 Global Integration UpdatesCommon Ground for the Common Good Be the people we need--Build the world we need
Special News--March 2024UN Summit of the Future
22-23 September 2024
Preparing for the Global Summit
Reviewing the "Pact for the Future" "We, the Heads of State and Government, representing the peoples of the world, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters to take action to safeguard the future for present and coming generations.
We are at a moment of acute global peril. Across our world, people are suffering from the effects of poverty, hunger, inequality, armed conflicts, violence, displacement, terrorism, climate change, disease, and the adverse impacts of technology. Humanity faces a range of potentially catastrophic and existential risks. We are also at a moment of opportunity, where advances in knowledge and technology, properly managed, could deliver a better future for all." Pact for the Future (zero draft, paragraphs 1 and 2) ------------------Overview
In this Update (#93), we focus on the Summit of the Future which is to be held at the Untied Nations General Assembly in September 2024. We share brief descriptions and links to help you explore the process, developments, and documents leading to this new global effort to make the world a better place. We want to especially emphasize the recently released "zero draft" of its anticipated outcome document, the Pact for the Future. We have interspersed quotes throughout this Update which are from the Pact's opening 10 paragraphs.
“The Summit of the Future is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance cooperation on critical challenges and address gaps in global governance, reaffirm existing commitments including to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Charter, and move towards a reinvigorated multilateral system that is better positioned to positively impact people’s lives. Building on the SDG Summit in 2023, Member States will consider ways to lay the foundations for more effective global cooperation that can deal with today’s challenges as well as new threats in the future.” (quote from UN website)
“[The] zero draft of the Pact for the Future...is intended to serve as a starting point for the intergovernmental deliberations this year, with the ultimate aim of adopting an ambitious, concise, action-oriented Pact for the Future...in the lead-up to and during the Summit in September 2024. The result will [hopefully] be a world – and an international system – that is better prepared to manage the challenges we face now and in the future, for the sake of all humanity and for future generations.” (quote from UN website)
We believe it is important to stay informed about the Summit and the Pact and to seriously and critically consider its aspirations for a better world. We do not want to see this latest global effort morph into the Summit--and Pact--of the Futile. What needs to happen to prevent this "morphing" from happening?
Not sure if you have the time or interest to explore the Summit and Pact? Then we encourage you to read the three-page background document for a quick overview, "The Summit of the Future: What Would It Deliver?"
We conclude the Update with some personal perspectives on being "people of faith-hope-love" in the Christian tradition who embrace "common ground for the common good." It is an inclusive approach which encourages active learning and collaboration with a diversity of colleagues on behalf of wellbeing for all people and the planet. Suggested Applications--Making It Personal - Review the Summit of the Future website and familiarize yourself with the main documents and events in the lead up to the Summit. Identify a couple materials that you want to explore more.
- Read the Pact of the Future and note any thoughts and feelings that get stirred up for you. Are there things you strongly agree with, disagree with, or want to learn more about?
- Share this Update with your friends, colleagues, organization(s), and network(s). Discuss practical applications for your life and work.
See these Global Integration Updates: Warm greetings,
Kelly and Michèle   MCAresources@gmail.com
Featured Resources
UN Summit of the Future
22-23 September 2024
Preparing for the Global Summit
Reviewing the "Pact for the Future"
 "We believe there is a path to a better future for all of humanity. We are committed to meaningful changes to global governance to address new and emerging challenges. We commit to ensure the whole world – especially the most vulnerable – are ready for the vastly more complex challenges to come. We also commit to deliver on our existing commitments. We will re-earn the trust of our people and each other, which is the vital precondition for effective international cooperation.
Today, we pledge a new beginning in international cooperation with a new approach. We will cooperate to manage risks and harness opportunities for the benefit of all, guided by the principles of trust, equity, solidarity, and universality. We will collectively strive for a world that is safer, more peaceful, more just, more equal, more inclusive, more sustainable, and more prosperous." Pact for the Future (0 draft, paragraphs 5 and 6)
UN Summit of the Future
Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow Some Background
“The 75th Anniversary of the United Nations was marked in June 2020 with a declaration by Member States that included 12 overarching commitments along with a request to the Secretary-General for recommendations to address both current and future challenges. In September 2021, the Secretary-General responded with his report, Our Common Agenda, a wake-up call to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and propel the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration.
