemic has pushed a further

124 million people into extreme poverty.

The pandemic-induced poverty surge

will also widen the gender poverty gap,

meaning more women will be pushed into

extreme poverty than men.

Nearly

one in three people

in the world

(2.37 billion)

did not have access to

adequate food

in 2020 – an increase of

almost 320 million people in just one year.

Early estimates suggest a potential

increase of up to 45 per cent in child

mortality

because of health-service

shortfalls and reductions in access to

food.

Total working hours fell by 8.8 per cent in

2020,

the equivalent of 255 million full-

time jobs.

Restricted movement, social isolation

and economic insecurity are increasing

women’s vulnerability to violence in the

home

around the world.

unite to produce and distribute sufficient vaccines

for everyone. We have been reminded of the vital

role of the State in solving problems, but also the

need for networks of actors stretching well beyond

States to cities, corporations, scientists, health

professionals, researchers, civil society, the media,

faith-based groups and individuals. When we all

face the same threat, cooperation and solidarity

are the only solutions, within societies and between

nations.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

A wake-up call

CHAPTER I

SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE MULTILATERAL SYSTEM

PEACE

Despite ongoing international tensions, conflict

and violence, the multilateral system with the

United Nations at its centre has helped to

avert a

third world war or a nuclear holocaust.

HEALTH

After a 10-year global effort led by WHO

involving over

500 million vaccinations,

smallpox was officially eradicated in 1980.

85%

Today, 85% of the world’s

children are vaccinated

and protected from

debilitating diseases.

Conflicts between States,

1946–2020

Source:

WHO, 2020.

POVERTY ERADICATION

1960

1980

2000

2020

East Asia and Pacific

Rest of the World

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Source:

Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2020.

HUMAN RIGHTS

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(1948) has helped to ensure that

billions of

people live safer, longer and more dignified lives.

80%

80% of Member States have ratified

at least four core

international human rights treaties, and all Member

States have ratified at least one.

Source:

OHCHR, 2021.

Total population

(in billions)

living in extreme poverty

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2018

ENVIRONMENT

Source:

World Bank, 2018.

Ozone depleting emissions since

the Montreal Protocol,

Index 1986 = 100%

150%

120%

90%

60%

30%

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

GENDER EQUALITY

90% of United Nations Member States have

ratified or acceded to the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women.

-99%

SINCE 1986

Proportion of seats held by women in national

parliaments

(percentage)

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

Source:

Statistics Division, 2021.

2015 2019

Source: UNEP, 2021.

HUMANITARIAN ACTION

In 2020, the United Nations and partner

organizations provided humanitarian assistance to

more than

98 million people in 25 countries.

Source:

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2021.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER I

A wake-up call

A. The choice before us

5. Let there be no illusion: COVID-19 may pale in

comparison to future challenges if we do not learn

from failures that have cost lives and livelihoods.

Our best projections show that a stark choice

confronts us: to continue with business as usual

and risk significant breakdown and perpetual crisis,

or to make concerted efforts to break through and

achieve an international system that delivers for

people and the planet. These omens must not be

ignored, nor these opportunities squandered.

WHAT WE MEAN BY

SOLIDARITY

Solidarity is a fundamental value “by

virtue of which global challenges must be

managed in a way that distributes costs

and burdens fairly, in accordance with basic

principles of equity and social justice, and

ensures that those who suffer or benefit the

least receive help from those who benefit the

most” (General Assembly, resolution 57/213).

B. Renewing solidarity

6. As the United Nations marked its seventy-fifth

anniversary in 2020, people around the world

expressed

their belief in international cooperation

while also conveying their concern at the mismatch

between its promises and the realities in their

daily lives. Member States echoed this in their

declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-

fifth anniversary of the United Nations (see General

Assembly resolution 75/1),

resolving to keep the

promises that they have already made and asking for

recommendations to advance our common agenda

and respond to current and future challenges.

7. This report seeks to answer these calls, taking

stock of challenges and recommending actions

that build on what is working and improve what

is not. Multilateralism has evolved considerably

since the United Nations was founded, and we

have shown that we can come together to forge

collective solutions. However, this does not happen

often, effectively or inclusively enough.

8. Everything proposed in this report depends on a

deepening of solidarity.

Solidarity is not charity; in

an interconnected world, it is common sense. It is

the principle of working together, recognizing that

we are bound to each other and that no community

or country can solve its challenges alone. It is about

our shared responsibilities to and for each other,

taking account of our common humanity and each

person’s dignity, our diversity and our varying levels

of capacity and need. The importance of solidarity

has been thrown into sharp relief by COVID-19 and

the race against variants, even for countries that

are well advanced with vaccination campaigns.

No one is safe until everyone is safe. The same is

true of our biodiversity, without which none of us

can survive, and for actions to address the climate

crisis. In the absence of solidarity, we have arrived

at a critical paradox: international cooperation is

more needed than ever but also harder to achieve.

9. Through a deeper commitment to solidarity, at

the national level, between generations and in the

multilateral system, we can avoid the breakdown

scenario and, instead, break through towards a

more positive future. This report proposes a

path

forward,

centred around a

renewal of our social

contract,

adapted to the challenges of this century,

taking into account young people and future

generations and complemented by a

new global

deal.

10. A strong

social contract

anchored in human

rights at the national level is the necessary

foundation for us to work together. It may not

be written down in any single document, but the

social contract has profound consequences for

people, underpinning their rights and obligations

and shaping their life chances. It is also vital for

international cooperation, since bonds across

countries do not work when bonds within them

are broken. The inequality, mistrust and intolerance

that we are seeing in many countries and regions,

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

A wake-up call

CHAPTER I

THE CHOICE BEFORE US:

A SCENARIO OF BREAKDOWN AND PERPETUAL CRISIS

DEADLY

PANDEMICS

UNINHABITABLE

PLANET

DESTABILIZING

INEQUALITIES

•

COVID-19 is endemic,

•

Richer countries

hoard vaccines,

•

Health systems

are overwhelmed

•

No preparedness

for future

•

A number of countries are poorer in

2030 than before the pandemic hit

pandemics

plan for equitable distribution

constantly mutating

•

Owing to unchanged emission levels

droughts, tropical

•

Heatwaves, floods,

extremes are

cyclones

and other

from human activity,

global warming

of 2°C will be exceeded

during the

twenty-first century

•

Continuous

erosion of human rights

•

Growing poverty,

and massive loss

•

Public goods like education and

•

Protests spread across borders,

social protection systems are

underfunded

often met with violent repression

of jobs and income

•

The

Arctic is ice freelost

the summer;

most

permafrost is

and

extreme

sea levels

occur every year

unprecedented in magnitude, frequency

and timing and occur in regions that

have never been affected before

species are on

•

One million

with irreversible

the

verge of

extinction,

biodiversity

•

Technology fuels division

•

New types of warfare

invented faster

than new ways of making peace

•

More than

1 billion people live with

WARNING SIGNS

$9.2 trillion – estimated

cost to the global economy

in 2021 alone if developing

countries do not

have equitable access to

COVID-19 vaccines

Source:

International Chamber

of Commerce, 2021.

loss

heat that is so extreme that it threatens

their lives

Increases in

concentrations

of greenhouse gases

since around 1750 are

unequivocally caused by

human activities

and have

led to ~1.1°C of warming

between 1850 and 1900

Source:

Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change, 2021.

36 low-income countries are

in sovereign debt distress

at a high risk of falling into

debt distress (February 2021)

Source:

Department of Economic

and Social Affairs, 2020.

Up to

827,000 viruses

that

could infect humans

exist

in mammals and birds

Source:

International Institute for

Sustainable Development, 2021.

The

extinction rate

is now

10–100 times higher

than at any other time in the

past 10 million years

Source:

United Nations, 2019.

Rapid increase

non-State conflicts

since 2010

3,000

2,000

1,000

2050

there could be

plastic than fish

in the sea

Source:

UNEP, 2020.

1990

2000

2010

2020

Source:

Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2020.

THE CONSEQUENCES FOR MULTILATERALISM

Social contract is

eroded and geopolitical

tensions rise

International institutions are trapped

in a

cycle of underinvestment and

underperformance

Preference for

unilateralism over

solidarity

No consensus on facts,

science or knowledge

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER I

A wake-up call

THE CHOICE BEFORE US:

A SCENARIO OF BREAKTHROUGH AND THE PROSPECT

OF A GREENER, SAFER, BETTER FUTURE

SUSTAINABLE

RECOVERY

HEALTHY PEOPLE

AND PLANET

TRUST AND SOCIAL

PROTECTION

•

Vaccines shared widely and

•

Capacity to produce vaccines for

equitably

future pandemics within 100 days

and to distribute them globally

within a year

have a

bridge to better lives

architecture

•

Global temperature rise is limited

•

All countries and sectors

•

Support provided to countries

•

Just transitions to a new labour

•

A functioning

ecosystem is

•

Communities are equipped to adapt

and be resilient to climate change

impacts

preserved

for succeeding

generations

ecosystem are ensured

heavily affected by climate

emergencies

decarbonize by 2050

to 1.5°C

•

Strong commitment to the

•

Universal social protection floors,

•

Universal digital connectivity

•

Quality education, skills

racial, economic and other

inequalities

universality and indivisibility of

human rights

including universal health coverage

•

People in crisis and conflict settings

•

Revised international debt

•

Business incentives are reshaped to

•

Progress

to address illicit financial

•

Financial and economic systems

flows, tax avoidance and climate

finance

support more sustainable, resilient

and inclusive patterns of growth

support global public goods

•

Progress on addressing gender,

•

Equal partnership between

enhancement

and lifelong learning

institutions and the people they

serve

and among and within

communities to strengthen social

cohesion

SIGNS OF HOPE

146 million people lifted out

of extreme poverty

by 2030 through

investments in governance,

social protection, the green

economy and digitalization

(including 74 million women

and girls)

Source:

UNDP, 2020.

75%

methane emissions

could be

mitigated

with existing technology

today,

up to 40% at

no net cost

Source:

UNEP, 2021.

Transitioning to

low-

carbon, sustainable growth

approaches could deliver

direct economic gains of

$26 trillion through to 2030

compared with business-

as-usual approaches

Source:

United Nations, 2021.

THE CONSEQUENCES FOR MULTILATERALISM

New era for multilateralism,

as countries and other actors

work to solve the problems

that matter most

The international system

acts fast for everyone in an

emergency

All actors accountable

for keeping

commitments made

The

United Nations is

a trusted platform

for

collaboration between

a growing number and

diversity of actors

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

A wake-up call

CHAPTER I

heightened by the devastating impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic, suggest that the time has

come to renew the social contract for a new era in

which individuals, States and other actors work in

partnership to build trust, increase participation

and inclusion and redefine human progress.

11. The deepening of solidarity at the national

level must be matched by a new commitment to

young people and future generations,

to whom the

opening words of the Charter of the United Nations

make a solemn promise. Strengthened solidarity

is long overdue with the existing generation of

young people, who feel that our political, social

and economic systems ignore their present and

sacrifice their future. We must take steps to deliver

better education and jobs for them and to give them

a greater voice in designing their own futures. We

must also find ways to systematically consider the

interests of the 10.9 billion people who are expected

to be born this century, predominantly in Africa and

Asia: we will achieve a breakthrough only if we think

and act together on their behalf for the long term.

12. To support solidarity within societies and

between generations, we also need a

new deal

at the global level.

The purpose of international

cooperation in the twenty-first century is to achieve

a set of vital common goals on which our welfare,

and indeed survival, as a human race depend.

Notably, we need to improve the protection of

the

global commons

and the provision of a broader

OUR COMMON AGENDA

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URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER I

A wake-up call

set of

global public goods,

those issues that

benefit humanity as a whole and that cannot be

managed by any one State or actor alone. Many

of these objectives (the “what”) are set out in the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the

declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-

fifth anniversary of the United Nations. I believe

that it is high time for Member States, together with

other relevant stakeholders, to devise strategies

for achieving them (the “how”), through enhanced

multilateral governance of global commons and

global public goods. Furthermore, we must address

major risks

more robustly, learning lessons from

our response to COVID-19.

13. Finally, States have at their disposal an

organization whose very purpose is to solve

international problems through cooperation. The

United Nations

presence is global, its membership

is universal and its activities span the breadth of

human need. Its fundamental values are not the

preserve of any region. Indeed, they are found in

every culture and religion around the world: peace,

justice, human dignity, equity, tolerance and, of

course, solidarity. However, while the fundamental

purposes and principles of the United Nations

endure, the Organization must evolve in response

to a changing world to become more networked,

inclusive and effective.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

OUR

COMMON AGENDA

AND THE

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development and the Sustainable

Development Goals are at the core of Our

Common Agenda. The 2030 Agenda is a

plan of action for people, planet, prosperity

and peace, that seeks to realize the

human rights of all and to achieve gender

equality. The Sustainable Development

Goals are integrated and indivisible

and balance the three dimensions of

sustainable development: the economic,

social and environmental. Many of the

actions proposed in this report thus seek

to accelerate achievement of the Goals, not

least in the light of gaps and delays caused

by the COVID-19 pandemic. Actions already

under way to achieve the Goals will, in

turn, be key for the implementation of Our

Common Agenda.

C. Our Common Agenda

14. We already have the blueprints for a better

world, including the Charter of the United Nations,

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and

other international human rights instruments, the

2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development

Goals, the Paris Agreement on climate change and

other key instruments. These are just some of the

many resolutions and international instruments

that have been painstakingly developed over

75 years and that constitute a crucial heritage.

We can and must build on them and redouble our

efforts to implement them.

15. The world has also changed, however, creating

new needs that call for new understandings and

arrangements to meet them. We must combine the

best of our past achievements with the most creative

look to the future if we are to deepen solidarity and

achieve a breakthrough for people and the planet.

The actions suggested in this report are urgent

and transformative and fill critical gaps. Just as

the founders of the United Nations came together

determined to save succeeding generations from

the scourge of war, we must now come together

to save succeeding generations from war, climate

change, pandemics, hunger, poverty, injustice and

a host of risks that we may not yet foresee entirely.

This is Our Common Agenda.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

We the peoples:

a renewed social

contract anchored

in human rights

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER II

We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

II. We the peoples: a renewed social contract

anchored in human rights

16. COVID-19 has brought new urgency to the choice

before us. Even before the pandemic, solidarity

had dwindled in many societies. Governance has

become more difficult against the backdrop of

a heightened sense of unfairness and a rise in

populism and inward-looking nationalist agendas

that peddle simplistic fixes, pseudo-solutions and

conspiracy theories. There is a growing disconnect

between people and the institutions that serve

them, with many feeling left behind and no longer

confident that the system is working for them, an

increase in social movements and protests and an

ever deeper

crisis of trust

fomented by a loss of

shared truth and understanding. There has been

questioning of how we share our societies and this

fragile planet, of the fundamental ties that connect

us, and of how we engage with those who disagree,

who feel unjustly treated or who feel excluded.

17. At the heart of this is a frayed social contract:

the understanding within a society of how people

solve shared problems, manage risks and pool

resources to deliver public goods, as well as how

their collective institutions and norms operate. The

exact nature of these reciprocal norms varies, but

their existence is universal.

18. A social contract needs to evolve to respond

to changing circumstances. A revolution, war,

economic collapse or other cataclysm puts the

social contract under immediate pressure, leaving

a society vulnerable to disruption if it is unable to

adapt fast enough. For the first time in decades,

all countries have experienced a dramatic change

in their circumstances because of COVID-19. This

shock has happened at a time when we were

already failing in many ways in our duty of care to

each other and the planet we share. We urgently

need a renewed social contract, anchored in a

comprehensive approach to human rights, in the

light of the pandemic and beyond, one that allows

many more actors to tackle increasingly complex

and interconnected problems.

A. Foundations of a renewed

social contract

19. The social contract originates at the subnational

and national levels, and its exact architecture is

unquestionably up to each society to determine.

However, any social contract also has a global

dimension. All societies face and are affected by

global pressures, while solidarity within countries

provides the foundation for our cooperation

internationally. I will therefore mobilize the whole

United Nations system to assist countries in support

of a renewed social contract, anchored in human

rights. Drawing on the consultations for Our Common

Agenda, I see three foundations for a renewed social

contract fit for the twenty-first century:

(a) trust;

(b) inclusion, protection and participation;

and

and the planet.

