The Summit and the Pact for the Future: CGNK’s Position
The United Nations will gather on September 22-23 for the “Summit of the Future”. It will be followed by the high-level segment of the General Assembly of the UN, where head of states and governments, high dignitaries will speak. The list of speakers shown below reveals an interesting fact: without exceptions, all members of the United Nations, including the two observer States will speak, 148 of them being heads of State or of Government, 41 others being ministers, and only 4 of them ambassadors.
What is worth highlighting is that if some are fighting for petty interests and vain causes, sometimes committing unacceptable and unbearable atrocities, the world, or at least its political elites can still gather almost as one, and in one place. The space for dialogue exists and it is a notable achievement.
Hopefully, it will also be a strong step towards greater respect for life and a better understanding of peace and its stakes, of their status and means.
Who runs the world? We all do: a way or another every one of us, through our words and actions and by the thoughts and values guiding them, we have an effect on our present daily quality of life. And we have valid means for our common future. We all have creativity of sorts. We all have access to conscience and as such, we all have effect and influence on what our future shall and will be.
At the Summit for the Future, these States through the UN, will adopt a “Pact for the future” (draft text in this link). We hope the document will be adopted by consensus, as were previous similar documents (Sustainable Development Goals 2030 or the Paris Agreement on Climate, to name two of them, both adopted without a vote in 2015). The 60 proposed actions contained in the draft are good to excellent.
However, the importance of universal life and of the right to life, though we asked for it early enough, will not be sufficiently highlighted in the proposal (Most of the Center Global Nonkilling UN work is available here. Your participation is very welcome).
We will still have work in the years ahead towards this realization of the primal importance of life, and towards the achievement of a nonkilling and peaceful world. Some others will be declarations of intent only, whatever these are things needing to be said, which will come up later for good or for better. All these actions making it into reality, and the world will or would be an ideal place to live and thrive for everyone. We wish nothing less!
It would be nice to revise past such summits to see if an as a high degree of participation was reached, at the podium as at large. It would be nice to see how such summits are progressing towards gender parity. And towards youth presence. And towards universal representation. It would be very good to see the still disputed territories left on the Planet, the ones that therefore cannot be Members to the UN, these voiceless countries in the concert of nations, be heard as well. And it is essential to see the people themselves, ourselves, all of us be represented at world level, not only by our government but also by our freely chosen assemblies.
Voices calling for a world parliament are starting to be heard; these are not yet reflected in the pact. Though a better democracy is therein.
“When and how ?”. This is a long road ahead, which we care to see peaceful and honest.
Our work at CGNK and with the UN needs your support.
“Happy people breed and nurture a happy world!”
“May Life in peace always prevail!”
