What does the Global Pact for the Future mean for children?

The UN General Assembly has adopted the Pact for the Future, an agreement between States for how they will work together to respond to some of the future’s biggest challenges. But what does it mean for children and children’s rights?

Yesterday, the UN General Assembly adopted the Pact for the Future. After years of work, five complete revisions - and one final, last-minute attempt from Russia to limit the application of the Pact to prevent it interfering in domestic affairs - it was finally adopted.

But what is the Pact, exactly, and what does it mean for children?

What is the Pact for the Future?

The Pact is an agreement between States for how they will work together to respond to some of the future’s biggest challenges. Climate change, artificial intelligence, armed conflict and reforming the UN all feature heavily in its listed concerns.

The Pact is split into five chapters:

Sustainable development and financing for development
International peace and security
Science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation
Youth and future generations
Global governance

As part of the Pact, the General Assembly also adopted two other documents. The Global Digital Compact sets out how States aim to respond to emerging technology, while the Declaration on Future Generations sets out a series of pledges for how States will promote the needs and interests of people who do not yet exist, though very little on their rights.

What does the Pact say about children and children’s rights?

From its earliest drafts, the children’s rights community has been critical of the Pact for failing to properly address children. Its “zero draft” - the first version of the text to be published - had a significant focus on “youth” but referred to children only five times.

While there is significantly more focus on children in the Pact’s final version, this tendency to group together children and youth remains. There is also a failure to fully reflect the specific obligations that States have to children under international human rights law.

As the Pact has developed, there has been resistance from some States and civil society organisations to explicitly refer to rights and obligations, for children and more generally. While there has been progress on this front - with greater focus on rights within the Pact’s final text - at several points, there are references to addressing needs of young people in situations where children already have a right (and States an obligation to realise that right).

Youth and future generations

The bulk of content related to children is in the chapter on “Youth and Future Generations”.

Here, the Pact recognises that youth and future generations are distinct groups, an important addition as children have specific rights and protections under human rights law. These rights and protections are distinct from those for young adults and future generations, and failure to recognise the differences between groups risks each members’ independent rights. Despite this general recognition, however, the Pact frequently uses the term “young people” to conflate children and youth, in places neglecting the specific rights of children.

The Pact reaffirms the importance of ensuring the full enjoyment of the rights of all young persons. Within this goal, there is a commitment to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery and trafficking - especially that of women and children - and to eliminate all forms of child labour. There is also a particular focus on stepping up the fight against racism, addressing challenges faced by young women and girls as well as eliminating barriers that hinder young persons with disabilities.

Reflecting other sections of the Pact, there is also a decision to address the adverse impact of climate change as well as other environmental challenges that threaten the ability of young persons “to enjoy their human rights and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment”. Notably, however, this call falls short of recognising the right of children and young people to a healthy and sustainable environment.

This chapter also gives attention to the social and economic development of children, including ensuring equitable access to essential services for all children and young people - particularly health, education and social protection. There is a commitment to scale up investment in these services, to speed up efforts to achieve universal health coverage and to support “developing countries” to increase investment in education and skills, especially early childhood education.

There is also a substantial focus on strengthening “youth participation”, both nationally and within the United Nations. While the Pact does address the need to meaningfully involve young people in policy-making, support the development of youth-focused organisations and the inclusion of young people within national delegations to the United Nations, there is no explicit mention of children in this section of the Pact. This is a disappointing development, particularly given the Secretary-General’s commitment earlier last year in his Guidance Note on Child Rights Mainstreaming to include the meaningful participation of children across the UN. The involvement of young people in national and international processes commonly privileges older children and young adults, excluding younger children. A meaningful commitment to including all children in these processes would have significantly strengthened this section of the Pact.

Armed conflict

Children are also specifically addressed within the provisions on protecting civilians in armed conflict. The Pact commits to accelerate the implementation of commitments under the children and armed conflict agenda. It also includes a welcome commitment to redouble efforts to end impunity and ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian law.

The Global Digital Compact

The Global Digital Compact contains a substantial focus on children including a significant commitment to “strengthen legal and policy frameworks to protect the rights of the child in the digital space, in line with international human rights law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child”. This emphasis on ensuring legal reforms on digital issues are based on both human rights broadly and children’s rights specifically, which has been an important goal for civil society during the negotiations for the Compact. It is positive to see this commitment explicitly recognised. The intention to counter child sexual exploitation and abuse online alongside protecting privacy and free expression also reflects important demands from civil society to protect all children’s rights online.

What will happen next?

With the text agreed, it’s a waiting game. We’ll have to see if States really mean what they say and act to implement the Pact. States have so far made pledges of 1.05 billion USD to advance digital inclusion - and this is just a small part of the Pact’s concerns and a tiny percentage of what it would cost to implement their actions as a whole. The commitments on climate change will also be tested at COP29 in November this year.

It remains to be seen whether talk of Security Council reform is more than just words. A global summit alone doesn’t change anything, what happens next is the true test. How will the Pact exist in the world it seeks to protect?

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