In some cases, the proposals addressed gaps that emerged since 2015, requiring new intergovernmental agreements. The report, therefore, called for a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus on readying ourselves for a future that is rife with risks but also opportunities. The General Assembly welcomed the submission of the “rich and substantive” report and agreed to hold the Summit on 22-23 September 2024, preceded by a ministerial meeting in 2023. An action-oriented Pact for the Future is expected to be agreed by Member States through intergovernmental negotiations on issues they decide to take forward.” (quote from UN website) "We already have the "what" in the form of many existing agreements and commitments, starting with the UN Charter and including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and many others. The Summit of the Future will look at the "how" – how do we cooperate better to deliver on the above aspiration and goals? How do we better meet the needs of the present while also preparing for the challenges of the future?" (quote from UN website)
Why the Summit Matters
"The world is not on track to meet the goals we have already set for ourselves. Nor are we effectively rising to new challenges or opportunities. The speed and complexity of developments have outpaced our systems for cooperating and coping. The benefits and opportunities of progress are spread unevenly, with the majority of people left behind. The risks and threats are also unevenly felt, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable.
Extreme poverty and hunger are on the march. Global emissions are at their highest levels in human history, as are levels of human displacement. Threats such as climate, conflict, food security, weapons of mass destruction, pandemics and health crises, and the risks associated with new technologies, are growing.
Multilateral governance, designed in simpler, slower times, is not adequate to today’s complex, interconnected, rapidly changing world. The Summit is an opportunity to put ourselves on a better path." (quote from UN website)
Explore and Engage
Summit of the Future: Learn how your organization, group or network can engage on the Summit
Preparation for the Zero Draft: View written submissions from NGOs and civil society and other stakeholders
Declaration on Future Generations: Find out how you can engage in the process towards the Declaration
Common Agenda: Have a look at 12 Policy Briefs developed in route to the Summit
"To achieve [the aspirations of the Pact], we reaffirm our commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and international law. We also reaffirm that the three pillars of the United Nations – development, peace and security, and human rights – are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. We further reaffirm that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
Every commitment in this Pact is guided by principles of human rights and gender equality and will contribute to their fulfilment. On the occasion of its seventy-fifth anniversary, we reaffirm the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined therein...We recognize that human rights are at the heart of peaceful, just and inclusive societies and need to be promoted and protected for the sake of current and future generations. We commit to stepping up our efforts to fight against racism, all forms of discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance." Pact for the Future (0 draft, paragraphs 7 and 8)
Personal Reflections
Being People of Faith-Hope-Love
As people of faith who practice Christian spirituality, we are committed to responsibly engage with others in the challenges facing our world, locally through globally, while holding firmly to our belief that we are in God's hands. We pray that God's purposes "will be done on earth as they are in heaven;" acknowledge that prayer, repentance, and relationship with God are key to human-planetary wellbeing; and live in hope for the time when God through Jesus Christ will decisively intervene in human history with equity--righteousness and justice--to restore all things. And in the meantime, we seek to embrace lifestyles of integrity that prioritize a deep, practical love for truth, peace, and people--and this includes being willing to acknowledge, resist, and confront evil in its many forms (starting with ourselves, etc.)
We do not want to further problematize our world's plight by focusing primarily on the negative. Rather we want to also promote the many examples of the good going forward, as people of integrity find common ground for the common good.
Finally, we want to highlight that the despair and disillusion that result from seemingly intractable problems like climate, conflicts, poverty, and corruption can also be quite positive. They can embody a crucial existential message about reality that can be "revisited"--explored and heeded--rather than simply "resisted." They can point us to Someone who is bigger than ourselves, the SDGs, humanity, and our world--the knowable, Eternal One who is both in and beyond space-time and who loves us all dearly.
The above thoughts build upon the Personal Reflections in Perils, Paralysis, Hope: Sustainable Development-Sustainable Destruction? (Global Integration Update, October 2022).
Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com
 Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations across sectors (e.g., mission, humanitarian, peace, health, and development sectors) as well as global mental health and integrity/anti-corruption, all with a view towards collaboratively supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, resource development, and publications.
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Global Integration (GI) is a framework for actively and responsibly engaging in our world--locally to globally. It emphasizes connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity, commitments, and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based). GI encourages a variety of people to be at the “global tables” and in the "global trenches"--and everything in-between--in order to help research, shape, and monitor agendas, policies, and action for all people and the planet. It intentionally links building the world we need with being the people we need. Our Global Integration Updates are designed to help shape and support the emerging diversity of global integrators who as learners-practitioners are committed to the "common ground for the common good." 2015-current (90+ issues).
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Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability;
it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God,
and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 1963) |
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