These ideas are articulated in

different ways across societies, regions and cultures,

but the international community has generated

consensus on them through the United Nations by

WHAT WE MEAN BY

SOCIAL CONTRACT

The term “social contract” is often

understood to have its origins in Western

or European philosophy. However,

related concepts reflecting the reciprocal

obligations between people, households,

communities and their leaders exist across

regions and religious traditions, including

in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle

East.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

CHAPTER II

THE RENEWED SOCIAL CONTRACT

TRUST

ROTECTION

AND

PARTICI

PATI

ION,

NCL

WHAT

MATTERS

PEO

LUIN

PLE

CIE

-S

E-O

PRIVATE

SECTOR

F-S

INDIVIDUAL

THE RENEWED

SOCIAL CONTRACT

STATE/

INSTITUTIONS

-S

INSTITUTIONS THAT LISTEN

SERVICES

JUSTICE AND RULE OF LAW

TAXATION

NO CORRUPTION

INFORMATION

DIGITAL SPACE

CIVIL

SOCIETY

E-O

F-

ANCHORED IN

HUMAN RIGHTS

E-

COMPLEMENTS TO GDP

CARE AND INFORMAL ECONOMY

SOCIAL PROTECTION

SYSTEMS INCLUDING UNIVERSAL

HEALTH COVERAGE

EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING

DECENT WORK

TRUST

WOMEN AND GIRLS AT THE CENTRE,

PEACE AT HOME

ADEQUATE HOUSING

DIGITAL INCLUSIVITY

MEASURING AND VALUING

WHAT MATTERS TO PEOPLE

AND THE PLANET

INCLUSION, PROTECTION

AND PARTICIPATION

FOUNDATIONS OF THE RENEWED

SOCIAL CONTRACT

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER II

We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

enshrining core principles, such as solidarity, respect

for human rights, accountability and equality. The

2030 Agenda gives practical expression to these

principles through its commitment to leave no one

behind.

B. Trust

20. Building trust and countering mistrust, between

people and institutions, but also between different

people and groups within societies, is our defining

challenge. Both

interpersonal and institutional trust

are important and mutually reinforcing, but the

recommendations below focus largely on the latter.

There has been an

overall breakdown in trust

major institutions worldwide due to both their real

and perceived failures to deliver, be fair, transparent

and inclusive, provide reliable information and make

a difference in people’s lives. For example, public

distrust of governments and government distrust

of publics made it harder to maintain consensus

behind public health restrictions on COVID-19.

Conversely, countries with higher levels of trust

in public institutions (along with higher levels of

interpersonal trust) did better at managing the

pandemic. The types of challenges that we will

face in the future will require similar, if not greater,

levels of trust in each other and in our institutions.

21. People wish to be heard and to participate in

the decisions that affect them. Institutions could

establish better ways of listening to people whom

they are meant to serve and taking their views

into account, especially groups that are frequently

overlooked, such as women, young people, minority

groups or persons with disabilities. As an initial step,

I invite Governments to conduct

national listening

and “envisioning the future” exercises.

These can

be done digitally to ensure breadth and inclusivity,

albeit with commensurate measures to reach those

3.8 billion people who are still offline. I also commit

to ensure that the United Nations builds on recent

innovations in listening to, consulting and engaging

with people around the world.

22. Failing to

deliver what people need most,

including basic services, drives mistrust, regardless

of how open institutions are to public participation.

Societies vary in terms of which

public goods

are

delivered publicly and which are delivered privately,

including health, education, the Internet, security

and childcare. However, regulatory frameworks that

ensure effectiveness and accountability can be

provided and kept up to date by States. Moreover,

a key

lesson

from COVID-19 is the importance of

the State as a provider of trustworthy information,

goods and services, especially in times of crisis.

Institutions can analyse and reduce administrative

burdens that make it hard for people to gain access

to their services. Making government services

digital can enhance transparency and accessibility,

if provision is made for communities that currently

do not have access to the digital world. At a time of

rapid change, I encourage societies to discuss what

are the most essential and valued public goods

and the best means of ensuring their delivery,

bearing in mind the roles of both the public and

private sectors and building on the Sustainable

Development Goals. I would also urge

investment

in public systems and ensuring quality public

servants,

as the main point of contact between the

State and people. The international system needs

to better support countries that lack the capacity

and funding to make such investments.

23.

Justice is an essential dimension of the

social contract.

In all parts of the world, distrust

is fuelled by people’s experience of inequality and

corruption, and by their perception that the State

and its institutions treat them unfairly. The 2030

Agenda promises to promote the rule of law and

provide access to justice for all (target 16.3 of the

Sustainable Development Goals), but many justice

systems deliver only for the few. It is estimated

that 1.5 billion people have unmet criminal, civil

or administrative justice needs. They are unable

to use the law to defend themselves from violence

and crime, protect their rights or resolve disputes

peacefully. In a number of countries, the law still

actively discriminates against women, who in effect

enjoy

only three quarters of the legal rights of men.

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

CHAPTER II

When security and justice actors are abusive and

act with impunity, they exacerbate grievances and

weaken the social contract. Distrust is also fuelled

by people’s experience of

corruption,

which has a

disproportionate impact on

women,

exacerbates

inequality and costs the world trillions of dollars

annually. During our consultations, I

heard

from

Member States about the potential for transforming

justice systems in ways that strengthen the

bonds that hold our societies together. In support

of efforts to put people at the centre of justice

systems, I will promote a

new vision for the rule

of law,

building on Sustainable Development

Goal 16 and the

2012 Declaration of the High-level

Meeting

of the General Assembly on the Rule of

Law at the National and International Levels (see

resolution 67/1). We will examine how our rule of

law assistance can support States, communities

and people in rebuilding their social contract as

a foundation for sustaining peace. In this vein,

it will also be important to accelerate action

tackle corruption,

in line with the United Nations

Convention against Corruption.

24.

Taxation

is one of the most powerful tools of

government, critical to investing in public goods

and incentivizing sustainability. Governments

should consider using taxation to reduce extreme

OUR COMMON AGENDA

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We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

inequalities in wealth. This would be an important

signal in the wake of a pandemic in which millions

of people lost their jobs and governments around

the world faced declining fiscal space while the

wealth of billionaires saw a massive jump. Taxation

can also drive a sustainable and just transition, as

governments shift subsidies from activities that

damage the environment to those that sustain and

enrich it; tax carbon emissions and other polluting

activities rather than people or income; introduce

fair royalty regimes in extractive activities; and

channel resources to sustainable investments.

These reforms can have different impacts on

different countries, sectors and people, however,

and it is especially important to ensure that they do

not create new inequalities and to compensate and

support any perceived to lose out. Countries across

different income categories also face challenges

in terms of domestic resource mobilization.

Addressing this is an integral part of financing for

development and crucial in supporting the efforts

towards achieving the Sustainable Development

Goals. Any new approach to taxation will need to

embed the principles of sustainability while also

considering the views and capacities of developing

countries.

25. More broadly, a reformed

international tax

system

is needed to respond to the realities of

growing cross-border trade and investment and

an increasingly digitalized economy while also

addressing existing shortcomings in fair and

effective taxation of businesses and reducing

harmful tax competition. The G20 has agreed on

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

CHAPTER II

a new international tax architecture that addresses

the tax challenges arising from globalization and

digitalization and introduces a global minimum

tax for corporations, with a blueprint in place for

broader implementation under the

auspices of

the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD).

As discussions continue,

the perspectives of all countries must be heeded,

including the potential for asymmetrical impacts

on countries at different stages of development.

Consideration could also be given to measures

to tax the value of the digital economy, taxation

of financial technology innovations, including

cryptocurrencies, and a digital development tax,

whereby the companies that have benefited for

decades from a free and open Internet contribute to

the connectivity of the 3.8 billion people who are still

offline and to a safer digital world. I also propose

stronger international cooperation to tackle tax

evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, money-

laundering and illicit financial flows, including

through a

new joint structure on financial integrity

and tackling illicit financial flows,

with membership

centred around the United Nations, international

financial institutions, OECD, major financial

centres and expert civil society organizations. Its

role could include promotion of transparency and

accountability through the provision of data and

other information, as well as fostering agreements

to address illicit financial flows.

26. The

Internet

has altered our societies as

profoundly as the printing press did, requiring a

deep reimagining of the ethics and mindsets with

which we approach knowledge, communication

and cohesion. Along with the potential for more

accessible information and rapid communication

and consultation, the digital age, particularly social

media, has also heightened fragmentation and

“echo chambers”. Objectivity, or even the idea that

people can aspire to ascertain the best available

truth, has come increasingly into question. The

goal of giving equal balance to competing points

of view can come at the expense of impartiality and

evidence, distorting the public debate. The ability

to cause large-scale disinformation and undermine

scientifically established facts is an existential risk

to humanity. While vigorously defending the right

to freedom of expression everywhere, we must

equally encourage societies to develop a common,

empirically backed

consensus on the public good of

facts, science and knowledge.

We must make lying

wrong again. Institutions can be a “reality check”

for societies, curbing disinformation and countering

hate speech and online harassment, including of

women and girls. I urge acceleration of our efforts

to produce and disseminate reliable and verified

information. The United Nations plays a key role

in this regard, which it can continue to strengthen,

building on models such as the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change, the World Meteorological

Organization

Scientific Advisory Panel

or the

Verified initiative for

COVID-19.

Other steps include

support for public interest and independent media,

regulation of social media, strengthening freedom

of information or right to information laws and

ensuring a prominent voice for science and

expertise, for example through representation of

science commissions in decision-making. A

global

code of conduct that promotes integrity in public

information

could be explored together with States,

media outlets and regulatory bodies, facilitated by

the United Nations. With recent concerns about

trust and mistrust linked to technology and the

digital space, it is also time to understand, better

regulate and manage our

digital commons as a

global public good

(chap. IV).

C. Inclusion, protection and

participation

27. A vibrant social contract guarantees the

conditions for people to live a decent life, leaving

no one behind and enabling all to participate in

society, as promised in the 2030 Agenda. This

means measures to address discrimination and

to ensure that human rights are protected and

people can meet their basic needs. Food, health

care, water and sanitation, education and decent

work are basic human rights. We must ensure a

broad sharing of opportunity and human security

OUR COMMON AGENDA

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CHAPTER II

We the peoples: a renewed social contract anchored in human rights

across society as we work towards a greener, more

sustainable future. When people are left behind,

this can be a profound driver of division, both

within and between communities, ethnicities and

religions, and of instability nationally, as well as in

the international order.

28.

Social protection systems

have demonstrated

their value during the COVID-19 pandemic, saving

lives and backstopping economies at large. Without

the surge in State-provided social protection,

economic damage

could have been far worse.

This is also the case for

previous crises.

We must

not lose this momentum. A new era for social

protection systems would be a foundation for

peaceful societies

and other measures to leave

no one behind and eradicate extreme poverty. I urge

States to accelerate steps to achieve

universal

social protection coverage,

including for the

remaining 4 billion people currently unprotected, in

line with target 1.3 of the Sustainable Development

Goals. While the types and modalities of coverage

may vary,

at a minimum

this means access to

health care for all and basic income security for

children, those unable to work and older persons.

The gradual integration of the informal sector into

social protection frameworks is also essential if

we are to move towards universal coverage. To

support this new era for social protection, I will ask

the United Nations system to work with Member

States to identify resources to invest in their

systems where needed, including by

ring-fencing

and setting spending targets

as a percentage of

GDP, reallocating public expenditure, using proven

techniques to combat corruption and illicit financial

flows, deploying progressive fiscal policies and

increasing budget transparency, participation

and accountability. The establishment of a Global

Fund for Social Protection, being explored by the

International Labour Organization (ILO), could

support countries in increasing levels of funding

devoted to social protection over time. Efforts

by international financial institutions and States

to achieve a fairer and more sustainable global

economy and to provide liquidity to high-debt

vulnerable countries would also increase fiscal

INVESTMENT IN SOCIAL PROTECTION

The wealth of billionaires increased by

over $3.9 trillion

between March and

December 2020,

while 4 billion people

are still without any form of basic social

protection.

92 per cent of African women are in the

informal economy.

This keeps them

outside of social security systems.

A total of $78 billion would be needed for

low-income countries

to establish social

protection floors, including health care,

covering their combined population of

711 million people.

space and ensure that money can be spent on

vital social programmes (chap. IV). Similarly, if all

donors met the official development assistance

target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income, the

ability of many countries to finance their human

development, including social protection, would

be radically transformed.

29. I encourage States to forge a post-pandemic

consensus on other measures that speak directly

to the social contract.

Education

(chap. III) and

skills development must better support people’s

capacity to navigate technological, demographic,

climate and other transitions throughout their

lives. I would urge formal recognition of a

universal

entitlement to lifelong learning

and reskilling,

translated into practice through legislation, policy

and effective lifelong learning systems.

Decent

work

opportunities for all are also needed for

shared prosperity. With the nature and types of

work transforming rapidly, this requires a floor of

rights and protections for all workers, irrespective of

their employment arrangements, as laid out in the

ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work.

Workers should not shoulder all the risks when it

comes to their income, their hours of work and how

they cope if they are ill or unemployed. Investment

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SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS

SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS ARE CRITICAL TO ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

ZERO

HUNGER

SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS

SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS ARE CRITICAL TO ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

POVERTY

GOOD HEALTH

AND WELL-BEING

16.

PEACE, JUSTICE

AND STRONG

INSTITUTIONS

and economic

growth

QUALITY

EDUCATION

13.

CLIMATE

ACTION

SOCIAL PROTECTION

SYSTEMS

GENDER

EQUALITY

12.

RESPONSIBLE

CONSUMPTION AND

PRODUCTION

DECENT WORK

AND ECONOMIC

GROWTH

10.

REDUCED

INEQUALITIES

in sectors with the greatest potential for creating

more and better jobs, such as the green, care

and digital economies, is key and can be brought

about through major public investment, along

with incentive structures for long-term business

investments consistent with human development

and well-being. In particular, we need road maps to

integrate informal workers into formal economies

and to benefit from women’s full participation in the

workforce. The advancement of the human right

adequate housing,

in line with target 11.1 of the

Sustainable Development Goals, proved its value

in the public health measures taken in response to

the pandemic. Impressive actions taken to house

people have demonstrated what is possible with

sufficient political will.

30. To take stock of these commitments and

progress made as the world seeks to recover from

COVID-19, consideration should be given to holding

World Social Summit in 2025.

This would be

an opportunity to hold a different form of global

deliberation and to live up to the values, including

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trust and listening, that underpin the social

contract. The Summit outcome could be an update

of the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social

Development, covering issues such as universal

social protection floors, including universal health

coverage, adequate housing, education for all

and decent work, and give momentum towards

achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

31. Perhaps humanity’s greatest resource is

our own collective capacity, half of which has

historically been constrained as a result of gender

discrimination. No meaningful social contract is

possible without the active and equal participation

women and girls.

Women’s equal leadership,

economic inclusion and gender-balanced decision-

making are simply better for everyone, men and

women alike. The Beijing Declaration and Platform

for Action and

the Global Acceleration Plan for

Gender Equality

point the way. I urge Member

States and other stakeholders to consider five

related and transformative measures: (a) the full

realization of equal rights, including through repeal

of all gender-discriminatory laws (target 5.1 of the

Sustainable Development Goals); (b) measures

to promote gender parity in all spheres and at

all levels of decision-making, including quotas

and special measures; (c) facilitating women’s

economic inclusion, including through large-scale

investment in the care economy and equal pay,

and more support for women entrepreneurs; (d)

greater inclusion of the voices of younger women;

and (e) an

emergency response plan

to accelerate

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GENDER INEQUALITY

DISCRIMINATION

VIOLENCE

On average,

women have only

of the rights of men.

75%

Source:

World Bank, 2021.

Source:

WHO, 2021.

physical violence by an intimate partner or

sexual violence from a non-partner

in their

lifetime.

1 in 3 women

are subject to

sexual or

In 88 countries,

laws restrict the jobs

and hours that women can work,

affecting

>1.4 billion

women

lack legal protection

from domestic sexual or economic violence.

Source:

World Bank, 2018.

1.6 billion

women.

Source:

World Bank, 2021.

ECONOMIC LOSS

Gender inequality causes

major losses in global GDP.

GENDER INEQUALITY IN EARNINGS

GENDER DISCRIMINATION

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

GLOBAL

GDP

50%

16%

3.7%

Sources:

World Bank, 2018; OECD, 2016; World Bank, 2019.

