Our institutions simply can’t keep up: Guterres

The United Nation’s flagship event that kicks off the High-Level week of the UN General Assembly is an essential first step towards making global institutions, more legitimate, effective and fit for purpose.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres says members states are still negotiating the parameters of the three agreements for the upcoming Summit of the Future, starting on Sunday.

The three agreements namely: A Pact for the Future, a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration for Future Generations will be adopted at the gathering.

Guterres asked that the final days of negotiations be worthwhile saying the challenges of the global collective are moving faster than the ability to solve them.

The UN Chief making the case for member states to be ambitious in their formulation of the three agreements set to be adopted at the Summit of the Future.

It is described as a pivotal gathering uniting leaders from across the globe to redefine our path towards a brighter future – from creating collaborative guardrails on Artificial intelligence, modernizing the international financial architecture to reforming multilateral institutions towards greater efficacy.

“Why is this so critical? The Summit of the Future was born out of a cold, hard fact: international challenges are moving faster than our ability to solve them. We see out-of-control geo-political divisions and runaway conflicts – not least in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and beyond. Runaway climate change. Runaway inequalities and debt. Runaway development of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence – without guidance or guardrails. And our institutions simply can’t keep up. Crises are interacting and feeding off each other – for example, as digital technologies spread climate disinformation that deepens distrust and fuels polarization. Global institutions and frameworks are totally inadequate to deal with these complex and even existential challenges. And it’s no great surprise. Those institutions were born in a bygone era for a bygone world.”

Guterres argued that the 21st Century challenges required global problem-solving mechanisms that were more effective, networked and inclusive.

“That serious power imbalances in global institutions must be adjusted and updated; And that our institutions must draw on the expertise and representation of all of humanity. Change will not happen overnight. But it can start today. And when we look at the work that was already done in preparation for the Summit of the Future, we see movement in the right direction. The strongest language on Security Council reform in a generation – and the most concrete step towards Council enlargement since 1963. The first set of governance measures for new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, in all their applications — with the UN at its centre. A major advance in reform of the International Financial Architecture with the most significant language yet strengthening the role of developing countries.”

And while the issue of reform is a central theme to the Summit, questions about the power imbalances will remain, particularly around the continued existence of the Veto for just five members in the Security Council that appears to be going nowhere.

“If you think that I like vetoes, obviously, I don’t if you think that I’m convinced that it will be possible to abolish the veto – I would be lying to you. I think that, it is easier to, have an agreement on the expansion of the council on the new permanent members and on a number of, I would say improvements in the transparency and procedure of the Council and in the increased role of the General Assembly. I think those all those things are possible, and I’m hoping for progress in all of them. I am skeptical about the possibility to have an abolition of the veto. That doesn’t mean, as I said, that I like it.”

UNGA High-Level Week | Summit of the future