Dansk Interparlamentarisk Gruppes bestyrelse 2023-24
IPU Alm.del Bilag 3
Offentligt
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The UN Summit of the Future:
Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow
The United Nations
Summit of the Future
will take place on 22-23 September 2024 at UN Headquarters
in New York, with the participation of Heads of State or Government. It is designed to strengthen the
multilateral system’s response to current and emerging global challenges.
The Summit of the Future marks a turning point for the UN itself, responding to the question:
Can the UN
effectively manage multiple global challenges at once, and what institutional reforms are needed
to restore trust in the UN-led multilateral system?
The answer to this question will come in a declaration, the
Pact for the Future,
and negotiations are just
beginning. After extensive consultations, a
zero draft of the Pact
was issued on 29 January 2024 with the
aim of reaching consensus on a final text by May/June of this year. A first reading of the draft will occur
during the week of 6 February (during the Annual Parliamentary Hearing in New York), followed by a
second reading the week of 21 February, and a third and final reading later in April.
The
Pact for the Future
will use easily understood language to engage people from all walks of life. It
will comprise an introduction followed by five main thematic chapters:
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Sustainable development and financing for development
International peace and security
Science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation
Youth and future generations
Transforming global governance (UN 2.0)
Each of these chapters will tackle long-standing and emerging reform issues faced by the UN system
and the international community at large. With regard to the chapters on youth and digital cooperation,
two other agreements will be negotiated alongside the Pact and attached as annexes: a
Declaration on
Future Generations
and a
Global Digital Compact.
The IPU and the Summit of the Future
The Summit of the Future represents an important opportunity to build on the IPU’s efforts more than
20 years to strengthen the voices of parliaments and parliamentarians at the UN.
The UN Millennium Summit of September 2000, which followed on the heels of the First World
Conference of Presiding Officers of Parliament (held at UN Headquarters in August 2000), concluded
with the
Millennium Declaration
in which, for the first time, Heads of State and Government resolved “to
strengthen further cooperation between the United Nations and national parliaments through their world
organization, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in various fields, including peace and security, economic and
social development, international law and human rights and democracy and gender issues”
(Chapter VIII,
Strengthening the United Nations).
Since then, the IPU has worked to engage parliaments and parliamentarians in UN policy decisions and
field operations. This work has two key strategic objectives:
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Provide a parliamentary perspective on major UN negotiations before final agreement is reached
Support the implementation of international agreements once they come into effect
 IPU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 3: Note on Summit of the Future
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Several
resolutions of the UN General Assembly
have endorsed these objectives and provided
practical guidance on their implementation.
Yet more can be done. For the IPU, the potential for greater parliamentary engagement in UN
deliberative processes and operational work has yet to be fully exploited. It is in the UN’s best
interest to allow for new modalities of interaction with parliaments and parliamentarians to ensure
the UN succeeds in delivering to the world on its many promises, from disarmament to poverty
eradication and much more.
Regrettably, the zero draft of the Pact for the Future issued on 29 January 2024 makes no
mention of the role of parliaments in multilateralism and at the UN.
The IPU, through its New
York Office, is working with several Permanent Missions to the UN to introduce language on
parliaments in the chapter on global governance and, to the extent possible, in other parts of the
document (such as on youth participation in the political process).
What you can do as a parliamentarian
This process represents a real opportunity. All members of parliament can be engaged in the
Summit of the Future by providing input to the Pact, through their own governments, and by
supporting its implementation afterwards.
As a parliamentarian, you can:
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Ask your Foreign Minister and/or your Permanent Representative to the UN for briefings on
the negotiation of the Pact for the Future.
Insist that the text include language on the role of parliaments in strengthening the UN and
advancing institutional reforms (particularly in the chapter on global governance and in its
follow-up mechanism).
Consult with your constituents on the substantive questions addressed by the Pact for the
Future and its annexes (Declaration on Future Generations; Global Digital Compact).
Let the IPU New York Office know of any action you have undertaken.
For more background on the parliamentary dimension to the work of the UN, please consult the
IPU
partnerships web page.
Further questions can be addressed to the IPU New York Office at
[email protected]