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the eradication of violence against women and

girls, as a priority, which the United Nations will

support, backed by a global campaign to eliminate

any social norm that tolerates, excuses or overlooks

violence against women and girls, in line with target

5.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals. This will

also be central to the multi-stakeholder effort to

significantly reduce all forms of violence worldwide

(chap. IV).

32. I encourage Member States to strengthen

efforts towards gender equality in all United Nations

intergovernmental processes. The review of the

working methods of the

Commission on the Status

of Women

in 2021 could include a reassessment

of the role of the Commission in relation to other

intergovernmental mandates, and consideration of

how to build on the multi-stakeholder momentum of

the

Generation Equality Forum.

The United Nations

itself

will ensure gender parity

at all levels within

the Organization by 2028. We will also undertake

a review of United Nations system capacity –

staffing, resources and architecture – to deliver on

gender equality as a core priority across all entities.

33. Underpinning the social contract is an

unequivocal commitment to human rights. In

Call to Action for Human Rights,

I set out

seven domains in need of particular attention,

which are reflected across Our Common Agenda.

Implementation of the

full spectrum of human

rights

is at the heart of our capacity to recover

from the pandemic, renew the social contract and

more. Civil, political, economic, social and cultural

rights are mutually reinforcing, indivisible and

universal, not ordinary services with a market-set

price tag but essential factors in building more

inclusive societies. Promoting and protecting

civic space makes societies stronger and more

resilient, building on the right to participate and

freedom of expression, association and assembly.

While upholding human rights is an obligation

for all States, beyond that it is also time to treat

rights as

problem-solving measures and ways to

address grievances,

not just for individuals but

for communities at large. We have a growing body

of evidence that shows how institutions can be

THE CENTRALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS

“Human

rights

are universal and indivisible.

We must see human rights with a

vision

that speaks to each and every human being

and encompasses all rights: economic;

social; cultural; civil and political.”

- Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights

Human rights

are vital problem-solving tools

that

safeguard lives and livelihoods

and can

prevent grievances from arising.

ECO

THE CENTRALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS

LIT

CULT

URAL

92%

of all the

Sustainable Development Goals

are linked to human rights

and labour standards.

Human rights

serve the

whole of society

– not only the individual – and are central to the

social contract.

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designed to prevent human rights abuses. We also

know that rights-respecting institutions strengthen

the social contract, protecting societies as well as

individuals.

34.

Racism, intolerance and discrimination

continue to exist in all societies, as seen during the

pandemic with scapegoating of groups blamed for

the virus. As a start, the adoption of comprehensive

laws against discrimination, including based on

race or ethnicity, age, gender, religion, disability,

and sexual orientation or gender identity, is long

overdue. New approaches to proactively support

the participation in public affairs of those who have

traditionally been marginalized, including minority

and indigenous groups, are also necessary. Fuller

use could be made of human rights mechanisms,

including the universal periodic review, in this

regard, and I support the update of the modalities of

the universal periodic review by the Human Rights

Council as part of the new guidelines.

35. In 2023, we will commemorate the seventy-

fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights and 30 years since the adoption of

the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

on human rights. As this milestone nears, the time

has come to take stock, rejuvenate our shared

values and update our thinking on human rights.

Consideration should, for instance, be given to

updating or clarifying our application of human

rights frameworks and standards to address

frontier issues

and prevent harms in the digital or

technology spaces, including in relation to freedom

of speech, hate speech and harassment, privacy,

the “right to be forgotten” and neuro-technology.

The right to a healthy environment also warrants

deeper discussion. It may be time to reinforce

universal access to the Internet as a human right,

with accelerated steps to connect the remaining

3.8 billion people offline to the Internet by 2030,

notably those most often left behind, including

women, along with indigenous and older people.

The United Nations stands ready to work with

Governments, businesses and civil society to

find alternatives to disruptive blanket Internet

shutdowns and generic blocking and filtering of

services to address the spread of disinformation

and harmful life-threatening content, in line with

international human rights law.

36. Finally, to ensure that everyone is seen and

recognized, measures to prove legal identity

(target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development

Goals) and end

statelessness,

including by

closing

legal loopholes,

and disaggregating data by age,

gender and diversity are urged. People on the move

require special attention, support and protection.

While COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had severe

consequences for human mobility and left many

refugees and migrants stranded,

displacement

continued to grow.

Measures to protect, assist

and find solutions for

the internally displaced,

benefiting from the High-level Panel on Internal

Displacement, are essential to leaving no one

behind. I urge Governments and other stakeholders

to make progress in putting the Global Compact on

Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly

and Regular Migration into practice, including

through respect for the fundamental principle of

non-refoulement and measures to provide access

to asylum for refugees, by protecting and upholding

the rights of all persons on the move, regardless of

status, by supporting host countries and through

the inclusion of

refugees and migrants

in essential

public services.

D. Measuring and valuing what

matters to people and the

planet

37. Even with our planet undergoing rapid and

dangerous change, economic models continue

to assume endless expansion and growth and

overlook the broader systems that sustain life

and well-being. We need a pathway that protects

people and the planet, allowing for sustainable

development. This means broad shifts in what

prosperity and progress mean, how to incentivize

and measure them, and how to evaluate policies.

38. We must urgently find measures of progress

that complement

GDP,

as we were tasked to do by

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2030 in target 17.19 of the Sustainable Development

Goals. We know that GDP fails to account for human

well-being, planetary sustainability and non-market

services and care, or to consider the distributional

dimensions of economic activity. Absurdly, GDP

rises when there is overfishing, cutting of forests

or burning of fossil fuels. We are destroying nature,

but we count it as an increase in wealth. Such

discussions have been ongoing for decades. It

is time to collectively commit to complementary

measurements. Without that fundamental shift, the

targets that we have fixed in relation to biodiversity,

pollution and climate change will not be achievable.

I will consult the Presidents of the General Assembly

and the Economic and Social Council to determine

how to advance this issue. Any process would

need to bring together Member States, international

financial institutions and statistical, science

and policy experts to identify a complement or

complements to GDP that will measure inclusive

and sustainable growth and prosperity, building

on the work of the Statistical Commission. In

addition to identifying complementary measures,

the process would also need to agree on pathways

for national and global accounting systems to

include additional measurements, and to establish

systems for regular reporting as part of official

statistics. In the interim, I urge Member States

and others to already begin implementation of

the recent System of Environmental-Economic

Accounting (SEEA)

Ecosystem Accounting

and the

system for population and social conditions, and

to consider existing complements or alternatives

to GDP, such as the

human development index,

the inclusive wealth index, the Genuine Progress

Indicator,

the multidimensional poverty index

and

the

inequality-adjusted human development index.

39. In rethinking GDP, we must also find ways to

validate the care and informal economy. Specifically,

most of the care work around the world is unpaid and

done by women and girls, perpetuating economic

inequality between genders. COVID-19 also had

deeply gendered economic and job impacts that

highlighted and exacerbated the trillions of dollars

that are lost owing to billions of hours of unpaid

care work performed every year. Rethinking the

care economy means valuing unpaid care work in

economic models but also investing in quality paid

care as part of essential public services and social

protection arrangements, including by improved

pay and working conditions (target 5.4 of the

Sustainable Development Goals). More broadly,

we also need to find new ways to account for and

value the vast informal economy.

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III

Succeeding

generations:

shaping the future

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Succeeding generations: shaping the future

III. Succeeding generations: shaping the future

40. In 1945, the promise was to

save “succeeding

generations”

from the scourge of war. A similar

promise today would necessarily encompass a

much broader range of threats, including the very

viability of human life on earth. Yet we are far from

keeping that promise. This current generation of

young people sees a world in which their future

is compromised in multiple ways. We are already

feeling the impacts of the triple planetary crisis

of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution,

which will only become more devastating and

irreversible in the future. Many young people have a

lack of trust in the ability of existing institutions and

leadership to meet their concerns. COVID-19 threw

these questions into even sharper relief. Any renewal

of the social contract must include a profound

deepening of solidarity between generations. Young

people need to believe that they have a stake in

society and a viable future. They also need to see

society believe and invest in them.

41. This renewal of solidarity between generations

should extend not only to those currently alive

but also to their children and grandchildren.

Humanity faces a series of long-term challenges

that evolve over the course of multiple human life

spans: warming and degradation of the planet,

as well as managing new technologies such as

artificial intelligence and gene editing, demographic

shifts towards an older population, urbanization

and the evolution of social welfare provision. With

the fourth industrial revolution, we are in one of

the most important transformational moments

in recent history. The way in which people live,

work, eat and interact with each other is likely to

look very different in the future. Yet our dominant

political and economic incentives remain weighted

heavily in favour of the short term and status

quo, prioritizing immediate gains at the expense

of longer-term human and planetary well-being.

Decisions made today will shape the course of the

planet for centuries. Our understanding of “we the

peoples” in the Charter of the United Nations needs

SOLIDARITY BETWEEN GENERATIONS

Decisions made today

will deﬁne the future

for younger and future generations.

SOLIDARITY WITH YOUNGER GENERATIONS

Voice and participation

Quality education

Sustainable jobs

SOLIDARITY WITH FUTURE GENERATIONS

Long-term thinking

Represent future generations

SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE

HEALTHY PLANET

STRONG INSTITUTIONS

HEALTH, SOCIAL PROTECTION

EDUCATION, WORK

PREPAREDNESS

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CHAPTER III

to be expanded to protect the interests of all the

people of the twenty-first century and to bequeath

a liveable world to those who will follow.

42. Young people today, along with future

generations, will have to live with the consequences

of our action and inaction. Today’s generation of

young people is distinct from future generations.

However, it is time to find ways to give more weight

to their collective interests and to make our systems

work to safeguard their futures. This renewal of

solidarity between generations is an integral part of

the other actions identified in this report, otherwise

the social contract that shapes the future will be

designed exclusively by those who will not live to

see it realized.

the priorities identified by young people during the

consultations

for Our Common Agenda and the

seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations.

Having a voice

45. Some countries have created opportunities for

younger generations to have a voice in decisions that

affect them, through youth councils, parliaments

and ministries. However, these solutions have

not always avoided tokenism, often remaining

peripheral to core political processes. Youth-led

protest movements are frequently driven by deep

distrust of today’s political classes and desire for

proper engagement in decision-making. Yet some

authorities have clamped down on peaceful protest,

dismissed young people as too inexperienced and

treated them as beneficiaries or, worse, as

threats

rather than equal partners. At the global level,

young people have been formally recognized as

critical actors within intergovernmental frameworks

on peace and security, sustainable development,

climate change, human rights and humanitarian

action. Yet here, too, engagement is not always

meaningful, nor does it guarantee geographical,

gender, income and other forms of diversity.

46. In line with the commitments made by Member

States in the

declaration on the commemoration of

the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations

to listen to and work with youth, governments are

urged to promote

political representation for youth,

including young women and girls. This could entail

lowering the voting age and the eligibility age for

standing as a candidate for elected office, as

well as strengthening youth participatory bodies.

Supporting the political participation of a diverse

range of young people may mean challenging social

norms and stereotypes, especially in relation to

gender, as well as in relation to other forms of

marginalization. Young people are also urged to

seize the opportunities available to them, including

by exercising their right to vote. Together with

leading researchers and academic institutions,

I will explore a

“youth in politics” index

to track

the opening of political space in countries around

the world that younger generations are so clearly

A. Solidarity with younger

generations

43. The world today is home to the largest generation

of young people in history at 1.8 billion people,

close to 90 per cent of whom live in developing

countries. Young people have never been more

educated or more connected, yet they continue to

face significant obstacles to achieving their full

potential. Some

267 million young people

(15–24

years old) are not in education, employment or

training, two thirds of whom are young women as

a result of

gendered expectations

of unpaid family

work and informal employment. The pandemic

has only made this

worse.

The pandemic also

exposed large disparities between developed and

least developed countries in the numbers of young

people online, notably affecting their capacity

to continue education remotely during school

closures. Young people tell us that our systems

do not listen to them meaningfully and that our

systems are short-sighted and do not take their

concerns seriously.

44. Delivering on the priorities of young people and

meaningfully including them in decision-making

are investments that will deliver immediate returns,

as well as build human capital and social cohesion

for the longer term. The actions below respond to

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demanding, as well as the participation of young

people in these processes.

47. Within the United Nations system, the bond

with young people can be further strengthened, for

instance through regular check-ins, recognizing

their diversity and reaching those who are

marginalized. Efforts will be stepped up to increase

youth participation in our support to electoral

processes and in peacebuilding efforts, including

by building the capacity of local youth networks

and youth-led organizations. While our envoys on

youth have increased the profile of youth issues in

the Organization, if the United Nations is to live up

to its

commitments

this work must be put on a more

sustainable footing. I propose the establishment

of a

dedicated United Nations Youth Office

in the

Secretariat, which will integrate the current activities

of the Office of the Envoy on Youth, continue to

lead high-level advocacy and serve as the anchor

for United Nations system coordination and

accountability on youth matters across our work

on peace, sustainable development, humanitarian

issues and human rights. In the meantime, my

Envoy on Youth will prepare recommendations

for

more meaningful, diverse and effective youth

engagement in United Nations deliberative and

decision-making processes,

for the consideration

of the General Assembly, the Security Council

and the Economic and Social Council and their

respective subsidiary bodies. This will be done in

consultation with the world’s young people and in

coordination with United Nations system agencies

and other stakeholders.

systems in history. For many students, especially

girls and young women, this break may become

permanent, with potential consequences for

their rights, equality and development for future

generations. Even prior to COVID-19, traditional

education systems were still not reaching some

258 million children and young people in the world

and were

failing to provide

many students with

even basic foundational skills such as reading and

mathematics. Students in developing and developed

countries alike tell us that they leave the education

system without the tools that they need to adapt

and thrive in a rapidly changing world, including

digital literacy, global citizenship and sustainable

development. This situation is exacerbated by the

fact that both early childhood education and lifelong

learning, so crucial for individuals and society at

large, remain an aspiration in most countries.

49. Our priority should be to help children and

young people to catch up on learning lost during the

pandemic while transforming education systems

so that students reach their full potential. I will

champion lifelong learning for all and convene

Summit on Transforming Education in 2022

accelerate progress towards the achievement of

Sustainable Development Goal 4. The Summit

will forge a common vision for education, building

on the forthcoming work of the

International

Commission on the Futures of Education

and

other recent progress including the replenishment

of the Global Partnership for Education fund

and the establishment of the Global Education

Cooperation Mechanism. We need a road map for

teaching all children to read, write and perform

basic mathematics and for giving them other core

skills. Education systems need to be modernized

and connected, making learning more student-

centred, dynamic, inclusive and collaborative. We

can succeed only if we value the world’s teachers

and work with them as partners in transforming

schools, colleges and universities. The Summit will

tackle crucial issues, including equity, the education

obstacles faced by girls and young women, the

transition from education to employment, and the

promotion of lifelong learning and reskilling. It will

Learning

48.

Quality education

(including early childhood

education) is a fundamental

human right

– one

of society’s great equalizers, a prerequisite for

young people to be equipped to exercise their

voice and contribute to the social contract, and

a foundation for tolerance, peace, human rights

and sustainability. Yet the provision of education

today is in turmoil. Over 90 per cent of children

in the world have had their education interrupted

by COVID-19,

the largest

disruption of education

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THE LEARNING CRISIS

COVID-19

School closures from COVID-19 have

left over a billion students out of

school and could cause students to

lose $10 trillion in earnings

over their working lives.

$10,000,000,000,000

FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS

More than half - 56% - of all

children

will not be able to read or be

proficient in mathematics

by the time

they complete primary education.

56%

Source:

World Bank, 2020.

Source:

UNESCO, 2017.

DIGITAL INCLUSION

Reimagining education means

investing in digital literacy and digital

infrastructure to

close the digital

divide.

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH ONLINE, 2020

FUNDING GAP

Low- and middle-income countries

face a

$148 billion annual education

funding gap

when compared with

what is needed to achieve

Sustainable Development Goal 4,

quality education.

TOTAL ANNUAL EDUCATION FINANCING NEEDS: $504 BILLION

$148 billion

29% FINANCING GAP

87%

HIGH INCOME

56%

UPPER-MIDDLE INCOME

15%

LOWER-MIDDLE INCOME

Source:

UNESCO, 2020.

LOW INCOME

33%

GLOBAL

Source:

ITU, 2020.

