Can the UN's Summit for the Future tackle today’s toughest challenges?

09/17/24 • 36 min

This month the United Nations (UN) will host the ‘Summit of the Future’ in New York. What's the point of this high-level event? Inside Geneva investigates.
“The UN is not an entity that does anything. I mean, we can all blame it, but what is the UN? It’s just the sum of its parts: the governments,” says Christiane Oelrich, journalist for the DPA German Press Agency.

Is the UN’s 1945 structure even fit for purpose?

“Historically the UN for many people is still associated with the West. And the question of including the global south still haunts the UN,” continues analyst Daniel Warner.

Does the UN have an answer to today’s brutal, intractable conflicts?

“Since World War Two there have been plenty of conflicts, but what we have seen in the last three or four or five years is the use of aggression and violence as an instrument of foreign policy. Yes, that’s right,” says Nick Cumming-Bruce, contributor for the New York Times.

Can more peaceful nations rescue the UN’s purpose?

“The fact that some countries follow the path of aggression doesn't mean that all the rest of the world has to talk about failure now,” adds Oelrich.

And is the summit a gamble for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres?

“We should tip a hat to Antonio Guterres for even trying to do this given all of the stuff that's going on,” says Imogen Foulkes, Inside Geneva presenter.

Join us on Inside Geneva to find out more about what we can expect from this summit.

Get in touch!

Email us at [email protected]
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

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Host: Imogen Foulkes
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Is the UN’s 1945 structure even fit for purpose?

“Historically the UN for many people is still associated with the West. And the question of including the global south still haunts the UN,” continues analyst Daniel Warner.

Does the UN have an answer to today’s brutal, intractable conflicts?

Can more peaceful nations rescue the UN’s purpose?

“The fact that some countries follow the path of aggression doesn't mean that all the rest of the world has to talk about failure now,” adds Oelrich.

And is the summit a gamble for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres?

“We should tip a hat to Antonio Guterres for even trying to do this given all of the stuff that's going on,” says Imogen Foulkes, Inside Geneva presenter.

Join us on Inside Geneva to find out more about what we can expect from this summit.

Get in touch!

Email us at [email protected]
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Previous Episode

Special episode: Can the WTO shape a fairer world economy?

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The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum is underway in Geneva and its key theme is ‘re-globalisation’. Are we nervous of that word? Inside Geneva sat down with WTO officials to find out what it means.

“Trade has been a very powerful force for reducing between-country inequality. Since 1995, for example, since the foundation of the WTO, extreme poverty in the world has been reduced from 40% to 10%, because of growth in many countries that was also export-led,” says Ralph Ossa, WTO chief economist.

Many ordinary people think global trade makes them poorer. How can it benefit them?

“At the WTO, our members have gotten together and many of them have formed a working group on trade and gender to especially put the lens of women to trade policy and to see what more can be done so that they can take advantage of opportunities,” says Johanna Hill, WTO Deputy Director.

The WTO doesn’t tell countries how to run their industries, but it does hope they can learn from one another.

“Perhaps one member might say, ‘Well, you know, supporting women in my country has really been a tremendous success. Because now we see higher growth rates, lower poverty rates and so on. Why don't you give it a try yourself?’” says Ossa.

Can global trade help us face global challenges?

“Nobody questions the importance of regulating to protect the environment or to protect health - everybody agrees on that. It’s the how that might be the question,” says Hill.

Join host Imogen Foulkes for a trade special on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at [email protected]
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Next Episode

Forty years of the convention against torture: are we honouring it?

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For 40 years, there has been an absolute ban on torture. But it still happens...

“Horrific things can happen to you. Nobody is there to help you. Nobody is there to document it, etc. And I think sometimes we speak about torture without putting ourselves in the shoes of what this is,” says Gerald Staberock from the World Organisation Against Torture.

On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, host Imogen Foulkes finds out how the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came about.

“The convention came in the 1980s, arising out of terrible situations in Latin America, the dictatorships in Chile and Argentina in particular. And of course, torture, enforced disappearances, and killings were used as a matter of course to suppress their populations and to suppress opposition,” explains Alice Edwards, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Today, some say torture might be justified in certain circumstances.

“We didn’t outlaw torture because it works or not. We didn’t outlaw slavery because it doesn’t work. We didn’t outlaw robbery because it doesn’t work, but because it is wrong,” says Staberock.

As of today, 174 states have ratified the convention...but are they honouring it?

“There is pushback, it’s definitely on the rise I would say because torture is also on the rise. Torture is universally condemned but widely practised,” continues Edwards.

How should we mark the 40th anniversary?

“So much more has to be done to really eradicate torture. We have to recognise that it is still a problem, and we have to recognise it as a problem. For a torturer, for individuals, for society. A society that tortures is a sick society,” says Staberock.

Join host Imogen Foulkes on Inside Geneva.

Get in touch!

Email us at [email protected]
Twitter: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_en

Inside Geneva - Can the UN's Summit for the Future tackle today’s toughest challenges?

Transcript

Speaker 200:00:07.650

This is Inside Geneva . I'm your host , imogen Foulkes , and this is a production from Swissinfo , the international public media company of Switzerland .

Speaker 300:00:19.957

In today's programme , Today's global order is not working for everyone . In fact ,

Speaker 300:00:26.577

I would go further and say it's not working for anyone .