At this year's General Assembly, the UN held a very special event officially called "The Summit of the Future". This gathering was initiated by UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres three years ago. Germany and Namibia chaired the whole process until it has been held. The result was a Pact for the Future which the UN adopted on last Saturday.
| The Secretary-General of the United Nations is convening the Summit of the Future Action Days on 20 and 21 September 2024 to generate additional opportunities for the engagement of all actors. UN Photo/Loey Felipe |
The 42-page Pact includes 56 actions on issues such as eradicating poverty, mitigating climate change, achieving gender equality, promoting peace and protecting civilians, and reinvigorating the multilateral system. The pact aimed at uniting all nations in the world to tackle 21st-century challenges from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty. The Pact demanded all UN member nations to turn promises into real actions that would make the lives of the world’s more than 8 billion people better.
Everyone can clearly and easily see that the UN has once again defined its determination and intention to fulfill its historic mission to make the humane world better, safer, peaceful, and more prosperous in the modern world which is becoming increasingly unstable and divisive. Therefore, it was important, necessary, and encouraging for the UN to have this Pact now wrapped up.
However the successful implementation of the Pact for the Future requires the UN itself to become fit for the future. The UN could only be fit for the future of the human world if it and all multilateral institutions could play decisive roles and have decisive influences in shaping the world's future. That's why there are two urgent works that need to be done. The first is to truly, comprehensively, and consequently reform the UN, including first of all the UN's Security Council, its structure, and veto rights within the UN Security Council. The second one is to practice and strengthen the multilateralism.
The Pact for the Future is now waiting to be turned into action and its implementation in reality will surely be not easy. But it gives mankind a new start and departure on the road towards a better world. It will generate new impulse for the process of reforming the UN and multilateral institutions in the direction to become more representative, more democratic, more inclusive, more transparent, more effective, and more responsible.
The more torn apart the world of today is, the more mankind needs powerful and capable UN and multilateral institutions. The Pact for the Future is therefore the right guideline in the right direction for the UN and its member nations.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Ambassador Tran Duc Mau are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Hanoi Times.