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also address the lack of adequate financing for

national education transformation efforts, including

the operationalization of the International Finance

Facility for Education and other domestic and

international resources. Digital inclusivity will be a

vital part of the Summit, building on existing efforts

such as the

Giga initiative,

which aims to ensure that

all schools are connected to the Internet by 2030.

Broader investments in the education sector could

also be explored, including the next generation of

teachers and open-source digital education tools.

Summit preparations will involve governments,

students, teachers and leading United Nations

entities, including the United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),

the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and

the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

They will also draw on the private sector and major

technology companies, which can contribute to

the digital transformation of education systems.

COVID-19 IMPACT ON EDUCATION

Half of the world’s students were still

affected by school closures

a year after

the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,

which contributed in part to an increase in

child marriage and child labour.

Prospering

50. Another priority identified by youth is the

availability and sustainability of decent

jobs and

economic opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic

has had a serious impact on young workers and

those transitioning to employment, particularly

young women. Too many are settling for work

in the informal sector or jobs for which they are

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overqualified and underpaid, neither meeting their

aspirations nor allowing them to unleash their full

potential, and perpetuating underdevelopment and

lack of tax revenue in low- and lower-middle-income

countries. A focus is needed on (re)skilling and

upskilling youth and connecting them from learning

to employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.

The availability of decent jobs for youth is also

tied to the sustainability of their futures, including

efforts to transition to low-emission and climate-

resilient labour markets.

COVID-19 IMPACT ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

Globally,

youth employment fell by 8.7 per

cent in 2020

compared with 3.7 per cent for

older adults.

result in

24 million new “jobs of the future” by 2030.

One way to proceed could be the formation of a

high-ambition coalition

to promote green and digital

economy job creation, involving relevant ministers

(finance, planning, labour and education), youth and

other key stakeholders from the 20 countries whose

labour markets and workforce will expand most

rapidly over the next decade, emphasizing equal

access for women and girls to these jobs and the

transition from the informal to the formal sectors.

B. Solidarity with future

generations

52. Investing in younger generations will deliver

crucial returns for those alive today, but the

complex problems that we face will unfold over

multiple lifespans. Today’s decisions on issues

such as climate, technology and development will

profoundly alter the livelihoods of the

10.9 billion

people who are expected to be born later this

century, predominantly in Africa and Asia.

53. The principle of

intergenerational equity

–

recognizing responsibilities towards future

generations – has deep roots in diverse cultural and

religious traditions and is reflected in the Charter of

51. As they emerge from the pandemic, Member

States are urged to consider

youth labour

guarantees,

alongside macroeconomic and

industrial policies to boost labour demand, drawing

on the “not in education, employment or training”

(NEET) indicator. Other measures could include

extending social protection systems to young

workers; reducing barriers to advanced education

and labour market participation, including due to

gender or other forms of discrimination; expanding

apprenticeship schemes and technical and

vocational training; and integrating young voices

in social dialogue and decision-making. Youth

have, in particular, asked that entrepreneurship

be promoted, including through start-up capital

and training in business, digital and essential

soft entrepreneurship skills. In support of State

efforts and the existing Global Initiative on Decent

Jobs for Youth, the United Nations, together with

international financial institutions, will launch a

recovery barometer

that will track career paths

and labour market outcomes for youth between

now and 2025 and beyond as part of the decade

of action to deliver the Sustainable Development

Goals. In addition, concerted efforts to adopt new

technologies and invest in green economies could

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the United Nations. In 1987, the World Commission

on Environment and Development

found

that the

“profligacy” of living generations was “rapidly

closing the options for future generations”, calling

for drastic action to protect them. The well-being of

future generations has since been acknowledged

in international documents on sustainable

development and the environment, as well as the

UNESCO

Declaration on the Responsibility of the

Present Generations Towards Future Generations.

However, this recognition has not necessarily

resulted in meaningful steps to account for the

interests of future generations, either nationally

or within the multilateral system. Short-term

calculations continue to dominate policymaking.

54. The proposals in this report would lead to

approaches being put in place that will benefit

future generations over the long term. Beyond this,

I invite States and other stakeholders to

consider

specific steps to account for the interests of

future generations

in national and global decision-

making. While the modalities at the national level

are matters for States to decide, some options

are set out below. Accounting for the interests of

future generations would require two adaptations:

strengthening our capacities to understand and

assess the future, building long-term thinking

into important policies and decision-making; and

creating specific forums and instruments to protect

the interests of future generations at all levels of

governance.

POPULATION

GROWTH

POPULATION

GROWTH

POPULATION GROWTH PEAKED IN THE LATE 1960s

World population growth, 1950–2100

World population

10.8%

5-year population growth rate

2020

7.7 bn

10.9 bn

5.6%

PROJECTION

2.5 bn

1950

1970

1990

2010

2030

2050

2070

2090

Source:

Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019.

POPULATION GROWTH PROJECTIONS TO 2100:

LARGEST INCREASE IN AFRICA; DECLINE IN EUROPE

The world population in 2020 and 2100 (in billions)

2020

4.5

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

Africa

+219%

2100

Long-term intergenerational thinking

55. The gravitational pull of short-term thinking is

strong and growing. Ours is an age of acceleration

and volatility, where boom-bust markets, shifting

political dynamics and technologically driven

innovations demand rapid responses and quick

results. At the same time, we have the capacity to

think for the longer term more than ever before.

Technological, climate and demographic modelling

offer us empirically backed scenarios reaching until

the end of the twenty-first century and beyond. We

know, for example, that our current rates of carbon

emissions are leading to global temperature changes

-16%

Asia

Europe

Latin

America

North

Oceania

America

Source:

Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019.

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Succeeding generations: shaping the future

CHAPTER III

that will irreversibly affect every person on the planet.

This knowledge needs to become a source of action.

It is time to place long-term analysis, planning and

thinking at the heart of national governance and the

multilateral system. We must expand our thinking

and institutions across time.

56. The United Nations will review its work

to strengthen this capacity. This will include

conducting future impact assessments of major

policies and programmes, convening foresight and

planning experts across the United Nations system

and its multilateral partners, regularly reporting on

megatrends and catastrophic risks (chap. IV) and

working with a wider community of governmental,

academic, civil society, private sector, philanthropic

and other actors to strengthen strategic foresight,

preparedness for catastrophic risks, and anticipatory

decision-making that values instead of discounts

the future. Collectively, this body of work would come

together in a

Futures Laboratory (“Futures Lab")

and could support States, subnational authorities

and others to build capacity and exchange good

practices to enhance long-termism, forward action

and adaptability.

present decisions on people in the future. Other

States could establish similar mechanisms,

building on these good practices. At the multilateral

level, a growing number of Member States and

advocates have proposed options to represent

succeeding generations in the United Nations

system, including through a Commissioner

or Ombudsperson for Future Generations, a

Commission of Global Guardians for the Future,

or a repurposed Trusteeship Council. To help

explore the viability of these and other options,

I propose the appointment of a

Special Envoy for

Future Generations,

building on a proposal by my

predecessor in 2013. The Special Envoy could be

tasked with representing the interests of those who

are expected to be born over the coming century.

The Special Envoy could also support the work

of the multilateral system on long-term thinking

and foresight, including through the Futures Lab

mentioned above. One of the first tasks of the

Special Envoy could be to explore, together with

Member States, the use of the Trusteeship Council

to give a voice to succeeding generations (chap. V).

59. Member States might also consider reflecting

duties to future generations in their Constitutions

and national legislative frameworks, a step already

taken by many countries. The interests of younger

and future generations are increasingly being

considered by national courts, particularly in the

context of climate change and the environment.

Internationally, these efforts could be consolidated

in a

Declaration on Future Generations.

This could

build on the above-mentioned UNESCO Declaration

to specify duties to succeeding generations and

develop a mechanism to share good practices and

monitor how governance systems address long-

term challenges.

Representing future generations

57. Future generations are, by definition,

unrepresented in today’s decision-making and

unable to articulate their needs. To translate the

principle of intergenerational equity into practice,

consideration could be given to forums to act on

their behalf, as their trustees, as well as instruments

to further protect their interests.

58. At the national level, some countries have

established

committees for the future or

future generations commissioners

who advise

governments and public bodies on the effects of

OUR COMMON AGENDA

– REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

Nations large and

small: a new

global deal to

deliver global

public goods and

address major

risks

UN Photo/Violaine Martin

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER IV

Nations large and small: a new global deal to deliver global public goods and address major risks

IV. Nations large and small: a new global deal

to deliver global public goods and address

major risks

60. A renewed social contract at the national

level and stronger intergenerational solidarity

must find expression in a new deal at the global

level. The COVID-19 pandemic reminded us that

we are more interconnected and interdependent

than ever before in human history. International

cooperation mitigated some of the harms caused

by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the response to

the pandemic also exposed serious gaps in the

effectiveness of multilateral action when it was

needed most. We cannot afford to ignore those gaps

if we are to be ready for the potentially more extreme,

or even existential, threats that may lie ahead of us.

To achieve the breakthrough scenario, a serious

renewal of the principles and practices of collective

action at the global level is needed, building on what

is working and what has been achieved.

traffic control or clean water. Certain

public goods

have long been acknowledged as being global

nature, in that they cannot be adequately provided

by any one State acting alone and they concern

the welfare of humanity as a whole. These have

traditionally ranged from global aspirations for

peace, to practicalities, such as international civil

aviation regulation. Ultimately, what distinguishes

these precious domains is that their protection

is an increasingly urgent task that we can only

undertake together. Despite this, the multilateral

system is not yet geared for the strategies,

investments or solidarity needed, leaving all of us

vulnerable to crises, such as in global public health,

demonstrated by COVID-19, in the global economy

and financial system, as in the 2008 financial crisis

and current COVID-19 shock, and in the health of

our planet, resulting in the triple planetary crisis

of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution

we now face.

62. One of the strongest calls emanating from the

consultations on the seventy-fifth anniversary

and Our Common Agenda was to strengthen the

governance of our global commons and global

public goods. This does not require new institutions.

Rather, we need new resolve and ways of working

together that are suited to the challenges we face

and the diverse landscape of actors (public, civic

and private) that have the capacity to contribute

to solutions. The balance between a global

breakthrough and a breakdown scenario hinges

on the choices we make now. These choices are

ultimately in the hands of Member States, with the

support of other relevant stakeholders.

63. Drawing on our extensive consultations and

the guidance of the seventy-fifth anniversary

declaration, I set out below some areas of

international concern that could be considered

A. Protecting the global commons

and delivering global public

goods

61. The twin concepts of the global commons and

global public goods are used in various contexts

and fields, including law and economics. While

they lack agreed definitions, for our purposes

they represent a useful starting point for a serious

review of where we stand. The

global commons

usually refer to natural or cultural resources that

are shared by and benefit us all. They include the

four conventionally understood commons that

are beyond national jurisdiction – the high seas,

the atmosphere, Antarctica and outer space –

all of which are now in crisis. Public goods are

understood as those goods and services provided

to and benefiting all of society, which at the national

level may include street lighting, fire departments,

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CHAPTER IV

PROJECTED DEGRADATION OF THE GLOBAL COMMONS

ATMOSPHERE

Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide

concentration over 800,000 years

Mean carbon dioxide concentrations globally

Projections for global GHG emissions

under different scenarios

Note: Projections do not take into account

commitments announced in early 2021.

2020

1910

GtCO2e

2010

2°C Range

1.8°C Range

1.5°C Range

2020

2030

2040

2050

2010 policies scenario

Current policy scenario

ppm

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

-600,000

-400,000

-200,000

Source:

United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2020.

Carbon dioxide concentrations are now

at the

highest level in at least 2 million

years,

148% above pre-industrial levels.

Source:

UNEP, 2020.

OUTER SPACE

As the density of objects in orbit increases,

so does the likelihood of collisions, where each

collision will create further debris in a chain

reaction

potentially rendering space unusable

for generations.

Outer space debris

1,200

Cumulative number of

catastrophic collisions

1,000

800

600

400

200

Extrapolation

No further launches

Source:

European Space Agency, 2021.

Lower orbit (2,000 km)

2025

2050

2075

2100

2125

2150

2175

2200

2225

ANTARCTICA

HIGH SEAS

Source:

Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change, 2019.

Antarctic ice

sheet mass loss

+1.5°C scenario

0.3

0.2

0.1

1950

Projected pollution of the sea

Source:

Lebreton and others, 2019.

as sea level equivalent, change relative to 1986–2005

+4.3°C scenario

Even with an extremely ambitious scenario (no further emissions in the ocean

by 2020),

the level of microplastics in the ocean could double by mid-century

as already accumulated plastic waste slowly degrades into smaller pieces.

4.0 Mt

3.5 Mt

3.0 Mt

2.5 Mt

2.0 Mt

1.5 Mt

1.0 Mt

0.5 Mt

0 Mt

1950

Buoyant

microplastics

Degraded

material

Emissions growth to 2050

Emissions level to 2050

Emissions stop to 2050

Emissions growth to 2050

Emissions level to 2050

Emissions stop to 2050

metres

2000

2050

2100

1970

1990

2010

2030

2050

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Nations large and small: a new global deal to deliver global public goods and address major risks

GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS AND THE GLOBAL COMMONS

DELIVER AND PROTECT

GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS AND THE GLOBAL COMMONS

DELIVER AND PROTECT

IDE

IFY

GLOBAL PUBLIC

GOODS

IFY

DIGITAL

GLOBAL INFORMATION GLOBAL

HEALTH

ECONOMY

HEALTHY

PLANET

SCIENCE

PEACE

AND MORE?

GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

GLOBAL

COMMONS

Protect

the global commons

Identify

and

deliver

global

public goods

HIGH SEAS

ATMOSPHERE

ANTARCTICA

OUTER SPACE

DELIVER

as global public goods where action is needed.

I also consider how these global concerns could be

better served or protected. In some areas, robust

agreements and momentum exist but they are

failing to keep pace with the gravity of the challenge

or are suffering from lack of implementation, while

in other areas agreements or road maps are dated,

fragmented or nascent.

a global public good effectively and proactively are

essential for the very sustainability and safety of

human life. To achieve many of the proposals set

out in this report, we must first work to end and

recover from the pandemic. We must also address

the gaps and inequities that made us so vulnerable

in the first place, building on what has worked and

drawing lessons from what has not.

65. Governance of global public health is

underfunded, siloed and distorted by a lack of

incentives for equity. Improvements in recent

decades in response to specific crises have not

always been sustained or implemented in full.

Global leadership has been impeded by limitations

in the mandate of the World Health Organization

Global public health

64. The costs of our failure to heed the warnings

of a possible pandemic and work together more

effectively once the virus took hold will reverberate

for generations to come. We must ensure this never

happens again. Mechanisms to manage health as

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(WHO) and its chronic underfunding, with 80 per

cent of its $2 billion annual budget dependent

on earmarked contributions, which undermines

its independence and capacity to deliver on its

mandate. However, even in the face of necessary

but hard questions, it is important not to lose

sight of what has gone right, thanks in part to

a robust ecosystem of partnerships, as well as

recent steps to strengthen WHO, the International

Health Regulations (2005) and regional capacities,

such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and

Prevention. Had the virus broken out a decade or

more earlier, the consequences would have been

more dire. Improved health surveillance, scientific

advances and public-private partnerships have

been vital to the unprecedented development of

effective COVID-19 rapid tests, treatments and

vaccines.

66. The recommendations of the

Independent Panel

for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

provide

an important starting point. I lend my support

to many of its findings and offer the following

additional proposals.

67. The greatest near-term test of multilateralism

is the effort to end the COVID-19 pandemic, notably

by winning the race between vaccines and variants.

As of mid-July 2021, over 3.4 billion vaccine doses

had been administered globally, but in an uneven

manner leaving us all vulnerable. We need over

11 billion doses for the global population to cross

the 70 per cent vaccination threshold that might end

the acute phase of this pandemic. This will involve

the largest public health effort in history. In short,

the world needs a

global vaccination plan

to: (a) at

least double the production of vaccines and ensure

equitable distribution, using the COVID-19 Vaccine

Global Access (COVAX) Facility as the platform;

(b) coordinate implementation and financing; and

roll out immunization programmes while tackling

the serious problem of vaccine hesitancy. To

realize this plan, I have called for an emergency

task force which brings together all the countries

with vaccine production capacities, WHO, the Gavi

Alliance and international financial institutions

able to deal with the relevant pharmaceutical

companies and manufacturers, as well as other

key stakeholders. Greater sharing of technology

and know-how will need to underpin such an

effort, including strengthening and building local

production capacities around the world. It is critical

that efforts are sustainable, so that we are better

prepared to respond to the next health emergency.

