Summit of the Future No 6: Update on Virtual Consultation and submission of written inputs

The Summit of the Future (SOTF) Secretariat in the United Nations Secretariat has circulated the attached Invitation to Participate in Virtual Consultation and Submit Written Inputs. Please read it carefully as it provides important information about the virtual consultation with the co-facilitators on 13 December and the guidelines for submitting written inputs 

We would, particularly, draw your attention to the following:

Virtual consultation

• Deadline for registering for the virtual consultation is 10 December, midnight Eastern (New York) time. 
• Information on requesting to take the floor can be found in the letter from the co-facilitators

Written inputs for the zero-draft of the Pact for the Future

Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS), other CSO networks an.d organizations, NGOs, the private sector, and academia are invited to make written inputs for the zero-draft of the Pact for the Future, which will be the main outcome document for the SOTF

The following are included in the guidelines:

• The scope of the Pact for the Future is set out, in General Assembly Decision 77/568
• The template for submissions must be in Word format
• There is a form to be used for submitting inputs
• The length must be no longer than 2000 words
• Only one submission per organization or network will be published (on the Summit of the Future website), and coordinated work in developing inputs is encouraged

Commat’s additional comments: 

The enabling resolution in A/RES/76/307 specifies that organizations in consultative and other CSOs will be invited to the Summit itself. It also states in para 17 that MGoS are encouraged to “participate and engage in the preparatory process”.  This is in line with the procedures used for CSO in the development of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, whereby MGoS had identified seats in the meeting room and at times were called on to make oral interventions during the negotiations. It differs from the processes for CSO participation in the work of the UN Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary Commissions and Committees. 

The emphasis, moreover, is on group interventions both during the virtual consultations and in written submissions. In addition in making submissions, under the chapeau and the individual chapters in the Pact for the Future, organizations’ recommendations should be “concise, concrete, and action-oriented”.

The link to the Summit of the Future website is: https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future