OUR COMMON AGENDA.

 

Report of the United Nations Secretary-General.

We are at an inflection point in history. In our biggest shared test since the Second World War, humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is upending our world, threatening our health, destroying economies and livelihoods and deepening poverty and inequalities. Conflicts continue to rage and worsen. The disastrous effects of a changing climate – famine, floods, fires and extreme heat – threaten our very existence. For millions of people around the world, poverty, discrimination, violence and exclusion are denying them their rights to the basic necessities of life: health, safety, a vaccination against disease, clean water to drink, a plate of food or a seat in a classroom. Increasingly, people are turning their backs on the values of trust and solidarity in one another – the very values we need to rebuild our world and secure a better, more sustainable future for our people and our planet. Humanity’s welfare – and indeed, humanity’s very future – depend on solidarity and working together as a global family to achieve common goals. For people, for the planet, for prosperity and for peace. Last year, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, Member States agreed that our challenges are interconnected, across borders and all other divides. These challenges can only be addressed by an equally interconnected response, through reinvigorated multilateralism and the United Nations at the centre of our efforts. Member States asked me to report back with recommendations to advance our common agenda. This report is my response. In preparing the report, we have engaged with a broad array of stakeholders, including Member States, thought leaders, young people, civil society and the United Nations system and its many partners. One message rang through loud and clear: the choices we make, or fail to make, today could result in further breakdown, or a breakthrough to a greener, better, safer future. The choice is ours to make; but we will not have this chance again. That is why Our Common Agenda is, above all, an agenda of action designed to accelerate the implementation of existing agreements, including the Sustainable Development Goals. First, now is the time to re-embrace global solidarity and find new ways to work together for the common good. This must include a global vaccination plan to deliver vaccines against COVID-19 into the arms of the millions of people who are still denied this basic lifesaving measure. Moreover, it must include urgent and bold steps to address the triple crisis of climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution destroying our planet.

In this spirit, I propose a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus on what our future should look like, and what we can do today to secure it. Humanity has shown time and time again that it is capable of great achievements when we work together. This common agenda is our road map to recapture this positive spirit and begin rebuilding our world and mending the trust in one another we need so desperately at this moment in history. Now is the time to take the next steps in our journey together, in solidarity with and for all people.

Second, now is the time to renew the social contract between Governments and their people and within societies, so as to rebuild trust and embrace a comprehensive vision of human rights. People need to see results reflected in their daily lives. This must include the active and equal participation of women and girls, without whom no meaningful social contract is possible. It should also include updated governance arrangements to deliver better public goods and usher in a new era of universal social protection, health coverage, education, skills, decent work and housing, as well as universal access to the Internet by 2030 as a basic human right. I invite all countries to conduct inclusive and meaningful national listening consultations so all citizens have a say in envisioning their countries’ futures.

 Third, now is the time to end the “infodemic” plaguing our world by defending a common, empirically backed consensus around facts, science and knowledge. The “war on science” must end. All policy and budget decisions should be backed by science and expertise, and I am calling for a global code of conduct that promotes integrity in public information. 

Fourth, now is the time to correct a glaring blind spot in how we measure economic prosperity and progress. When profits come at the expense of people and our planet, we are left with an incomplete picture of the true cost of economic growth. As currently measured, gross domestic product (GDP) fails to capture the human and environmental destruction of some business activities. I call for new measures to complement GDP, so that people can gain a full understanding of the impacts of business activities and how we can and must do better to support people and our planet. 