68. Longer-term governance of global health must

focus more on prevention, preparedness and equity.

There are several areas where collective action is

urgently needed. First,

the independence, authority

and financing of WHO

must be strengthened. This

includes greater financial stability and autonomy,

based on fully unearmarked resources, increased

funding and an organized replenishment process

for the remainder of the budget. As recommended

by the Independent Panel, it also requires

empowerment of WHO with respect to normative,

policy and technical guidance and evaluation, as

well as full access to information and information-

sharing. WHO needs to play a leading and

coordinating role in the emergency response to a

pandemic, and WHO country offices must have the

resources and be equipped to respond to technical

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Nations large and small: a new global deal to deliver global public goods and address major risks

THE CASE FOR COOPERATION: POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVE TRAJECTORIES

FOR COVID-19

COVID-19 IN 2000

COVID-19 IN 2020

COVID-19 IN THE FUTURE

Scenario: Less cooperation

•

Health emergencies not on

the political agenda

The reality

•

Lessons learned

from

•

Scenario: We can do better

•

International Health Regulations

•

Weak systems for outbreak

•

Non-pharmaceutical

detection

and reporting

cover only cholera, plague and

yellow fever

SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV

and Ebola virus epidemics

Strengthened international

health regulations

New platforms and

partnerships

(WHO Health

Emergencies Programme, Gavi

Alliance, CEPI, etc.)

New models

for designing,

testing and manufacturing

multiple vaccines

•

Faster detection and reporting

•

Faster ramp-up of non-

of a novel pathogen

pharmaceutical interventions

to slow or contain disease

transmission

and greater manufacturing

capacity

distribution

•

Faster vaccine development

•

More equitable vaccine

•

Data to inform vaccine

interventions could have been

slower

to ramp up, leading

to more intense disease

transmission

production could have been

slower to disseminate

•

Assuming

no vaccine could have

been available

in the first

12 MONTHS

Vaccine development

and approval

took about

10 MONTHS

Assuming

vaccine development

and approval

could have taken

7–9 MONTHS

MONTHS

Projections for the first year:

The

global loss in GDP

could have been

$6.6–7.9 TRILLION

In the first year of

the pandemic:

The

global loss in GDP

was around

$5 TRILLION

Projections for the first year:

The

global loss in GDP

could have been

$2.7–4.2 TRILLION

TRILLION

The

total death toll

could have been

10–19 MILLION

The estimated

total death toll

was around

5 MILLION

The

total death toll

could have been

1.0–2.6 MILLION

MILLION

Sources:

United Nations Foundation and Metabiota, 2021.

Note:

These estimates are based on simulations of the potential trajectory and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic under different levels of multilateral

cooperation. The simulations used contemporary demographic and population mobility data and ran from the start of the pandemic through

28 February 2021, covering approximately the first year of the crisis.

Abbreviations:

CEPI, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome; SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome.

a This is an estimate of total deaths; reported COVID-19 cases and deaths over the same time period are lower due to underreporting.

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requests from Governments to support pandemic

preparedness and response.

69. Secondly,

global health security and

preparedness

(particularly investment in pandemic

preparedness, but also for a broader set of potential

health challenges) need to be strengthened through

sustained political commitment and leadership at

the highest level. I encourage States to consider

the recommendations made by the Independent

Panel, including the updating of national

preparedness plans for future health crises and

a universal periodic peer review process to foster

accountability and learning between countries. The

international system for pandemic preparedness

and response, including systems to ensure early

detection, an independent verification capacity for

WHO and the containment of emerging pathogens,

must be adequately and predictably financed,

possibly through a facility that builds on existing

global health financing mechanisms to reduce

fragmentation. I encourage States collectively

to commit to increasing international financing

for pandemic prevention and preparedness, as

recommended by the

G20 High Level Independent

Panel on Financing the Global Commons for

Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

We also

need a more robust toolbox for compliance with

the International Health Regulations (2005). Efforts

by WHO member States to achieve a pandemic

preparedness and response instrument are

welcome in this regard. The platform for complex

emergencies, proposed below, would also be

available in the event of a future pandemic as a

complement to any measures taken by WHO to

strengthen its global surveillance system and

declare public health emergencies of international

concern.

70. Thirdly, building on the ACT-Accelerator

model,

product development and access to health

technologies

should be accelerated in low- and

middle-income countries, especially for neglected

or emerging infectious diseases, but also for a

wider range of health threats such as antimicrobial

resistance. This will require more resilient

manufacturing and supply chains, including at

the regional level, along with incentives that link

research and development investments with health

results rather than profits, such as reward systems

or health-impact funds to foster future innovations.

Further consideration could be given to technology

transfers and commitments to voluntary licensing

in agreements where public funding has been

invested in research and development.

71. Finally, COVID-19 has shown the deep social

impacts of global health crises. Some Governments

have taken steps to put in place universal health

coverage, including for mental health, and all

countries are urged to do so without delay.

Measures to address the social determinants of

health are also vital. This means recognizing the

interconnection between people, animals and plants

and their shared environment through concepts

such as One Health, reducing pollution, de-risking

our food systems, reducing poverty and gender

inequality, and promoting global biosecurity.

A global economy that works for all

72. The COVID-19 pandemic is only the latest

reminder of our vulnerability to economic shocks.

Rapid improvements were made to global systems

to avoid a worldwide recession in response to the

2008 crisis, but blind spots in national economic

policies continue to be mirrored at the global level,

including the tendency to judge success by narrow,

short-term measures of profit and growth and the

perverse incentives of business practices that put

shareholders’ interests above those of all other

stakeholders. The pandemic also exposed other

problems, not least the limits of GDP as a threshold

for determining international support despite other

risks and vulnerabilities, the lack of resilience in

international trade and supply chains and the short-

sightedness of a system that cannot agree to invest

adequately in a global vaccine drive that could

save

half a million lives in 2021 and add $9 trillion to

the global economy

through 2025, a return that far

exceeds the estimated costs of $50 billion.

73. A global economy that is sustainable and

equitable has characteristics of a global public

good, requiring robust international cooperation

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Nations large and small: a new global deal to deliver global public goods and address major risks

together with a rethinking of the interdependence

between the economy, people and the planet.

Economic governance is driven disproportionately

by a small number of States and financial actors,

and is siloed from other areas of international

agenda-setting and decision-making, despite

welcome efforts being made by the

International

Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank,

among others, to better account for sustainable

development, human rights and preparedness

and resilience. Building on the spirit of previous

proposals for an Economic Security Council, as well

as the collaboration observed during the pandemic,

I propose a

Biennial Summit at the level of heads of

State and Government between the members of the

G20 and the members of the Economic and Social

Council, the Secretary-General and the heads of the

international financial institutions

to work towards

a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient global

economy. This would allow us to combine more

systematically the respective strengths of relevant

bodies and to make fuller use of the follow-up to

the intergovernmental process on financing for

sustainable development. Immediate matters this

biennial gathering could promote include ultra-

long-term and innovative financing for sustainable

development and a Sustainable Development Goals

“investment boost” for a green and just transition

for all countries in need, more flexible research and

development incentives to foster innovation and a

process to resolve longstanding weaknesses in the

international debt architecture. Agreement could

also be pursued on a “last mile alliance” to catalyse

and elevate policy action to reach those furthest

behind as part of efforts to achieve the Goals.

74. A fairer and more resilient multilateral

trading

system

would be open, rules-based, transparent and

non-discriminatory. The World Trade Organization

(WTO) is being reinvigorated and updated to take

account of twenty-first century realities, such as

electronic commerce and the digital economy,

which offer opportunities for the inclusion of

micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises and

women in international trade. Efforts are also

needed, however, to align international trade

with the green and circular economies, including

by broadening negotiations on environmental

goods and services. We must move away from

protectionist approaches, maximizing trade at all

costs, with massive spillover effects, towards a

system that incentivizes the adoption of welfare-

improving practices and effective multilateral

trade agreements. This also means promoting

and valuing technological capacity, innovation

and resilience in developing countries, including

through more flexibility in intellectual property

rights, technology transfer, trade facilitation

support and limits on the use of trade restrictions,

especially in a global pandemic. Reinstating an

effective dispute settlement mechanism to be able

to address trade tensions is key.

75. A resilient global economy would also see more

countries able to support their own inhabitants,

through financing for sustainable development

linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

This, in turn, requires adequately resourced

public sectors and private actors who understand

themselves to be contributing to and benefiting

from the delivery of global public goods. Stronger

global cooperation to promote financial integrity by

addressing endemic

tax evasion and aggressive tax

avoidance,

as well as illicit financial flows, is long

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overdue (as discussed in chap. II above). Measures

to increase fairness, such as a minimum global

corporate tax and solidarity taxes, would be clear

signals that private enterprises and the very wealthy

who benefit most from current economic models

must contribute to the national and global public

good. Efforts to find consensus on complementary

measures to GDP could be reinforced by a global

shift away from relying on GDP to determine

access to concessional finance and support, led

by international financial institutions along with

the United Nations. Indices of vulnerability to

external shocks and systemic risk criteria could

be given greater weight. Multilateral development

banks could also revise their operations and asset

management rules to increase their capacity to

support investment in developing countries.

76. Achieving this new dynamic for the global

economy means changing

business models

better connect businesses, markets and society.

Strong and sustainable businesses are built

on global values, including human and labour

rights, environmental sustainability and fighting

corruption, all of which are embodied in the

United Nations Global Compact.

Coordinated

action by the business community to align their

business practices with global goals, including the

Sustainable Development Goals, is crucial.

77. Finally, we still lack pre-negotiated ways to

convene relevant actors in the event of a global

economic crisis. As with future pandemics, the

proposed emergency crisis response platform (see

chap. IV.B below) could be available in the event

of future economic crises and shocks of sufficient

scale and magnitude. In addition to being prepared

for a crisis, we should be doing everything we can to

invest in resilience and prevention; thus economic

models and policies to secure sustainability, well-

being and the future, as recommended throughout

this report, are the most vital steps of all.

TRANSITION TO A GREEN ECONOMY

Air pollution caused by the burning

fossil

fuels, chemicals and other

pollutants is responsible for the death

of 7 million people

every year, costing

around $5 trillion annually.

Shifting to a green economy could yield

a direct

economic gain of $26 trillion

through 2030

compared with business-

as-usual and create over 65 million new

low-carbon jobs.

or even millenniums to reverse. Our climate,

our environment and our planet are critical

global commons that must be protected for all

people, now and in the future. We are already at

1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

and rising rapidly. The Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change warned us in August 2021 that

we are at imminent risk of hitting the dangerous

threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the near term.

Every fraction of a degree represents lost lives,

livelihoods, assets, species and ecosystems. We

should be dramatically reducing emissions each

year, towards a 45 per cent reduction by 2030 and

net zero emissions by 2050,

as made clear by the

Panel, yet temperatures continue to rise. We should

be shoring up our populations, infrastructure,

economies and societies to be resilient to climate

change, yet adaptation and resilience continue to

be seriously underfunded.

79. We largely agree on what needs to be done.

The Paris Agreement is a singular achievement,

bringing all nations into common cause to combat

climate change and adapt to its effects. To meet

the demands of science and the goals of the Paris

Agreement, we need the parties and all stakeholders

to present more ambitious 2030 national climate

plans and deliver on concrete policies and actions

aligned with a net zero future, including no new

coal after 2021, shifting fossil fuel subsidies to

renewable energy and setting a carbon price. We

A healthy planet for its people

78. We are waging a suicidal war against nature.

We risk crossing irreversible thresholds and

accelerating crises that could take centuries

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Nations large and small: a new global deal to deliver global public goods and address major risks

CLIMATE BREAKDOWN OR BREAKTHROUGH

+4.4°C

by 2100

+2.7°C

by 2100

+1.5°C

Breakdown

A scenario

without climate

action and no effective

multilateralism

to tackle

climate change

Sea level rises

by up to

by 2100

Our current trajectory

The trajectory with the

latest

commitments

to reduce

emissions

Breakthrough

A scenario where the

world

acts immediately

to deliver a

45% reduction in emissions

between 2010 and 2030

Sea level rises

by up to

Sea level rises

by up to

1.01 METRES

relative to 1995–2014

The world faces a

reduction of more than

0.76 METRES

relative to 1995–2014

The world faces a

reduction of

0.55 METRES

relative to 1995–2014

The world faces a

reduction of

30%

in global GDP

per capita

15%–25%

in global GDP

per capita

in global GDP

per capita

Loss of 49%-89% of

permafrost

globally

Much higher risk of

extreme sea levels, e.g.

New York City

(United

States of America) is

predicted to experience

sea levels of around

2.75 m above normal once

a decade versus once

a century in the +1.5°C

scenario. For a

Pacific

island

like Tahiti, extreme

sea levels of 1 m above

normal would happen

multiple times each year

versus between 1 in 50 and

1 in 100 years in the +1.5°C

scenario

Up to

1.26 billion

person-days per year of

exposure to

deadly extreme

heat across Bangladesh,

India and Pakistan

The

Arctic

is “very likely” to

ice free

in summer

Loss of most coral reefs

is “very likely”

High confidence of a

“drastic reduction” in

global and African maize

crops,

with the possibility

of tipping points that lead

to the collapse of crops in

some regions

Arctic summer sea ice is

“likely” to be maintained

under 1.5°C

Loss of 17%–44% of

permafrost

compared with

49%–89% in the +4.3°C

scenario

Limiting warming to 1.5°C

rather than 2°C could

reduce by 62–457 million

the number of people

exposed to climate risks

and vulnerable to poverty

Sources:

United Nations Foundation, Climate Analytics and E3G, 2021.

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that thriving and prosperous communities emerge

from this transition to a net zero future.

81. There are some signs that the world is waking

up to the danger we face. A growing global

coalition

of Member States, including all Group of Seven

nations, cities and businesses, has committed to

reaching

net zero emissions by 2050

and is setting

the tough and credible interim targets needed to

get there. The social movement to halt climate

change and accelerate international cooperation,

led by young people, has spread to every continent

and every country. The price of renewable energy

is falling rapidly, the end of coal is in sight and

technologies are being deployed at a scale to

achieve rapid reductions in emissions over the

course of this decade. We can still limit warming

to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,

increase investments to promote resilience to

impacts and combat ecosystem and biodiversity

loss. To do so, however, we need faster, nimbler

and more effective climate and environmental

governance to enable socially just transitions.

82. At the twenty-sixth session of the Conference

of the Parties to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change, in 2021,

all countries

should commit to the goal of limiting warming

to 1.5 degrees Celsius

as the global benchmark

for mitigation ambition. I would also urge the

Conference, in line with my call for all States to

declare a

climate emergency,

to accelerate action

on an emergency footing, including by addressing

new issues quickly and evolving with the science.

In the Paris Agreement, Member States committed

to regularly present updated and more ambitious

nationally determined contributions. They also

agreed to assess collective progress towards the

Agreement’s long-term goals every five years

at a global stocktaking of the Paris Agreement.

I intend to convene leaders ahead of the first

global stocktaking in 2023

to reach a political

understanding on the urgent steps needed to limit

global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, protect

people and communities from climate impacts

and align public and private finance with the goals

of the Paris Agreement.

need a

credible solidarity package of support to

developing countries,

one that includes meeting the

goal of providing $100 billion every year, allocating

50 per cent of climate finance for adaptation and

resilience, as well as the provision of technological

support and capacity-building, which will all

increase as needs expand. We need multilateral

development banks and other financial institutions

to align their portfolios to the Paris Agreement.

The process to negotiate a new post-2025 climate

finance goal that will begin in 2021 must also be

based on, and respond to, the needs of developing

countries.

80. It is equally important to jump-start a global

effort to organize a just transition to create

decent work and quality jobs as a key enabler

for climate action and ambition. ILO and many

other studies estimate that the transition from the

grey to the green economy will result in the net

creation of millions of jobs by 2030. I call on all

countries to embrace the ILO Guidelines for a Just

Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable

Economies and Societies for All and adopt them

as the minimum standard to ensure progress on

decent work for all. The United Nations will fully

support this just transition and efforts to ensure

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83. The Conference of the Parties has the potential

to act as a platform that captures the growing

insistence of people all over the world on climate

action, magnifying the voices of those most

affected and who will hold us all to account.

