Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty participated in the opening session of the Future Summit on Sunday, where world leaders adopted the “Future Pact” and its two annexes, the “Declaration of Future Generations” and the “Global Digital Compact”.
The summit was held ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, with the aim of strengthening multilateral international action, particularly through the UN, and reforming global governance institutions to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Abdelatty expressed his appreciation for the UN Secretary-General’s leadership in initiating the Future Summit and his efforts to develop the multilateral international system. He highlighted Egypt’s active role in the negotiations for the summit’s outcomes, demonstrating the country’s belief in the need to strengthen dialogue and collaborative UN action to address global challenges. He emphasised the importance of reinforcing the three key pillars of UN work: achieving peace and security, promoting development, and upholding human rights.
On the sidelines of the opening session, Abdelatty met with several world leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Yemen’s Presidential Transitional Council President Rashad Al-Alimi, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, and Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
They confirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with Egypt and enhancing coordination and cooperation on issues of mutual interest, and reciprocated those sentiments, emphasising Egypt’s desire to further strengthen collaborative ties. He also met with the Prime Minister of Croatia, the Foreign Ministers of Algeria, Kenya, Eritrea, Nigeria, Monaco, and the Ugandan Minister of State.
Abdelatty met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. During their meeting, he reaffirmed Egypt’s continued support for the High Commissioner’s mandate and emphasised the importance of strengthening dialogue and cooperation with Türk and the Office of the High Commissioner.
He expressed Egypt’s desire to leverage the available expertise of the Office to support national efforts to promote human rights in line with Egypt’s national priorities, including through technical cooperation programs. He also expressed his desire to expand capacity-building programs for Egypt, including those aimed at supporting the implementation of the National Strategy for Human Rights.
Abdelatty reiterated Egypt’s commitment to continuing its efforts to promote human rights in a comprehensive manner. He emphasised the ongoing implementation of the National Strategy for Human Rights, which was developed through a purely national initiative to improve the overall climate for rights and freedoms. He mentioned submitting the second annual report on the implementation of the strategy to the President, highlighting the progress achieved in meeting its objectives.
He also discussed the resumption of national dialogue, involving all segments of society with diverse perspectives, as well as the reactivation of the Presidential Pardon Committee. He highlighted the launch of initiatives to strengthen economic, social, and cultural rights and uphold the rights of various groups in society.
This includes promoting citizenship, combating discrimination, protecting religious freedoms, and amending national legislation to strengthen the right to justice and fair trial guarantees, including a new draft of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He also affirmed Egypt’s commitment to fulfilling its treaty obligations under international human rights conventions to which it is a party.
The meeting also addressed regional developments, particularly the war in Gaza. Abdelatty expressed his appreciation for the High Commissioner’s continued focus on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the violations against civilians due to the Israeli aggression.
He emphasised the importance of continuing pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire agreement, end the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, allow the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and remove all obstacles to the entry of emergency humanitarian aid.
He also stressed the importance of engaging with major Western countries that champion human rights to pressure Israel to uphold international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
