Russia attempts to boycott Future Summit

The first day of official sessions of the UN Future Summit began with great controversy on Sunday (22), after an initial intervention by the Russian delegation, which categorically rejected the document negotiated for months, called the Future Pact. The Russians asked for the text to be changed, arguing that it “only benefits the West”.

The Future Pact aims to lay the foundations for reform of the Security Council, UN financial institutions and a greater commitment to climate.

Until today, Russia’s efforts to moderate the content of the document were known, but it was expected that it would be approved in the General Assembly by consensus of the 193 States, which ended up not happening.

“There was no meeting where all delegations sat down to study the document paragraph by paragraph. Amendments were introduced only to benefit Western countries. This cannot be called multilateralism. It is a huge failure for the UN principle of sovereign equality of states,” the Russian delegation said.

Russia’s representatives also said the pact violates the principle of non-interference. “It fails to take into account that it is the West that is not fulfilling its obligations under the Sustainable Development Goals, and this lack of commitment is always blamed on the global South,” they added.

Dictatorships aligned with the Russian position

Russia’s attempt to boycott the bill, through an amendment to the text, was rejected with another motion, presented by the African group and led by Congo, to not go ahead.

The motion in favor of not including the Russian amendment was supported by 143 countries, 15 abstentions and seven votes against (Russia itself, Sudan, North Korea, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria and Belarus).

Alongside Russia in criticizing the document was the delegation from Venezuela, a country led by dictator Nicolás Maduro. The Venezuelans spoke of an “arrogant attitude” on the part of Western countries, which does not respect “the sacred principle of non-interference in the affairs of other states.”

The adoption of the Pact for the Future, from which Russia has also declared it will withdraw, must be done by consensus and is accompanied in a complementary manner by a Digital Pact to reach an agreement on new ways of regulating challenges such as artificial intelligence (AI) and a Declaration for Future Generations.

UN Secretary-General speaks of “rescuing multilateralism from the abyss”

The Future Summit session at the General Assembly continued with remarks from UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said the meeting aims to “rescue multilateralism from the abyss”.

“On peace and security, it would also be a step forward to make the Security Council more reflective of today’s world, addressing the historical underrepresentation of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America,” Guterres said.