Fulfilling the objectives of the Paris Agreement is a

responsibility of all stakeholders. Some companies

have larger emissions profiles than entire countries

and cities are responsible for over 70 per cent of

emissions worldwide. I urge Governments formally

to recognize the engagement and contributions

all stakeholders

who significantly contribute

to the delivery of countries’ commitments at the

Conference. I also intend to invite leaders from

civil society, the private sector and young people

to the leaders meeting ahead of the first global

stocktaking in 2023 and to ensure that they can

meaningfully participate in that process.

84.

Addressing risks to our planet needs to be part

of every decision, every policy, every investment and

every budget.

The countries that are members of

the G20 provided over $3.3 trillion in direct support

for coal, oil, gas and fossil fuel power between

2015 and 2019. In 2019, 60 per cent of fossil-fuel

subsidies went to producers and utilities despite

Governments’ climate commitments. Fossil-

fuel subsidies distort prices and risk increasing

investment in emission-intensive assets that place

the goals of the Paris Agreement out of reach. With

too much of the international financial architecture

still incentivizing economic growth with little or no

consideration for sustainability and climate impacts,

I urge States, international financial institutions and

multilateral and national development banks to

work with us to find complementary measures to

GDP that account for the environment and to use

this new measure to change fundamentally their

mandates and investments.

85. More broadly,

all finance flows

must be

consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse

gas emissions and climate resilient development.

Public finance is critical, particularly for those

investments that yield no financial returns, such as

some adaptation action. We also need

large-scale

private finance

to support countries in shifting from

economies that are dependent on fossil fuels to

ones that are low emission and climate resilient.

I urge all countries to implement

carbon pricing

mechanisms

and ultimately to set a carbon price,

and I encourage Group of 20 nations to consider the

proposal from IMF to create an international carbon

price floor. Financial actors within the G20 are taking

decisive steps by pledging net zero commitments,

but now comes the credibility test: all financial

actors must set verifiable targets that cover their

entire portfolios to shift them away from high-

emission sectors to the climate resilient and net

zero economy, along with timelines to implement

their pledges. The United Nations-convened Net-

Zero Asset Owner Alliance provides an important

model with transparent and accountable targets. As

initiatives around carbon markets multiply, the use

of offsets must be the last resort. I urge all private

actors to prioritize reducing absolute emissions and

negative biodiversity impacts across their entire

value chain and to hold to the highest standards

of environmental integrity.

86. Even as we work tirelessly to prevent climate

change, we need to be prepared for a drastically

different climate and environment in the future.

Most countries need to adapt

their economies, their

infrastructure and their services to account for the

impact of climate change, with increased adaptation

support for developing countries as stated above.

Only one in three people globally are covered by

early warning systems and it is essential to fully

capitalize the World Meteorological Organization

Systematic Observations Financing Facility to

ensure that every person is covered. As the impacts

of climate change worsen and displacement grows,

the General Assembly could consider measures

to address territorial threats of climate change,

especially for small-island developing States and

other States facing a severe risk. Building on the

work of the Platform on Disaster Displacement,

along with the Global Compact on Refugees, the

Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular

Migration and the Task Force on Displacement of

the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and

Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts,

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further consideration could be given to finding

ways to

prevent, protect and resolve situations of

environmental displacement.

TRANSFORMING FOOD SYSTEMS

Sustainable food systems and strong forest

protection could

generate over $2 trillion

per year of economic benefits,

create

millions of jobs and improve food security,

while supporting solutions to climate

change.

a healthy planet for the prosperity of all. I would urge

recognition of the

right to a healthy environment.

A new agenda for peace

88. Peace is the central promise of the Charter of

the United Nations and one of the principal global

public goods the United Nations was established

to deliver. In crucial respects, our multilateral

architecture has succeeded: there have been no

world wars and nuclear weapons have not been

used in war for the past 75 years, while some of the

greatest risks of escalation have been prevented.

Nevertheless, our collective peace and security is

increasingly under threat as a result of emerging

risks and dangerous trends for which traditional

forms of prevention, management and resolution

are ill suited. This includes protracted conflicts

involving transnational networks and new actors,

frequently associated with terrorism, rapidly

evolving weapons technologies and a growing

willingness of regional actors to participate directly

in wars. Climate change is contributing to instability

and is affecting livelihoods, access to resources and

human mobility trends. With

significant numbers

of people displaced

and overall levels of violence

outside armed conflict reaching new highs, it

would be hard to argue that we are delivering on

the promise of the Charter. Risks to peace and

security are growing: new technologies are placing

the capacity to disrupt global stability in the hands

of far more actors; longstanding agreements on

nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass

destruction are increasingly fragile as trust among

major powers continues to erode; and emerging

domains of potential conflict or lawlessness,

such as cyberspace, have highlighted gaps in our

governance architecture. The world is moving

closer to the brink of instability, where the risks

we face are no longer managed effectively through

the systems we have.

89. To protect and manage the global public good

of peace, we need a peace continuum based on a

better understanding of the underlying drivers and

systems of influence that are sustaining conflict, a

renewed effort to agree on more effective collective

87. Climate action is a central part of a fundamental

reset in our relationship with nature. More broadly,

strong post-2020 biodiversity framework

needed to provide sufficient financing to reverse

the catastrophic biodiversity loss the planet is

currently experiencing.

Food systems

must also

be transformed, aligning with health, climate, equity

and the Sustainable Development Goals. Building

on the outcomes of the

Food Systems Summit,

which will be held in New York in September 2021,

we must anticipate and respond to risks of large-

scale food insecurity and famine driven by our

changing environment. Revisiting our patterns

of unsustainable consumption and production

should enable more efficient and greater equity

in resource use, less food loss and waste, and

sound management of chemicals and waste to

minimize adverse impacts on human health and the

environment. Food systems need to ensure that all

people have access to healthy diets that contribute

to the restoration of nature, address climate

change and are adapted to local circumstances.

This transition can help to deliver across all the

Goals and is best supported through inclusive

participation of various stakeholders, in particular

producers, women, indigenous people and youth.

The international meeting “Stockholm+50: a healthy

planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility,

our opportunity” offers an opportunity to redefine

humankind’s relationship with nature and to achieve

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security responses and a meaningful set of steps

to manage emerging risks. To achieve this, we need

new agenda for peace,

potentially focusing on

six core areas:

Reducing strategic risks.

I have already

proposed to work with Member States to

update our vision for disarmament so as to

guarantee human, national and collective

security, including through broader support

for non-proliferation, a world free of nuclear

weapons and other weapons of mass

destruction, effective control of conventional

weapons and regulation of new weapons of

technology. The new agenda for peace could be

an opportunity to take this forward, in particular

through establishing stronger commitments

for the non-use of nuclear weapons and a time

frame for their elimination, ensuring continued

cooperation to prevent and counter-terrorism,

strengthening digital transformation and

promoting innovation by United Nations peace

and security entities, banning cyberattacks

on civilian infrastructure, putting in place

measures to de-escalate cyber-related risks

and tensions, and establishing internationally

agreed limits on lethal autonomous weapons

systems. The entry into force of the Treaty on

the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in January

2021 was an extraordinary achievement and

a step towards the eventual elimination of

nuclear weapons;

Strengthening international foresight and

capacities to identify and adapt to new peace

and security risks.

The proposals laid out

in chapter III above to ensure the future of

succeeding generations and chapter IV.B below

on addressing major risks could allow us to

identify and adapt to new risks to peace and

security;

Reshaping our responses to all forms of

violence.

Large-scale conflict kills fewer people

than other forms of violence, including violence

from criminal groups and interpersonal violence

in the home. At the same time, increases in

some forms of violence, particularly against

women,

tend to be

an early warning sign of

diminishing law and order and rising insecurity

that may catalyse into broader conflict.

The new agenda for peace could consider

how to more effectively address violence

holistically. For instance, this could be through

a multi-stakeholder effort to reduce violence

significantly worldwide and in all its forms,

including against women and girls, in line with

target 16.1 of the Sustainable Development

Goals, and building on the movement to halve

global violence by 2030;

Investing in prevention and peacebuilding.

Investments in prevention and preparedness

pay for themselves many times over in the

human and financial costs that are spared,

yet we continue to make the case in vain. The

new agenda for peace could involve a set

of commitments to provide the necessary

resources for prevention, including at the

national level; reduce excessive military budgets

and ensure adequate social spending; tailor

development assistance to address root causes

of conflict and uphold human rights; and link

disarmament to development opportunities.

There has also been too little progress on

adequate, predictable and sustained financing

for peacebuilding, with demand for support

from the Peacebuilding Fund significantly

outpacing available resources. The new agenda

for peace could renew calls for Member States

urgently to consider allocating a dedicated

amount to the Peacebuilding Fund from

assessed contributions, initially through

the peacekeeping budget and later through

the regular budget, as a complementary

investment that would increase the

sustainability of peacekeeping outcomes and

support the development agenda. Relatedly,

the Peacebuilding Commission has reshaped

the responses by the United Nations to

multidimensional threats to development,

peace and security through an inclusive

approach. Member States are called on to

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security. My previous proposals for regional

coordination platforms could provide a useful

framework on which to build;

Putting women and girls at the centre of

security policy.

Building on the existing

women and peace and security agenda and

its principles of prevention, demilitarization

and equality, the new agenda for peace would

place women and gender equality at the heart

of peace and security. Not least, the linkages

between interpersonal violence and insecurity

and between women’s equal participation in

peacemaking and its effectiveness call for

women’s equal participation in all peace and

security decision-making and a reassessment

of core assumptions, including how peace and

security are defined, negotiated and sustained.

dedicate more resources to the Peacebuilding

Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund, with

commensurate support from the United Nations

system, to enable these important instruments

to meet the increasing demand. Consideration

could also be given to expanding the role of

the Commission to more geographical and

substantive settings, as well as to addressing

the cross-cutting issues of security, climate

change, health, gender equality, development

and human rights from a prevention perspective;

Supporting regional prevention.

Regional

actors are central to sustaining peace and

preventing and responding to insecurity, but

these critical frontline responses require

further consolidation. It is becoming urgent to

secure predictable financing for peace support

operations delivered under Chapter VIII of the

Charter covering regional arrangements: these

operations fill a critical gap in our global peace

and security architecture and should not rely

on ad hoc arrangements. More broadly, the

new agenda for peace could consider how to

deepen United Nations support for regional

capacities, including with regard to security

arrangements, military cooperation and joint

peacebuilding work, cooperation to address

complex transnational peace and security

challenges, and by expanding into new areas

such as the effects of climate change on

Peaceful, secure and sustainable use of

outer space

90. Outer space has traditionally been

acknowledged as a global common, beyond the

jurisdiction of any one State. The potential for its

peaceful, secure and sustainable use would benefit

all humanity today and into the future. Governance

arrangements for outer space, including the

Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,

were established in an era of exclusively State-

based activity and provide only general guidance

on managing traffic in outer space, the permanent

settlement of celestial bodies and responsibilities

for resource management. We are in an era of

renewed exploration and use of outer space, with

active programmes to return humans to the Moon

and beyond and the planned launch of mega-

constellations of thousands of new satellites. Space

assets have transformed the way we live and outer

space systems are vital for understanding and

solving global problems, such as implementation

of the Sustainable Development Goals and climate

action. Many of these developments are driven

by actors in the private sector. They also pose

new risks to security, safety and sustainability.

Increasing congestion and competition in outer

space could imperil access and use by succeeding

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generations. Our governance and regulatory

regimes require updating in line with this new era

to preserve outer space as a global common.

91. Recently agreed Guidelines for the Long-term

Sustainability of Outer Space Activities have

shown that progress in governance is possible,

but many gaps remain. A combination of binding

and non-binding norms is needed, building

on existing frameworks and drawing in the full

range of actors now involved in space exploration

and use. Immediate actions could include the

development of a global regime to coordinate space

traffic and the elaboration of new instruments to

prevent weaponization of outer space. To that end,

consideration could be given to

a multi-stakeholder

dialogue on outer space

as part of a Summit of

the Future (see para. 103 below) bringing together

Governments and other leading space actors. The

dialogue could seek high-level political agreement

on the peaceful, secure and sustainable use of outer

space, move towards a global regime to coordinate

space traffic and agree on principles for the future

governance of outer space activities.

Reclaiming the digital commons

92. The fourth industrial revolution has changed

the world. The Internet has provided access

to information for billions, thereby fostering

collaboration, connection and sustainable

development. It is a global public good that

should benefit everyone, everywhere. But currently

the potential harms of the digital domain risk

overshadowing its benefits. Governance at the

national and global levels has not kept pace with

the inherently informal and decentralized nature

of the Internet, which is dominated by commercial

interests. Serious and urgent ethical, social and

regulatory questions confront us, including with

respect to the lack of accountability in cyberspace;

the emergence of large technology companies

as geopolitical actors and arbiters of difficult

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social questions without the responsibilities

commensurate with their outsized profits;

exacerbation of gender bias and male default

thinking when women do not have an equal role

in designing digital technologies, as well as digital

harassment that has particularly targeted women

and girls and pushed many women out of the public

conversation; and the use of digital surveillance and

manipulation to influence behaviour and control

populations.

International cooperation guided by

international law

94. As underlined in the seventy-fifth anniversary

declaration, the purposes and principles of the

Charter of the United Nations and international law

remain timeless, universal and an indispensable

foundation for a more peaceful, prosperous and

just world. International legal regimes underpin

and are essential to the protection of the global

commons and the delivery of many of the global

public goods identified above, and more broadly

to an international order based on respect for

human rights and the rule of law. The fact that

international law, in particular international human

rights law,

underpins approximately 90 per cent

of the Sustainable Development Goals

is a strong

example of this.

95. States play the primary role in the development

of international law, whether within the framework

of international organizations such as the United

Nations or outside it. The United Nations has also

played and continues to play a unique role in the

identification and development of customary

international law. The ongoing discussions within

the United Nations on the development of norms

and standards for a number of matters of global

concern, such as

information and communications

technology

(see A/75/816) and the conservation

and sustainable use of

marine biological diversity

of areas beyond national jurisdiction,

underscore

the importance of the United Nations as a vital

forum for the development of international law.

For those many instruments already in place, I

urge States to implement their obligations and

stand ready to provide support through the various

United Nations activities for capacity-building and

technical assistance.

96. In the seventy-fifth anniversary declaration,

States agreed to abide by the international

agreements they have entered into and the

commitments they have made, to promote

respect for democracy and human rights, and to

enhance democratic governance and the rule of

law by strengthening transparent and accountable

COVID-19 IMPACT ON THE INTERNET

Total

global Internet usage rose 40 per cent

during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

93. It is time to

protect the online space and

strengthen its governance.

I would urge the

Internet Governance Forum to adapt, innovate

and reform to support effective governance of the

digital commons and keep pace with rapid, real-

world developments. Furthermore, building on

the recommendations of the

road map for digital

cooperation (see A/74/821),

the United Nations,

Governments, the private sector and civil society

could come together as

a multi-stakeholder

digital technology track

in preparation for a

Summit of the Future to agree on a

Global Digital

Compact.

This would outline shared principles

for an open, free and secure digital future for all.

Complex digital issues that could be addressed

may include: reaffirming the fundamental

commitment to connecting the unconnected;

avoiding fragmentation of the Internet; providing

people with options as to how their data is used;

application of human rights online; and promoting

a trustworthy Internet by introducing accountability

criteria for discrimination and misleading content.

More broadly, the Compact could also promote

regulation of artificial intelligence to ensure that

this is aligned with shared global values.

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B. Addressing major risks

97. A central question remains prevention in all its

aspects. Our success in finding solutions to the

interlinked problems we face hinges on our ability

to anticipate, prevent and prepare for major risks

to come. This puts a revitalized, comprehensive

and overarching prevention agenda front and

centre in all that we do. We need more innovation,

more inclusion and more foresight, investing in

the global public goods that sustain us all. Where

global public goods are not provided, we have

their opposite: global public “bads” in the form of

serious risks and threats to human welfare. These

risks are now increasingly global and have greater

potential impact. Some are even existential: with

the dawn of the nuclear age, humanity acquired the

power to bring about its own extinction. Continued

technological advances, accelerating climate

change and the rise in zoonotic diseases mean the

likelihood of extreme, global catastrophic or even

existential risks is present on multiple, interrelated

fronts. Being prepared to prevent and respond to

these risks is an essential counterpoint to better

managing the global commons and global public

goods.