Fifth, now is the time to think for the long term, to deliver more for young people and succeeding generations and to be better prepared for the challenges ahead. Our Common Agenda includes recommendations for meaningful, diverse and effective youth engagement both within and outside the United Nations, including through better political representation and by transforming education, skills training and lifelong learning. I am also making proposals, such as a repurposed Trusteeship Council, a Futures Lab, a Declaration on Future Generations and a United Nations Special Envoy to ensure that policy and budget decisions take into account their impact on future generations. We also need to be better prepared to prevent and respond to major global risks. It will be important for the United Nations to issue a Strategic Foresight and Global Risk Report on a regular basis, and I also propose an Emergency Platform, to be convened in response to complex global crises. Sixth, now is the time for a stronger, more networked and inclusive multilateral system, anchored within the United Nations. Effective multilateralism depends on an effective United Nations, one able to adapt to global challenges while living up to the purposes and principles of its Charter. For example, I am proposing a new agenda for peace, multi-stakeholder dialogues on outer space and a Global Digital Compact, as well as a Biennial Summit between the members of the Group of 20 and of the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General and the heads of the international financial institutions. Throughout, we need stronger involvement of all relevant stakeholders, and we will seek to have an Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments. For 75 years, the United Nations has gathered the world around addressing global challenges: from conflicts and hunger, to ending disease, to outer space and the digital world, to human rights and disarmament. In this time of division, fracture and mistrust, this space is needed more than ever if we are to secure a better, greener, more peaceful future for all people. Based on this report, I will ask a High-level Advisory Board, led by former Heads of State and Government, to identify global public goods and other areas of common interest where governance improvements are most needed, and to propose options for how this could be achieved.

KEY FORWARD

1. In the declaration on the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations (General Assembly resolution 75/1), Member States tasked me to report before the end of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly with recommendations to advance Our Common Agendaand to respond to current and future challenges. In response, in addition to involving the United Nations system as a whole, I embarked upon a process of reflection, consisting of four tracks engaging a broad array of stakeholders, including Member States, prominent thought leaders, young people and civil society. The process built on the year-long anniversary global listening exercise, when over 1.5 million people from all 193 Member States took part in an online survey. Polling firms also conducted surveys in 70 countries. These consultations showed significant public support for international cooperation and a desire for more networked, inclusive and effective multilateralism in the future.   

2. Engagement with Member States began with a letter to all permanent representatives and observers on 8 October 2020 laying out the process and inviting them to share their views. On 15 December 2020, the President of the General Assembly convened an informal encounter at which I shared some initial reflections and listened to views from the floor. In 2021, the United Nations Foundation, a key partner in this exercise, convened a series of breakfast dialogues with Member States organized around the 12 themes of the seventyfifth anniversary declaration. On 8 July 2021, I again participated in an informal dialogue with the Assembly to share and hear more ideas.   

3. To enrich the reflection process, I invited a geographically diverse, gender-balanced group of thought leaders to contribute their ideas on on or more of the 12 themes from the declaration. I issued a similar invitation to several high-level groups of experts, practitioners and former leaders. In response, we received many insightful papers, videos and presentations and heard directly from some thought leaders in the breakfast dialogues and elsewhere.   

4. In line with my determination that young people should be the designers of their own futures, I provided young thinkers and leaders with dedicated opportunities to contribute. A group of next generation fellows hosted by the United Nations Foundation built on the consultations on the seventy-fifth anniversary with young people, with guidance from my Envoy on Youth, convening a series of action groups on thematic priorities through a “big brainstorm” and holding national conversations with young people who had not previously engaged with the United Nations. The fellows worked intensively with youth-led networks and organizations from across the world and held intergenerational dialogues with policymakers. Their work informed my recommendations on young people and future generations. They have also set out their own vision, ideas and proposals in a report entitled “Our future agenda”. 

5. In keeping with the vision of more networked and inclusive multilateralism, and in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations, I also consulted widely with “we the peoples” of our world, including civil society, parliamentarians, think tanks, the private sector, subnational leaders and city networks, underrepresented groups and other non-government partners. This was supported by the United Nations Foundation and the Igarapé Institute, along with a network of global partners from all regions, including the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (South Africa), Southern Voice (a network of 50 think tanks from Africa, Asia and Latin America) and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore. Every effort was made to ensure that the reflection process included a wide range of voices from all regions, including through an experimental digital consultation exercise overseen by the Igarapé Institute, which generated more than 520 proposals from over 1,750 participants, including from organizations with several million members, in 147 countries and in six languages. 6. The rich array of perspectives and inputs received greatly enhanced the ideas laid out in the report of Our Common Agenda and I am enormously grateful to all those who contributed.