The UN Summit of the Future marks a significant milestone in the efforts of the United Nations to address pressing global challenges and shape a sustainable future for all. Convened amidst a backdrop of complex geopolitical dynamics, environmental crises, technological advancements, and socioeconomic disparities, the summit aims to foster international cooperation, innovation, and collective action to confront the multifaceted issues facing humanity in the 21st century.
The journey to this Summit has been long, beginning with the 2005 UN Summit’s call for reforms to modernize the UN system. Momentum built steadily following the UN75 Declaration in 2020, with the political drive to strengthen multilateralism and the UN system gaining further traction through the Secretary-General’s “Our Common Agenda” report in 2021, the General Assembly’s deliberations on the “Scope and Elements” for the Pact for the Future in 2022 and 2023, and intensified Member State negotiations in 2024 based on the “Zero Draft” of the Pact for the Future.
The Summit will culminate in the adoption of an intergovernmental negotiated, action-oriented Pact for the Future, addressing critical areas such as sustainable development, financing for development, international peace and security, science, technology, innovation, and digital cooperation, as well as the interests of youth and future generations. Additionally, the Summit will deliver a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations, setting the stage for transformative global governance in the years ahead.
The Coalition for the UN We Need (C4UN) has continued to play a key role in building momentum and is actively engaged in the preparatory process of the Summit, and was a major principal co-organizer of the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference on the Summit of the Future, held in Nairobi on 9-10 May 2024. It partnered with the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC), the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), the Global NGO Executive Committee (GNEC), and the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS) Coordination Mechanism. Through these partnerships and its ongoing initiatives, C4UN remains committed to strengthening the UN system and ensuring it remains an effective and accountable institution capable of addressing the pressing challenges of our time.