Research Associate
Nudhara Yusuf
Co-Chair, 2024 United Nations Civil Society Conference; Executive Coordinator, Global Governance Innovation Network, Stimson |USA-DC
Short Bio:
Nudhara Yusuf is a Research Associate at the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program and Executive Coordinator of the Global Governance Innovation Network at Stimson. She previously worked with UNDP’s SDG Integration Team and Regional Bureau for Asia Pacific, as well as with the World Federation of UN Associations and the British Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. Ms. Yusuf is the Founder and Trustee of several grassroots NGOs in India and the UK, focusing on governance, globalization, emerging technologies, and youth engagement in multilateral institutions. She is Co-Chair of the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference and a fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Nudhara Yusuf has also been a fellow with UN University’s Center for Policy Research and an honorary advisor to the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY. Nudhara graduated with distinction in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from University College London.
Event: SDGs Conference 2024 | Date: Sept 25, 2024 |
SPEECH
I would like to share my highlights in three thematic areas by sharing reflections on the Summit of the Future process itself, pulling back to the Nairobi Conference on what we hope we started there and what actions civil society will continue to take forward and finally what do we think about the future implementation phases. On the 22nd of September, we saw the statement from the Russian Federation on the amendment to the Pact for the Future. We then witnessed something that I believe was very powerful; we saw the African group speak up for the Pact. We saw them come forward and indicate that what was created in 1945 is not the version of the United Nations we need; whereas we need a future-oriented United Nations that also speaks to the regions of the future. The support that came from the Africa Group was one of the most powerful outcomes of the Summit of the Future. The adopted text has a lot of aspects that I think civil society can unpack. There is enough content in the Pact that I think we can take some actions forward. But I also agree that many items were taken out at the last minute. It is worth keeping in mind though that 163 countries agreed to the latest version and these Member States are going to be powerful allies for us moving forward as civil society for this process.
Moving on, I would like to put on my civil society hat to summarize the Nairobi Conference. From the 9th to the 10th of May, we convened the Civil Society Conference in support of the Summit of the Future. It was the first civil society conference to take place in the global south and opened registration to stakeholders beyond just civil society. That was not easy to justify as when it comes to the protection of civic space, there are a lot of aspects and angles. However, we truly felt that this had to go beyond what civil society’s expectations of a process were, but how civil society can support and offer a process about revitalizing the United Nations. We are also very careful about ensuring that we do not homogenize the voice of civil society. This is important to keep in mind as I think that when we are talking about the voice of civil society, it may be very different for everyone. Our perspectives of the future are also not the same, but they are collective. We all have the same collective future, but our versions are different. Therefore, at the Nairobi Conference, we took out a statement at the end of the event. We summarized the discussions that took place and came up with a slightly different outcome. The conference brought together around 3000 people and 317 Member State representatives were present including 22 UN entities. We had %70 of participants from the African region, %58 women, and %40 young people. We were looking at a constituency that we do not usually see on the first and second avenues in New York. The outcome of the conference included 23 impact coalitions. As the negotiations were still happening, we already had several revisions of the text of the Pact for the Future.
We could either be late to make an input into the Pact or it could be early to start the conversation on implementation. We preferred prioritizing implementation. These 23 impact coalitions, in addition to some others involved later, concluded their work as a result of the Summit of the Future process. Some of these have integrated while some have merged. You can see the details on the UN Civil Society Conference website. They brought together champion member states, civil society groups, and the private sector. Frankly, you cannot have a conversation on artificial intelligence without the private sector in the room and not affecting the regulations and best practices including other international financial institutions. You need to have the fundamental institutions included, however flawed they may be, to have that conversation about reform and regulation.
The idea behind these impact coalitions is to bring together these stakeholders focused on specific issue areas, from financing for development, artificial intelligence, governance, climate and earth governance to planetary boundaries, and lead the implementation discussion on the Pact. Timewise, many of the impact coalitions that were launched in Nairobi were very active during the Action Days. They are also looking at the question of what comes next in terms of the Financing for Development Conference taking place in Spain, the AI Summit in France, and the upcoming Hamburg Sustainability Conference taking place on sustainable development and future generations. There are many hooks leading up to the World Social Summit next year. The question now is what we can do as civil society to not only be unmuted but unmute ourselves in the process as well. I should also note that there is a UNMUTE campaign that CIVICUS and The Coalition for the UN We Need is also part of this incredible work.
There are several points that we should address. Firstly, this Pact is heavy for civil society as there are many contexts including the annexes of the Declaration on Future Generations and the Global Digital Compact, which adds digital rights in terms of rights of the future. As civil society, we can be unpacking what that means for Member States, private sector champions, and other stakeholders who would like to get involved to support but do not speak the UN language. We should answer the following key questions: What are some of the key issues and actions? Who are the key anchors that we can work with? Then we need to map out who our champions are from Member States and other development stakeholders. We also need to form a timeline including our big milestones along the way from now to the World Social Summit with a perspective beyond the 2030 Agenda. As we are running out of time, where are we standing in terms of the future of the Sustainable Development Goals? I think we need to start mapping out those long timelines moving forward.
There was a lot of energy generated and new connections as a result of the Summit of the Future process. I think what is going to be so critical is what we do with this energy and connections now moving forward to help revitalize the Pact because we have only agreed on the action plan and now is the implementation time.