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‘Pact for the Future’ Shows UNGA Has Become Tool to Ramrod West’s Interests

© Sputnik / POOL / Go to the mediabankRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters, in New York City, the United States.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters, in New York City, the United States. - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.10.2024
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The United Nations General Assembly pushed through the Pact for the Future on September 22. Russia advised against adopting what it called “a raw and non-consensual text," and then made an attempt to introduce an amendment to the pact, but the effort was voted down.
By and large, the UN General Assembly has become a tool used by the West to promote its interests, Igor Shatrov, head of the Expert Council of Russia’s Strategic Development Fund, told Sputnik.
“Most of the decisions that are made at the level of the General Assembly proceed from the position that Western countries adhere to,” he noted.
This explains why the Russia-proposed amendment to the Pact for the Future adopted at the opening of the two-day Summit of the Future at UNGA based on “the principle of non-interference in matters within domestic jurisdiction of a state” drew a negative response, he explained.

The proposed amendment reaffirmed the key role of the intergovernmental nature of UN decision-making, stressing the need to avoid “duplication of efforts” and to achieve maximum efficiency of UN resources. However, a recorded vote of 143 in favor to 7 against (Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, Sudan, Syria), with 15 abstentions, dismissed the draft amendment.

The West inherently perceives international politics as interference in the affairs of other states in its own interests,” Shatrov said, which is why the Russian proposal was snubbed.
However, not all countries are ready to toe the West’s line, he added, referring to the 40 or so UN member states that did not express their unequivocal support for the pact.

“Amid the escalating confrontation between the West and Russia, many countries have begun to align themselves with Moscow’s position rather than that of Western states, prompting the emergence of new formats such as BRICS,” he remarked.

The Pact for the Future, like all documents issued by UNGA, is advisory in nature, the pundit noted, unlike the mandatory decisions of the UN Security Council.

The main text of the pact covers five themes: international peace and security; science, technology, innovation, and digital partnership; youth and the next generation; and the transformation of global governance. The three core documents of the pact are: Pact for the Future (with commitments on sustainable development and the 2015 Paris climate agreement), Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations.

The blueprint pledges action towards a multitude of apparently admirable goals, such as the eradication of poverty, building peaceful, inclusive communities, the revival of trust in global institutions, etc. However, it is short on specifics, as “we do not see any scenarios” for how to how to deliver on these goals, Shatrov summed up, adding:
“Therefore, this is simply a document that outlines the situation at the moment, but it does not carry any other content.”
The Pact for the Future pushed through by UNGA on September 22 was branded a “huge defeat for the UN” by Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin.
From the very outset, those who coordinated the work on the draft included in it only what was dictated to them mainly by Western countries… What happened is a huge defeat for the UN, because the principle of the sovereign equality of states, which is enshrined in the Charter, was cynically sacrificed to one group of countries whose interests had been carefully safeguarded for all these months… Never before have we witnessed such despotism on the UN platform,” Vershinin stated.
Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy called the pact “a huge blow to the organization as a whole.” The pact is “unbalanced” and contains “very dangerous provisions which will backfire and undermine multilateralism and intergovernmental nature of the UN upheld by the UN Charter,” he posted on X.
© Photo : Dpol_unScreenshot of X post by First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Screenshot of X post by First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy. - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.10.2024
Screenshot of X post by First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
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