What’s in the news?

• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted an ambitious pact – “Pact for the Future” – that aims to make the organisation more relevant and effective on the global stage in the 21st century.
• Russia and Iran were among seven nations to oppose the “Pact for the Future”, but they failed to prevent the document from proceeding during the summit that ran on Sunday and Monday.

What’s the Pact for the Future?

• The pact adopted by UNGA includes a pledge to move faster towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement commitments on climate change. 
• It speaks of addressing the root causes of conflicts and accelerating commitments on human rights, including women’s rights.
• It also includes Global Digital Impact, dealing with regulating artificial intelligence (AI), and the Declaration on Future Generations, which pushes for national and international decision-making to focus on securing the wellbeing of generations to come.

• The pact sets out a promise to revitalise obligations and commitments on disarmament of nuclear and biological weapons, “renew trust in global institutions” by making them more representative and responsive, and promote and protect human rights, including through fighting racism and xenophobia. 
• Reflecting growing dissatisfaction with deadlock and lack of global representation in the UN Security Council (UNSC), the document pledges to redress the historical injustice against Africa as a priority and improve representation for Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. 
• The Pact of the Future adds that it wants to accelerate the reform of the international financial architecture, bolster response to global shocks, and improve cooperation on exploring outer space and preventing an arms race there.