At a recent UN online consultation with civil society on the implementation of the Pact for the Future facilitated by the Coalition for the UN We Need, several participants underlined the need for institutional reform and democratization of the United Nations.
Adopted at the UN’s Summit of the Future in September 2024, the Pact is an agreement intended to reinvigorate multilateralism, accelerate progress on existing commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and help prepare the UN to address emerging global challenges. While much of the discussion focused on practical steps for implementation and other issues, some civil society speakers used the opportunity to press for deeper reform.
Democracy Without Borders’ Executive Director Andreas Bummel recalled that ahead of the Summit more than 150 civil society groups had jointly called for institutional innovations to strengthen participation and representation at the UN. Among these proposals was the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly. He pointed out that the Pact contains a number of relevant commitments, including a pledge to enhance the engagement of NGOs with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and recognition of the need to involve national parliaments and other stakeholders more effectively. Bummel wondered whether the UN’s current Pact working group consultations are following up on these pledges and how civil society can be meaningfully included. Participation, he added, should not be confined to experts and NGOs alone. “Everyday citizens too should be engaged. Deliberative citizens’ assemblies are a tested mechanism to do that and we believe the UN should use that tool as well,” he said.
The UN should use the tool of deliberative citizens’ assemblies
A sense that the Pact negotiations fell short of what was needed was voiced by Tim Murithi of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. He described the process and its outcome as a missed opportunity to pursue more transformative reforms and warned that global civil society continues to find itself outside the UN’s relevant deliberations. What is required, he argued, is a general conference under Article 109 of the UN Charter, which cannot be vetoed by the permanent members of the Security Council. To underline the urgency, he concluded with a metaphor: “Some worry also that the UN baby will be thrown out with the bathwater. But in fact, the UN is no longer a baby, but an 80-year-old granny and in need of a major upgrade.”
That many of the Pact’s own commitments presuppose amendments to the UN Charter was emphasized by Heba Ali, the Executive Director of the UN Charter Reform Coalition. She argued that a review of the UN Charter could make the UN more effective and inclusive, create space for new institutions such as a climate council, and help define the post-SDG era. Some actions included in the Pact, she underlined, “explicitly require charter reform because they entail changes to the security council but many other actions would also benefit from charter reform.”
In response, Themba Kalua from the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General acknowledged that the Pact itself recognizes the UN system created in 1945 is no longer adequate for today’s challenges. While he stressed that pursuing UN Charter reform lies in the hands of UN member states, he encouraged civil society to continue advocating for greater participation and welcomed innovative ideas such as citizens’ assemblies as the UN prepares for the 2028 review of the Pact and advances the UN80 reform initiative.