The Summit of the Future, held from 22nd to 23rd September, 2024 in New York, vouched to commit to “bold new solutions,” responded to the current challenges, and renewed action towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals. The Summit brought forth a Pact for the Future, along with two other key documents—the Declaration on Future Generations and a Global Digital Compact. In the situation wherein the world is moving towards a climate emergency and Sustainable Development Goals is moving backwards, the Summit aimed to be a space that enabled world leaders to make tough decisions for the future of the world, chart out a new journey towards peaceful multilateralism, and bring young people’s voices to the forefront. However, how impactful were these global spaces in bringing about measurable change in communities? Were youth voices truly represented there? Is the United Nations losing its significance and relevance in this fast-paced world rife with conflicts?
The Summit of the Future, and other global advocacy spaces fail the youth in some critical ways. Firstly, the Summit gives a ‘feeling’ of being participatory without actually being participatory. The revisions given by CSOs and other youth activists do not reflect in the Pact. Secondly, the inclusion of youth voices, especially from the Global South is tokenistic, many young people in the room at the Summit of the Future Action Days voted that their participation in UN affairs is best described as so. Several youth scholars and activists who were slated to attend the Summit and give their recommendations have been met with visa refusals, as also apparent for many other UN engagements that take place in person. In such a situation, when the mere participation of young people from the Global South is a challenge, the process becomes exclusionary for those who are most impacted by unequal global policies. In addition to this, the language used in these global spaces are inaccessible to the vast majority of young people, whose communities are directly affected by the rapidly eroding global system.
One young advocate, Venus, an LGBTIQ+ activist from the Philippines, attended the Summit of the Future Action Days, where she expressed appreciation for the chance to share input with the Secretariat General, noting, however, the challenge of securing credentials for the main summit days. In her interview, Venus highlighted the limited focus on LGBTIQ+ issues and the lack of intersectional panels. Opportunities to engage with high-level delegates were scarce, limiting youth voices on critical issues. Venus also raised concerns about the Pact of the Future, adopted two days after the Action Days, which, while a commitment, isn’t legally binding and offers little accountability for governments. She noted with disappointment that language around gender and human rights had been softened, and conservative parties successfully inserted amendments, like Russia’s push for “family values,” overshadowing proposals from civil society groups.
Thirdly, the Pact for the Future does not outline the mechanism for holding Member States accountable if they fail to adhere to the commitments or to protect human rights defenders and young people from reprisals against state parties. As we have seen earlier with the Millenium Development Goals, and now the Sustainable Development Goals, without an adequate and clear accountability mechanism, Member States can easily shirk off their responsibilities. The recent playing out of a genocide in Gaza clearly proves to young people that the United Nations has failed to protect people, and hold a member state accountable. Additionally, young people protesting against inequities are being targeted by authorities, while member states are turning a blind eye, highlighting their failure to protect their own citizens. As we have seen in the past with the MDGs and now the SDGs, governments can very easily escape from upholding the SDGs. In such a situation, what is the role of the United Nations? Lastly, experiences from global decision making spaces such as these show us that more than often the commitments made in these spaces hardly result in real, measurable changes at the grassroots. Especially in light of SDG 3 (Good Health and Well Being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality), governments have failed time and again to meet their commitments. The global pandemic and its ensuing gendered impacts have revealed the hollowness in our neoliberal policies.
Young people around the world are losing faith in the United Nations, and questioning its relevance in the current global context. We are witnessing the rapid erosion of the values which have been the foundation of the United Nations, attacked by rising right-wing fundamentalist values and governments around the world, as well as several conflicts and acts of violence, which the United Nations is unable to end. Especially as activists from the Global South, we are witnessing our countries being ravaged by economic rundown, climate emergencies, health emergencies and gender inequality. Despite that, we want to hope, and we want to act, and we want to leave the United Nations with a question – will you step forward and hold Member States accountable? Without accountability, no Summit can be beneficial to save the Future Generations.
Please see some additional resources and viewpoints on this topic here and here
About the authors: Shane Bhatla (he/they) is a non-binary disabled activist with 8 years of advocacy experience on cross-movements of LGBTIQ+ rights with climate change, informal labor, and disability justice.
Anwesha (she/her) is a social worker and activist from India, working at the intersection of Gender Based Violence, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, and Queer Rights. She is the Deputy Director at a community based organization working in India on Gender Justice and SRHR.
Competing interest: None
Handling Editor: Neha Faruqui