Monrovia, Liberia – The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) says heads of state would agree on enhancements to the basis of global cooperation at a final discussions in New York, United States of America for September’s Summit of the Future.
In a statement dated August 12, 2024 titled “OP-ED on the Summit of the Future,” Guterres disclosed that the United Nations called the special Summit due to a startling fact: “global problems are moving faster than the institutions designed to solve them.”
Mr. Guterres said, fierce conflicts and violence are causing great suffering; geopolitical divisions are rampant; inequality and injustice are all around, eroding trust, compounding grievances, and feeding populism and extremism; adding that the age-old issues of poverty, hunger, discrimination, sexism and racism are taking on new forms.
The Secretary General of the UN then noted that the world faces new and existential threats from catastrophic climate and environmental devastation to technologies like artificial intelligence developing in an ethical and legal void.
According to him, the Summit of the Future recognizes that although the wold possesses the solutions to all the issues, the world needs a system upgrade only provided by world leaders.
Seeking ways to close the digital divide and establish shared principles for an open, free and safe digital future for all, he said the Summit will also focus on new technologies with a worldwide impact.
“International decision-making is stuck in a time warp. Many global institutions and tools are a product of the 1940s an era before globalization, before decolonization, before widespread recognition of universal human rights and gender equality, before humanity travelled into space never mind cyberspace.”
He said despite the continent of Africa lacks a permanent seat, the winners of World War II still hold pre-eminence on the UN Security Council. He claimed that the global financial architecture is mostly weighted against underdeveloped nations and lacks a safety net when they encounter problems, therefore drowning them in debt and depleting funds for investments in their people.
“And global institutions offer limited space for many of the major players in today’s world – from civil society to the private sector. Young people who will inherit the future are almost invisible, while the interests of future generations go unrepresented.”
“We cannot create a future fit for our grandchildren with a system built for our grandparents,” the UN Secretary General said. Re-boot multilateral cooperation suited for the twenty-first century will be presented at the Summit of the Future.
Guterres maintained that the UN Security Council is among the alternatives the UN has suggested for upgrading international institutions and capabilities to prevent and terminate wars, therefore addressing a New Agenda for Peace.
The New Agenda for Peace, he said, calls for a fresh campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction as well as for redefining security to include gang and gender-based violence.
“It takes future security threats into account, recognizing the changing nature of warfare and the risks of weaponizing new technologies. For example, we need a global agreement to outlaw so-called Lethal Autonomous Weapons that can take life-or-death decisions without human input.”
Reported by: Prince Saah
Contact: +231778239813
Email: saahprince119@gmail.com
