The UN has invited non-governmental groups and civil society organisations to provide input for the Pact for the Future, a pledge to the solutions countries and world leaders will agree on at the Summit of the Future in September 2024. The consultation process, which took part on 17 April, followed the second reading of the draft on 3 April. The draft is intended to serve as a starting point for the intergovernmental discussions later this year at the Summit, which the UN describes as ‘a coming together of nations and world leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to deliver a better present and safeguard the future for the generations to come’.
Anna Oosterlinck Head of UN at ARTICLE 19, delivered ARTICLE 19’s contribution to the Pact consultation, highlighting the importance of making it once-in-a-generation commitment to a better future for all humankind. She emphasised the importance of a human rights-based approach to all aspects of the process and that human rights are vital to all global challenges – from advancing international peace and security, addressing inequalities, to effectively addressing climate change. This means integrating all existing international human rights commitments into all parts of the Pact, including international human rights commitments as well as international humanitarian law and international refugee law. She noted, too, that the Pact and the annexed Global Digital Compact (GDC) must reaffirm that the same rights that apply offline equally apply online.
Ensuring these principles are at the heart of the Pact for the Future also means prioritising transparency, openness, inclusion, equality, participation, and accountability.