Youth and future generations to come are due to an inherit a series of pressing international challenges – from global instability, to rising sea levels and the threat of disappearing nations.

At the 79^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, held in September 2024, UN member states unanimously adopted the Pact for the Future, a pact designed to try and mitigate some of these pressing challenges. The Pact committed Member States and the UN system to mobilise around four actions for youth and future generations – investing in the social and economic development of children and youth; protecting the rights of young people and strengthening meaningful youth participation at the national and international level. The central theme to these actions is the recognition of youth and future generations as key stakeholders in decision-making processes, and the urgent need to act with, by and for them in the implementation of the UN’s  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Globally, around 1 billion children live in extreme poverty, 1.4 billion lack social protection, and 47.2 million have been displaced due to conflict or violence. With most of these young people living in developing nations, there is a pressing need to address the development gaps faced by them. The Pact offers a commitment by Member States to step up and address these issues by promoting innovation, investment, resource mobilisation, and positive social and economic policies.

These problems are not distant from British society though, with millions of children and adolescents growing up in poverty in the UK. Having agreed to address these matters in the Pact, the UK will have to follow through on its commitments at the domestic level, as well as supporting developing nations with their efforts in promoting and respecting the social, cultural, economic and fundamental rights of every child and young person.

Youth Inclusion

In doing so, nations should also commit to working with and including youth in domestic and global decision-making to ensure policies enacted for young people, are created and shaped with them. As the Secretary-General noted in his Our Common Agenda Policy Brief on Youth Engagement, shying away from the meaningful inclusion of youth in policymaking may result in policies that are “divorced from young people’s realities, expertise and solutions”.

At an international level, the achievement of the SDGs relies on young people being recognised as partners in decision-making and implementation. Across a variety of different issues, mechanisms for youth engagement have already been established such as the Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP), SDG4 Youth Network, WHO Youth Council, alongside many others. The further strengthening of these spaces through formal recognition in policy process will be essential in fulfilling Action 37 (a) of the Pact, whereby countries have committed to meaningful, inclusive and effective engagement of young people in UN and intergovernmental processes. Furthermore, the Pact also encourages the inclusion of UN Youth Delegates, which I recommended the UK reestablish in my last piece for the BFPG.

The Pact not only calls for furthering the meaningful engagement of youth at the international level, but also the domestic level as well. The text recommends feasible actions such as national youth consultation mechanisms, intergenerational dialogues, increasing the number of young people in political institutions, and supporting youth-led and focused organisations. Most of the Pact’s commitments related to domestic-level youth engagement are notably absent within a UK context, and if the UK wishes to lead on international youth engagement, it will also have to address domestic youth engagement as well.

Lastly, the Pact also includes an annexed Declaration on Future Generations, outlining the international community’s recognition that in years to come a new generation will inherit the world. Consequently, thinking in the name of those who are yet to be born is of critical importance for a future-focused sustainable policymaking that ensures the society and planet they inherit is clean, equitable, safe, peaceful and prosperous.

While these commitments are non-binding, they serve as critical and urgent actionable steps that governments around the world must take for the future direction of multilateral cooperation. Centralising the role of children and youth in that trajectory is an important step outlined in the Pact for the Future, and the UK must play its part in making the text a reality.