98. An effort is warranted to better define and

identify the extreme, catastrophic and existential

risks that we face. We cannot, however, wait for an

agreement on definitions before we act. Indeed,

there is an ethical imperative to act in a manner

compatible with the dignity of human life, which

our global governance systems must follow,

echoing the precautionary principle in international

environmental law and other areas. The cost of

being prepared for serious risks pales in comparison

with the human and financial costs if we fail.

99. Learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic,

we can seize this opportunity to better anticipate

and prepare to respond to large-scale global

crises. This requires stronger legal frameworks,

better tools for managing risks, better data, the

identification and anticipation of future risks, and

proper financing of prevention and preparedness.

governance and independent judicial institutions.

Building on these commitments, consideration could

be given to

a global road map for the development

and effective implementation of international

law.

This could encourage more States to ratify

or accede to treaties of universal interest, such as

on disarmament, human rights, the environment

and penal matters, including those for which I am

the depositary (of which there are over 600). It

could also urge States to accept the compulsory

jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice

and to withdraw reservations to treaty clauses

relating to the exercise of its jurisdiction. Assisting

States in identifying and addressing pressing

normative gaps could be another component, as

well as, drawing on my role related to compliance

mechanisms, understanding reasons for non-

compliance. As a further part of this road map,

States could consider holding regular inclusive

dialogues on legal matters of global concern at

the General Assembly. I continue to welcome the

role of the International Law Commission,

which,

pursuant to article 1 (1) of its statute, is entrusted

with making recommendations for the purpose

of promoting the progressive development of

international law and its codification.

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Many of these elements are set out in other parts

of this report. Importantly, however, any new

preparedness and response measures should be

agnostic as to the type of crisis for which they may

be needed. We do not know which extreme risk

event will come next; it might be another pandemic,

a new war, a high-consequence biological attack,

a cyberattack on critical infrastructure, a nuclear

event, a rapidly moving environmental disaster,

or something completely different such as

technological or scientific developments gone

awry and unconstrained by effective ethical and

regulatory frameworks.

100. First, to enable us to better anticipate and

respond to such risks, it will be important for the

United Nations to draw on a network of the best

thinkers and data, externally and within the United

Nations system, to present a

Strategic Foresight

and Global Risk Report

to Member States every

five years. This will be supported by the planned

Futures Lab, as well as by existing mechanisms

across the United Nations system and beyond,

such as the

annual IMF early warning exercise,

collect and analyse data and make sense of risk

across the short-, medium- and long-term. This

would also be linked to corresponding governance

arrangements for such risks, as appropriate, as well

as the action needed to address them.

101. Secondly, I propose to work with Member States

to establish an

Emergency Platform to respond to

complex global crises.

The platform would not be

a new permanent or standing body or institution.

It would be triggered automatically in crises of

sufficient scale and magnitude, regardless of the

type or nature of the crisis involved. Once activated,

it would bring together leaders from Member

States, the United Nations system, key country

groupings, international financial institutions,

regional bodies, civil society, the private sector,

subject-specific industries or research bodies and

other experts. The terms of reference would set out

the modalities and criteria for the activation of the

platform, including the scale and scope of the crisis;

funding and financing; the identification of relevant

actors who would form part of it; the support that it

would be expected to provide; and the criteria for its

deactivation. Other key components could include

mechanisms for surge capacity; focal points and

protocols to promote interoperability with existing

crisis-specific response arrangements; regular

exercises to test efficacy and identify and fill gaps;

and the identification of a set of tools to make the

international system crisis-ready. The platform

would allow the convening role of the Secretary-

General to be maximized in the face of crises with

global reach.

C. Next steps

102. It is ultimately for Member States, in close

consultation with other relevant stakeholders,

to identify and agree on those global commons

or public goods that may require renewed

commitments or governance improvements. To

support their deliberations, I will ask a

High-level

Advisory Board

led by former Heads of State and/

or Government to build on the ideas I have shared

here. Notably, I will ask the Advisory Board to

identify global public goods and potentially other

areas of common interest where governance

improvements are most needed and propose

options for how this could be achieved. This would

need to take into account existing institutional

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and legal arrangements, gaps and emerging

priorities or levels of urgency, and the need for

equity and fairness in global decision-making. The

Advisory Board could also take into account the

proposals made throughout this report, including

the repurposing of the Trusteeship Council and the

creation of an Emergency Platform.

103. Once the Advisory Board has reported

its findings, it will be important to hold a high-

level, multi-stakeholder “Summit

of the Future”

to advance ideas for governance arrangements

in the areas of international concern mentioned

in this report, and potentially others, where

governance arrangements are nascent or require

updating. It would be preceded by preparatory

events and consultations. The Summit would most

appropriately be held in conjunction with the high-

level week of the seventy-eighth session of the

General Assembly and could include high-level

tracks on:

Advancing governance for global public goods

and other areas, as appropriate, in the light of

the findings of the Advisory Board;

Anticipating sustainable development and

climate action beyond 2030;

Peace and security, for the new agenda for

peace;

Digital technology, for the Global Digital

Compact;

Outer space, to seek agreement on the

sustainable and peaceful use of outer space,

move towards a global regime to coordinate

space traffic and agree on principles for the

future governance of outer space activities;

Major risks and agreement on an Emergency

Platform;

past 75 years. When the Charter of the United

Nations was developed, multilateralism meant

cooperation among a small number of States.

Today, a broader range of State and non-State

actors are participating in global affairs as part of

open, participatory, peer-driven and transparent

systems, geared at solving problems by drawing on

the capacities and hearing the voices of all relevant

actors rather than being driven by mandates or

institutions alone.

This is a form of multilateralism

that is more networked, more inclusive and more

effective

in addressing twenty-first century

challenges. Any effort to improve our governance

of the global commons and public goods and to

manage risks must navigate this complexity and

seek explicitly to incorporate these new approaches

where they are likely to deliver better outcomes.

105. Multilateralism that is more

networked

draws together existing institutional capacities,

overcoming fragmentation to ensure all are working

together towards a common goal. It goes beyond

traditional silos, such as peace and security,

development, human rights and humanitarian action,

and enhances coordination between regional and

global actors and action. Networks can be flexible,

allowing for variable participation by a wide range

of actors and the possibility for open coalitions or

small “mini-lateral” or even “micro-lateral” groups,

growing over time to include more actors. To keep a

diverse set of actors aligned, the most successful

networks involve clear goals, such as the climate

target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Expert bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change can ensure networks are evidence

driven. Networks do not, however, replace our core

international institutions, which have a unique role

in galvanizing diverse actors and making space

for marginalized voices. With clear goals and

targets, and international organizations to provide

legitimacy, we can make better use of the power of

networks to deliver global public goods. For my part,

I will seek to enhance cooperation with regional

organizations, development actors, international

financial institutions and other relevant multilateral

institutions (see chap. V).

Succeeding generations, for possible agreement

on a Declaration on Future Generations.

104. As we work to update our systems of

governance for the future, I offer the following

overall

observations and parameters.

The

context for collective action has evolved over the

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PARAMETERS

INCLUSIVE – EFFECTIVE MULTILATERALISM

NETWORKED –

FOR NETWORKED – INCLUSIVE – EFFECTIVE MULTILATERALISM

NETWORKED

MULTILATERALISM

EFFECTIVE

MULTILATERALISM

Draws on

existing institutional

capacities

Cross-pillar, avoids

fragmentation

Coordination

between regional

and global levels

INCLUSIVE

MULTILATERALISM

Delivers

results

Space for

all voices

Prepared and

ready to act

Diverse set

of States

Resource

priorities

Flexible

Parliaments

Accountability for

commitments

Variable

Clear goals

International

institutions,

including

international

ﬁnancial

institutions

Civil society

Evidence driven

Cities

Private

sector

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106. More

inclusive multilateralism

is marked by a

genuine possibility for States from all regions and

of all sizes to engage in collective action, notably

including a stronger voice for developing countries

in global decision-making. It also means inclusion

of a diverse range of voices beyond States. In

addition to intergovernmental organizations, this

can include parliaments, subnational authorities

(cities and local and regional governments), civil

society, faith-based organizations, universities,

researchers and experts, trade unions, the private

sector and industry, and local and grass roots

movements, including those led by women and

young people. This vision recognizes that States

remain central to our collective ability to meet

global challenges and have unique responsibilities

in the multilateral system, while also acknowledging

that solutions increasingly depend on the private

sector and non-State actors, who should therefore

be part of the deliberations and accountable for

their commitments. The role of

parliaments, cities

and other subnational authorities

is particularly

being recognized in inclusive approaches, with,

for example, voluntary local reviews of Sustainable

Development Goal implementation providing a

model on which to build. Civil society needs to

remain part and parcel of our work across sectors

and in multilateral forums. In the light of its power

to shift the needle significantly on many of our most

critical challenges, inclusion and accountability

the private sector

are essential. Arrangements

where the private sector commits to responsible

innovation and to harnessing technology fairly

provide a good basis on which to build, as do

business models that support inclusion, human

rights and sustainable development, such

as investment funds that take into account

environmental, social and governance factors.

107. Ultimately what matters is results. We need

multilateralism that is more

effective

in delivering

on its promises and consequently is more trusted.

This means the multilateral system is prepared

and ready to act or adapt in the face of present

and new risks; prioritizes and resources the

tasks that matter; delivers results; and can hold

all actors, State and non-State, accountable for

commitments made. Any conversation about

improving governance of the global commons and

global public goods should assess how well our

current arrangements meet these criteria. Where

they do not, options for better preparedness,

prioritization, decision-making arrangements,

resourcing, accountability and compliance would

need to be considered. In particular, a balance is

needed between voluntary and binding actions

that is commensurate with the challenges we face.

While international law is essential in delivering

global public goods and I have called for a renewed

commitment to its development, we also have ways

to encourage mutual accountability through other

frameworks, including peer-review models (such

as the

universal periodic review)

and mechanisms

for sharing good practices and transparent data

gathering. Finally, key to ensuring effectiveness

is that funding and financing are brought to bear

in support of our collective commitments. The

Economic and Social Council forum on

financing for

development

follow-up, which seeks to review the

means to implement the Sustainable Development

Goals, provides a promising example.

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Purposes and

principles:

adapting the

United Nations to

a new era

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Purposes and principles: adapting the United Nations to a new era

V. Purposes and principles: adapting the

United Nations to a new era

108. In this report, I have outlined a vision for Our

Common Agenda. To support this vision, the United

Nations also needs to adapt. The Organization has

evolved over time in response to changing needs,

most recently through an ambitious reform agenda

to improve its effectiveness, launched in 2017, which

has begun to deliver results. The COVID-19 pandemic

was an early test of these reforms, enabling the

United Nations system to respond to the needs

of people and Member States. Emerging from the

pandemic, with the world facing important choices

to support a breakthrough rather than a breakdown

scenario, the United Nations must provide a platform

actively to shape the future in ways that will make

it worth living in, and for.

109. Some Member States have suggested that the

United Nations is itself a global common; or at least,

that it is vital to support the delivery of many global

public goods, serving as a venue for collective

action, norm development and international

cooperation. While the United Nations alone cannot

address the numerous challenges confronting us,

especially in a complex and networked world, it is

one of the key institutions available for solving the

problems that matter most. The United Nations

has a universal convening power that gives all

193 Member States an equal voice, increasingly

joined by representatives from the private sector,

civil society and academia, along with a unique role

in safeguarding global values, ethics and norms and

a global presence and technical expertise. As some

spaces of decision-making become increasingly

exclusive, there is a need to safeguard a space for

all voices. Our Common Agenda must therefore

include upgrading the United Nations, so that it

is able to support global discussion, negotiation,

progress, solutions and action to address our most

urgent collective goals.

110. The previous chapters of this report set out a

series of actions that the United Nations intends

to work with Member States and others to pursue

in support of the renewed social contract, stronger

solidarity between generations and the delivery

of global public goods. While summarizing them,

I offer below additional reflections, commitments

and recommendations for how the United Nations

could continue to adapt and make a difference in

people’s lives. This recognizes that the Charter is

based on enduring values and principles, but is

also flexible and dynamic, allowing for adjustment

to address new challenges.

A. For the Secretariat and the

United Nations system

In support of the renewed social contract

111. Much of the operational and in-country work

of the United Nations is geared towards supporting

the social contract at national levels, as needed

and requested by States. In some contexts, it is

the United Nations itself that ensures delivery of

vital public goods, such as humanitarian action,

health, education, electricity and housing, along

with security and support for the police. My

proposals in chapter II for

institutions that listen

better to people, participatory approaches and

reducing complexity

thus equally apply to the

United Nations where relevant. Building on

good

models

from elsewhere in the system, the United

Nations Secretariat will develop a policy that puts

people at the centre of all its actions and takes

into account the impact of intersecting personal

characteristics, such as age, gender and diversity.

112. The United Nations development system

reforms have positioned the Organization to offer

more cohesive support to Governments. Building on

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this, Member States could consider steps to bring

the governance bodies and funding of development

agencies closer in alignment to maximize impact,

while leaving each agency its separate brand and

operations. I will also encourage United Nations

country teams to actively support States in

renewing the social contract, particularly focusing

on trust, addressing discrimination and exclusion,

and measuring what matters. We will look to make

every United Nations presence a centre of context-

specific prevention expertise, including by better

linking peace and security, human rights, climate

and development work, and focusing on factors

that can give rise to or exacerbate grievances. The

consultations for the

seventy-fifth anniversary

(reaching 1.5 million people) and for Our Common

Agenda (with some 500 submissions) have initiated

a new era in listening, consultation and engagement

with people, along with our

guidance

on civic space

under my

Call to Action for Human Rights.

I will

encourage all parts of the United Nations system

to make such consultations with people, including

women and young people, regular and systematic

going forward.

113. Other elements that the United Nations system

will take forward as part of its own support to and

reflection on the renewed social contract include

reviewing our rule of law assistance, implementation

of my Call to Action for Human Rights, including

through a United Nations system-wide agenda for

protection, and making human rights commitments

a reference point in the design and delivery of United

Nations programmes, development assistance and

crisis prevention initiatives. I recommit to ensuring

gender parity at all levels within the United Nations

system by 2028. I will also support a review of

the United Nations system’s capacity – staffing,

resources and architecture – to deliver on gender

equality as a core priority across all entities.

generations. Notably, I propose to ensure that the

voices of youth are more systematically integrated

across the United Nations system by exploring

with Member States the upgrading of the current

position of Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth

to an office in the Secretariat. I will also continue

to listen to and support networks of young United

Nations staff members, including on the need to

improve our recruitment and retention of young

people from diverse backgrounds, as well as to put

in place a more modern and flexible environment

that supports junior staff members, including

young women, in advancing their careers.

115. Separately, I propose the appointment of a

Special Envoy for Future Generations who would, for

the first time, represent the interests of succeeding

generations across the United Nations system and

with Member States. The envoy would also steer

initial steps by the United Nations to bolster our

capacity to understand, plan and act for the long

term, exemplified by the proposed Futures Lab. I

hope this will allow the United Nations to become

a reliable guardian for our future, acting on behalf

of both current and succeeding generations as

anticipated in the Charter. The Futures Lab would

also significantly strengthen the capacity of the

United Nations in futures analysis and foresight.

In support of delivering global public

goods through more networked, inclusive

and effective multilateralism

116. In chapter IV, I outlined a vision for improved

multilateral governance focused on protecting

our global commons and delivering critical global

public goods, as well as being prepared to respond

to major risks. To support this, the United Nations

system must adapt to play a leading role in a more

networked and inclusive world, improving our

collaboration and strategic engagement with other

actors and forums at the global and regional levels,

while also maximizing our comparative advantage

in service of the people who need us most.

117. The value added of the United Nations in a

networked world

includes a number of elements

which could be strengthened. First, one of the

In support of solidarity between

generations

114. In chapter III, I proposed some institutional

modifications at the United Nations to strengthen

our solidarity with both younger and succeeding

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primary roles of the United Nations is as a

source

of reliable data and evidence,

providing public and

verified information to help the world understand

risks and opportunities. To strengthen this role,

I will seek to re-establish the Secretary-General’s

Scientific Advisory Board and explore better linking

of knowledge centres across the United Nations

system, including in its specialized agencies, to

reinforce impact. I will also encourage the United

Nations to become more strategic in knowledge

production, delivering fewer, but more coherent

and action-oriented reports each year. This will in

part be achieved through the United Nations digital

transformation strategy, which is directly aimed at

effective knowledge production and dissemination

across the system.

