UNITED NATIONS — UN members adopted a blueprint for the future Sunday to tackle the myriad wars, environmental threats and technological challenges facing humanity that the global organization hailed as “groundbreaking,” but critics panned it as unambitious.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who championed the “Pact for the Future,” hailed its “landmark agreements — a step-change towards more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism.”
As an opener for the annual high-level week of the UN General Assembly, which begins Tuesday, dozens of heads of state and government gathered for the adoption, which faced last-minute opposition from Russia.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during “Summit of the Future” on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, September 22, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
Leaders pledged to bolster the multilateral system to “keep pace with a changing world” and to “protect the needs and interests of current and future generations” facing “persistent crisis.”
“We believe there is a path to a brighter future for all of humanity,” the document says.
The pact outlines 56 “actions,” including commitments to multilateralism, upholding the UN Charter and peacekeeping.
It also calls for reforms to international financial institutions and the UN Security Council, along with renewed efforts to combat climate change, promote disarmament, and guide the development of artificial intelligence.
The adoption of the text faced a brief delay when Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sergey Vershinin, introduced an amendment emphasizing the “principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states.”
Russia’s objections were backed by allies Belarus, North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua and Syria, but its amendment was overwhelmingly dismissed in a motion to take no action.
“It was somewhat irritating that, in the end, Russia once again tried to stop the whole process,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, co-sponsor of the text.
Passage of the text was never a guarantee, and sources said Guterres had prepared three separate versions of his speech for the potential outcomes of the vote.
During the negotiations phase, the UN Secretary-General had urged nations to show “vision” and “courage,” calling for “maximum ambition” to strengthen international institutions that struggle to respond effectively to today’s threats.
But while there are some “good ideas,” the text “is not the sort of revolutionary document reforming the whole of multilateralism that Antonio Guterres had originally called for,” Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group said.
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