Summit of the Future will bring world leaders together to debate global cooperation to address current critical challenges and look to a better future
In September, the UN, will host a meeting to discuss challenges and gaps in global governance and reaffirm existing commitments
Summit of the Future is an event that will bring together world leaders to review aspects of international frameworks in order to provide a better present and safeguard the future. It is scheduled to take place in 2024 and a series of consultations and meetings have been underway since 2023 to prepare for its realization.
The event aims to accelerate efforts to fulfil existing international commitments, such as the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda, while also taking concrete actions to address emerging challenges and opportunities.
To achieve these objectives, the Summit will develop an action plan called the Pact for the Future, outlining resolutions on how countries should act to fulfil international commitments.
Civil society and the Summit
With the aim of contributing to this process, Conectas has submitted a document with suggestions for two central topics to be addressed in the formulation of the Pact for the Future: international peace and security, as well as science, technology, innovation, and digital cooperation.
In the first point, the organisation considers that the drafting of the Pact should take into account attempts to criminalise social movements through the unwarranted expansion of the definition of terrorism. This reinforces the recommendations made to the Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights.
“The misuse of counter-terrorism perpetuates human rights abuses against civil society.” It says in the document.
Under the second point, Conectas expounds that, under the pretext of public security, combating organised crime, and terrorism, the acquisition of software and hacking techniques used for surveillance has grown in a number of countries, among them in Brazil. Furthermore, Conectas also addressed the alarming impact of misinformation and the use of digital platforms for the spread of hate speech and falsehoods that deeply impact democracy. Rules of transparency and due diligence in human rights should be considered in this debate.
“The debate on information integrity needs to be accompanied by a reflection on the governance standards of digital platforms,” concludes the document.
