St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves speaks to the United Nations General Assembly during Summit of the Future, on Sept. 22 at UN headquarters.Frank Franklin Ii/The Associated Press
The UN General Assembly adopted a “Pact for the Future” to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Now comes the hard part: uniting the world’s divided nations to move quickly to implement its 56 actions.
As Czech President Petr Pavel put it Monday at the summit meeting surrounding the pact: “Our work begins at home.”
The 193-member world body approved the pact Sunday. The document is meant to link nations in tackling challenges ranging from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty – and improve the lives of the world’s more than 8 billion people.
The 42-page pact was adopted at Sunday’s opening of a two-day “Summit of the Future,” which continued Monday as leaders of countries around the world gave their views on the challenges facing the world.
And with them, the leaders gave something of a preview of themes to expect at the assembly’s big annual meeting, which gets into full gear Tuesday.
In Monday’s remarks, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa Azin exhorted the world to lower youth unemployment. The president of the Federated States of Micronesia, Wesley W. Simina, said the pact needed to be backed by “robust and lasting commitments” to end fossil fuel use.
Slovak President Peter Pellegrini worried about the spread of disinformation. Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço warned that “it is not possible to build a balanced, safe and sustainable world in which dignity and access to opportunity are the exclusive benefit of a small group of people.”
Among leaders slated to speak later were Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin.
Whether the pact would be adopted was still a question when the assembly meeting began on Sunday. In fact, there was so much suspense that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres had three prepared speeches, one for approval, one for rejection, and one if things weren’t clear, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Russia’s Vershinin proposed an amendment that would have significantly watered down the agreement. “No one is happy with this pact,” he said.
It turned out he was wrong. Africa’s 54 nations opposed Russia’s amendments. Speaking on Africa’s behalf, the Republic of Congo countered with a motion not to vote on the amendments. Mexico supported the Africans, and in a vote on their motion, the Africans got support from 143 countries. Only six countries supported Russia – Iran, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Sudan and Syria. 15 countries abstained.
Assembly President Philémon Yang then put the pact to a vote and banged his gavel, signifying the consensus of all U.N. member nations that was required for approval – to vigorous applause.
Russia has made significant inroads in Africa, in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Central African Republic. The rejection of Russia’s amendments by African countries and Mexico, a major Latin American power, was seen as a blow to Moscow by some diplomats and observers.
Guterres, clearly relieved at the outcome, then issued a challenge to the leaders: Implement the pact. Prioritize dialogue and negotiations. End “wars tearing our world apart” from the Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan. Reform the powerful U.N. Security Council. Accelerate reforms of the international financial system. Ramp up a transition from fossil fuels. Listen to young people and include them in decision-making.
The U.N.’s main bloc of developing countries – the Group of 77, which now has 134 members, including China – echoed Guterres in a speech by Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.
“This pact should not become another futile exercise, but must garner political will and commitment across all levels of global leadership to pragmatically address current issues and lay a foundation for solutions for our future global progress and challenges,” he said.
The G77 regrets that the pact doesn’t recognize actions that developed countries should take to close the widening gaps between them and developing countries, Nabbanja said.
In a rare move at a high-level U.N. meeting where leaders often exceed the announced time limit, speeches were muted after five minutes. Among those who kept talking after their mics were silenced: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Sabah and Irish President Michael Higgins.
The Pact for the Future says world leaders are gathering “at a time of profound global transformation,” and it warns of “rising catastrophic and existential risks” that could tip people everywhere “into a future of persistent crisis and breakdown.”
Guterres singled out a number of key provisions in the pact and its two accompanying annexes, a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.
The pact commits world leaders to reform the 15-member Security Council, to make it more reflective of today’s world and “redress the historical injustice against Africa,” which has no permanent seat, and to address the under-representation of the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.
It also “represents the first agreed multilateral support for nuclear disarmament in more than a decade,” Guterres said, and it commits “to steps to prevent an arms race in outer space and to govern the use of lethal autonomous weapons.”
The Global Digital Compact “includes the first truly universal agreement on the international governance of artificial intelligence,” the UN chief said.
As for human rights, Guterres said, “In the face of a surge in misogyny and a rollback of women’s reproductive rights, governments have explicitly committed to removing the legal, social and economic barriers that prevent women and girls from fulfilling their potential in every sphere.”