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Decision on the Scope of the Summit of the Future: A Comprehensive Breakdown

Commentary

Contributed by Global Governance Innovation Network

Posted 21 November 2023

   

By Ishaan Shah

Background on the Intergovernmental Negotiations:
On Friday 1st September 2023, the UN General Assembly adopted the Decision on the Scope of the Summit of the Future by consensus.

Those following the negotiations will know that it has been a tough process. So let us unpack what has happened over the past five months.

Behind closed doors at the UN Headquarters in New York, Member States embarked on a tumultuous journey to find consensus on a framework for the Summit of the Future (SOTF). The Permanent Representatives of Germany and Namibia to the UN were appointed by the President of the General Assembly “to facilitate open, transparent and inclusive intergovernmental consultations on the preparatory process” of the SOTF.

These negotiations were for Member States to agree on a text that laid out the scope and elements of the Summit of the Future. It was purely meant to be a procedural process. However, this did not go according to plan. The negotiations quickly became a space where Member States were debating language and more
substantive issues - a process that is supposed to begin in January 2024.

Germany and Namibia as the co-facilitators of this process published several drafts of the Scope and Elements of the Summit of the Future which Member States could not agree on (a Zero Draft, Rev1, Rev2, and Rev3!). The most contentious issues include human rights, gender equality, youth, peace and security, technology transfer, common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR), and Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs), among others. The disagreements over these ‘elements’ caused negotiations to stall and led to their removal from the Decision entirely.

Hence, we went from having Scope and Elements to just the Scope of the Summit of the Future.

Read the complete breakdown below

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