118. Another important role for the United Nations

in a networked world

is as a convener:

serving

as a place to build consensus around priorities

and strategies, where actors from all sectors can

make commitments and be accountable, and as

a platform for collective action and delivery. Our

universal nature means that in some instances

we are not the most nimble, and that formalities

and protocol must be observed. However, we also

offer a space to bring together decision-makers

with the accountability and authoritativeness

associated with intergovernmental processes

to support networked approaches. We must do

this better, and more often. The United Nations

will improve its work at different levels (country,

regional and global) and across different thematic

pillars (including peace and security, development,

climate, human rights and humanitarian response).

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We will also strengthen cooperation within the

United Nations system and between the system

and regional organizations, international financial

institutions and others. To enhance cooperation

between the United Nations and regional bodies,

I will convene an annual meeting with all heads

of regional organizations. I will also promote

continuous active dialogue between the United

Nations system, international financial institutions

and regional development banks, as a complement

to the Biennial Summit proposed in chapter IV.

119. The United Nations system, including the

Secretariat, will also take further steps to become

inclusive.

For certain constituencies, such

as parliamentarians, the private sector, and cities

and subnational authorities, which are crucial and

innovative drivers of global change today, we have

been asked to consider standing mechanisms for

engagement and consultation, consistent with the

sovereignty of Member States and provisions of

the Charter on membership of the United Nations.

Within the Secretariat, I will strengthen our

collaboration with subnational authorities through

the creation of an

Advisory Group on Local and

Regional Governments.

I will also explore options

to enhance parliamentary inputs at the United

Nations, working with our existing partners.

120. The increasing role and influence of

the private

sector,

and its centrality to achieving so many of

the actions outlined in this report, will also be taken

into account within the United Nations system. The

business and human rights

agenda is important

in this regard. I also call for a broader range of

businesses, from multinational corporations

to small and medium-sized corporations, to

participate in the Sustainable Development Goals

and climate action, including through business

models that align with efforts to rethink measures

of progress and prosperity. The

new strategy issued

by the Global Compact Office,

promoting its 10

principles and the expansion of its network and

private sector investments, is a unique vehicle to

raise ambition and achieve stronger private sector

engagement, accountability and partnerships.

121. Civil society organizations were present in San

Francisco at the founding of the United Nations

and have been an integral part of the United

Nations ecosystem from the outset. As part of our

consultations, civil society has called for better

engagement with the United Nations system. I

believe that it is essential for the United Nations

to listen to, coordinate with and engage with civil

society. I have heard the calls for a single, high-level

entry point for civil society and will further explore

options in that regard. However, I also believe that

what is most needed at this time is to go beyond a

consultation and advocacy role, and rather for all

parts of the United Nations system directly to include

civil society in their work across all the pillars of our

activities. This is about a shift in mentality as well

as in practice. As such, all United Nations entities

will be asked to

establish a dedicated focal point

for civil society,

if they have not already done so.

These focal points will be expected proactively to

create the space necessary for civil society actors to

contribute at the country and global levels, and within

United Nations meetings, networks, processes and

arrangements. We will regularly map and monitor

our relationships with civil society across the system

to ensure that the better engagement we all seek is

being achieved and sustained.

122. Within the Secretariat, the

United Nations Office

for Partnerships

will support these relationships,

ensuring that we have in place the necessary

administrative, legal and digital instruments to

allow our partners to access information and to

participate in the work of the United Nations. We

will in particular build on the possibilities for greater

inclusion that we have seen during COVID-19, with

digital solutions and hybrid meetings allowing more

diverse actors to participate without limitations

because of visas, funding and travel. Ensuring

inclusive virtual meetings means taking into

consideration and proactively seeking to address

issues such as access to the Internet, language

barriers, time zones and safety.

123. To make the United Nations

more effective,

will develop new capabilities that promote agility,

integration and cohesion across the system. This

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will be part of a wider transformation towards a

United Nations “2.0”,

a new version that is able

to offer relevant and system-wide solutions to

the challenges of the twenty-first century. I will

accelerate this transformation through a “quintet

of change”,

a set of cross-cutting agendas that

underpin many of the initiatives proposed in

this report. The quintet capabilities include

data, analytics and communications; innovation

and digital transformation; strategic foresight;

behavioural science; and performance and results

orientation. Driven by the

Secretary-General’s Data

Strategy,

better

data, analysis and communications

capabilities will enable us to turn information more

easily into insight, transform our decision-making,

optimize our services and make the Organization

a better communicator. Further investing in

innovation and digital transformation

will reshape

our way of working, helping us to reach more people

in need and better serve them. Strengthening

strategic foresight,

through initiatives like the

Futures Lab, will enable anticipatory action and

the design of more forward-looking policies

and programmes. The systematic application of

behavioural science

will increase our effectiveness

in policy, programme and mandate delivery. It will

also allow us to simplify bureaucratic processes.

Performance and results orientation

will ensure

that the Organization is focused on impact, learning

and continuous improvement.

124. Finally, for the Organization to be effective, it is

crucial that Member States’

financial obligations

met in full and on time. The underlying reasons for

the recent financial crisis of the United Nations are

not fully resolved. I have made several proposals

to Member States in this regard, ranging from

increasing our existing liquidity reserves to creating

a new reserve for our peacekeeping operations

and addressing the structural impediments in the

management of our budgets. As part of recent

reforms, the United Nations has also made

significant investments in improving transparency

in its financial reporting and budgeting. However,

efforts to focus more on results and improve

mandate delivery have been undermined by the

unpredictability and timing of our cash inflows. If

the vision that Member States articulated in the

seventy-fifth anniversary declaration, and on which

I have elaborated in this report on Our Common

Agenda, is to become a reality we must solve

the financial crisis and secure more sustainable

funding for the Organization. The United Nations

system can make better use of available resources,

including by

repurposing existing funds

and

adopting less rigid budgetary procedures. The

United Nations system will also explore ways to

better harmonize budgeting and funding requests,

ensuring that the different executive boards of

agencies, funds and programmes work together

and communicate. We will focus on improving

how we formulate and execute budgets to keep

the Organization nimble and dynamic and able to

respond to volatile situations and new emergencies.

Ongoing efforts to ensure transparency for Member

States in the budget process must not come at

the expense of the ability of the United Nations

to use resources efficiently and effectively; the

focus should be on programme delivery and results

rather than financing. We must allow managers

to manage, and hold them accountable for the

results. In addition to these steps, I invite Member

States to consider examining the mechanisms

for reviewing the budget, with support from the

Secretariat as necessary. Together, we can identify

ways to improve the budget process,

especially in

how we formulate and communicate the results that

we hope to and do accomplish,

looking holistically

at what makes sense, what works well and what

needs to be improved.

B. For Member States’

consideration

125. Any decisions regarding the principal

intergovernmental organs and other bodies of the

United Nations are for Member States. However,

there are various needs that have been identified

throughout this report, notably in conjunction with

the interests of succeeding generations, and the

governance of the global commons and the delivery

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of global public goods through networked, inclusive

and effective multilateralism. The activities of the

Trusteeship Council

have been suspended since

1994. Previous commissions and secretaries-

general, along with some Member States, have

proposed a repurposing of the Council to enhance

the governance of the global commons. Building

on these ideas, and as part of the follow-up to Our

Common Agenda, I invite States to consider making

the Council available as a multi-stakeholder body

to tackle emerging challenges and, especially, to

serve as a deliberative forum to act on behalf of

succeeding generations. Among other tasks, it

could issue advice and guidance with respect to

long-term governance of the global commons,

delivery of global public goods and managing

global public risks.

126. Beyond the Trusteeship Council, I took note

of calls from

Member States for reforms of the

three principal organs of the United Nations in

the seventy-fifth anniversary declaration,

particular their commitments to instil new life

into the discussions on the reform of the Security

Council and to continue the work to revitalize the

General Assembly and to strengthen the Economic

and Social Council. With regard to any decisions

by Member States to adapt the intergovernmental

organs to the needs and realities of today, I stand

ready to provide the necessary support. Below

are some of the ideas that have emerged from

our consultations on the seventy-fifth anniversary

and Our Common Agenda, grouped here for the

consideration of Member States.

127. After decades of debate, the majority of

Member States now acknowledge that the

Security

Council

could be made more representative

of the twenty-first century, such as through

enlargement, including better representation for

Africa, as well as more systematic arrangements

for more voices at the table. In addition to the

intergovernmental negotiations continuing with

renewed urgency, suggestions have been made

to strengthen the inclusiveness and legitimacy

of the Council by systematically consulting with

a broader range of actors, including regional

organizations; considering public commitments

to exercise restraint in the use of the veto; and

expanding the use of informal mechanisms, such

as Arria-formula meetings, to advance sensitive

issues. Reinforced action on prevention to ensure

that the threats we face today do not fester and

deteriorate would mean that the Council, charged

with managing and resolving potential and actual

threats to international peace and security, avoids

seeing its agenda expand exponentially. The United

Nations system needs to be able to address the

cross-cutting issues of security, climate change,

health, development, gender equality and human

rights from a prevention perspective with greater

effectiveness and accountability, for example

through expanding the role of the

Peacebuilding

Commission

to more settings. The proposed

emergency platform for convening the key actors

to respond to a complex global crisis could be

another element of this.

128. Member States’ efforts to revitalize the work of

the

General Assembly

and streamline its resolutions,

reporting requirements and committees have

been welcomed. It has also been suggested that

States could strengthen the high-level week of

the Assembly, using it as an opportunity to take

decisions and make commitments at the level

of Heads of State and Government. Similarly, the

Economic and Social Council

was established in

the Charter as the principal United Nations body

coordinating the economic and social work of the

Organization. While we are now in a different era,

various proposals have been made to reinforce

the role and profile of the Council, including

by bringing the G20 and its processes into a

closer relationship with the Council. In my view,

the Biennial Summit put forward in chapter IV

would be an important step forward in better

coordination of global economic governance. In

addition, the

high-level political forum

has emerged

as the primary global gathering for sustainable

development. It provides an inclusive platform for

monitoring implementation of the 2030 Agenda,

while promoting peer learning and expanding the

global movement for the Sustainable Development

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CHAPTER V

Purposes and principles: adapting the United Nations to a new era

Goals. I invite all Governments, sectors, partners

and alliances to engage at the high-level political

forum each year to increase ambition, accelerate

implementation efforts and build connections

across issues that are essential for effective

multilateralism.

129. The consultations as part of Our Common

Agenda have called for fuller use of the

human

rights treaty monitoring system,

including the

universal periodic review, treaty bodies and special

procedures, to solve pressing social, economic

and political challenges. As indicated in my Call

to Action for Human Rights, I am ready to work

with States to find ways to put the human rights

mechanisms on a more sustainable financial

footing, including through more flexibility for the

United Nations to allocate funding, and to better

link them with other processes to maximize their

impact and assist States parties with compliance.

More transparency has also been called for in

terms of human rights commitments undertaken

by prospective candidates for membership of the

Human Rights Council,

in line with the criteria

adopted by Member States in General Assembly

resolution 60/251 by which the Council was created.

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Purposes and principles: adapting the United Nations to a new era

CHAPTER V

130. Finally, echoing calls made to the United

Nations system, we have received suggestions

on how to increase opportunities for engagement

civil society and other stakeholders

across all

the intergovernmental organs. These have included

an annual civil society caucus in conjunction with

the General Assembly’s high-level week, as well

as calls for an

updated resolution

defining how

organs like the Economic and Social Council, the

General Assembly and the Security Council relate

to civil society, local and regional governments

and business actors, and for the President of the

Economic and Social Council to convene a general

review of arrangements for observer status or

consultation in this regard. I encourage Member

States to give serious consideration to these ideas,

in keeping with our quest for a multilateralism that

is more networked, inclusive and effective.

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Moving forward

URU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 133: Our Common Agenda

CHAPTER VI

Moving forward

VI. Moving forward

131. The purpose of Our Common Agenda is to

keep delivering on the promise of the Charter of the

United Nations. This report has provided a vision of

solidarity and international cooperation that puts

us on a path towards a breakthrough for a greener,

safer and better future, and walks us back from

the cusp of breakdown. This vision builds on and

responds to the

declaration on the commemoration

of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United

Nations,

in which Member States made 12 critical

commitments: to leave no one behind; to protect

our planet; to promote peace and prevent conflict;

to abide by international law and ensure justice; to

place women and girls at the centre; to build trust; to

improve digital cooperation; to upgrade the United

Nations; to ensure sustainable financing; to boost

partnerships; to listen to and work with youth; and

to be prepared for future crises, including but not

limited to public health crises. They also underlined

that the United Nations should be at the centre

of the effort to deliver on these commitments,

noting that there is no other organization with its

legitimacy, convening power and normative impact.

Our Common Agenda is intended to advance the

12 themes of the declaration through actions that

are urgent, transformative and fill critical gaps. It

reinforces the need for robust action on the 2030

Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals,

along with other critical commitments on climate

and human rights. I look forward to working with

Member States and other stakeholders to act on

the ideas reflected in the report.

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ANNEX

Annex:

Process for consultations on

Our Common Agenda

1. In the declaration on the commemoration of the

seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations

(General Assembly resolution 75/1), Member

States tasked me to report before the end of the

seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly with

recommendations to advance Our Common Agenda

and to respond to current and future challenges.

In response, in addition to involving the United

Nations system as a whole, I embarked upon a

process of reflection, consisting of four tracks

engaging a broad array of stakeholders, including

Member States, prominent thought leaders, young

people and civil society. The process built on the

year-long anniversary global listening exercise,

when over 1.5 million people from all 193 Member

States took part in an online survey. Polling firms

also conducted surveys in 70 countries. These

consultations showed significant public support

for international cooperation and a desire for more

networked, inclusive and effective multilateralism

in the future.

2. Engagement with Member States began with

a letter to all permanent representatives and

observers on 8 October 2020 laying out the

process and inviting them to share their views.

On 15 December 2020, the President of the General

Assembly convened an informal encounter at which

I shared some initial reflections and listened to

views from the floor. In 2021, the United Nations

Foundation, a key partner in this exercise, convened

a series of breakfast dialogues with Member States

organized around the 12 themes of the seventy-

fifth anniversary declaration. On 8 July 2021,

I again participated in an informal dialogue with

the Assembly to share and hear more ideas.

3. To enrich the reflection process, I invited a

geographically diverse, gender-balanced group

of thought leaders to contribute their ideas on one

or more of the 12 themes from the declaration.

I issued a similar invitation to several high-level

groups of experts, practitioners and former leaders.

In response, we received many insightful papers,

videos and presentations and heard directly from

some thought leaders in the breakfast dialogues

and elsewhere.

4. In line with my determination that young people

should be the designers of their own futures,

I provided young thinkers and leaders with

dedicated opportunities to contribute. A group

of next generation fellows hosted by the United

Nations Foundation built on the consultations on

the seventy-fifth anniversary with young people,

with guidance from my Envoy on Youth, convening

a series of action groups on thematic priorities

through a “big brainstorm” and holding national

conversations with young people who had not

previously engaged with the United Nations. The

fellows worked intensively with youth-led networks

and organizations from across the world and held

intergenerational dialogues with policymakers.

Their work informed my recommendations on

young people and future generations. They have

also set out their own vision, ideas and proposals

in a report entitled “Our

future agenda”.

5. In keeping with the vision of more networked

and inclusive multilateralism, and in keeping with

the Charter of the United Nations, I also consulted

widely with “we the peoples” of our world, including

civil society, parliamentarians, think tanks, the

private sector, subnational leaders and city

networks, underrepresented groups and other

non-government partners. This was supported

by the United Nations Foundation and the Igarapé

Institute, along with a network of global partners

from all regions, including the African Centre for

the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (South

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ANNEX

Africa), Southern Voice (a network of 50 think tanks

from Africa, Asia and Latin America) and the Lee

Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National

University of Singapore. Every effort was made

to ensure that the reflection process included a

wide range of voices from all regions, including

through an experimental digital consultation

exercise overseen by the Igarapé Institute, which

generated more than 520 proposals from over

1,750 participants, including from organizations

with several million members, in 147 countries

and in six languages.

6. The rich array of perspectives and inputs

received greatly enhanced the ideas laid out

in the report of Our Common Agenda and I am

enormously grateful to all those who contributed.

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