United Nations Summit of the Future

September 22-23, 2024 in New York City, USA International United Nations HQ

A “Once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate global action, recommit to fundamental principles, and further develop the frameworks of multilateralism so they are fit for the future”.

-UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Our delegates (see below) participated in the Arts for the Future Festival, the Summit of the Future Action Days, and the Summit of the Future 2024 meeting itself. The team’s activities included performing in the streets of NYC and watching the historic vote where world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future and its annexes: the Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.

Finally, the week culminated in listening to over 220 world leaders and other UN stakeholder organizations over the course of two days, as they presented their closing remarks. One by one they expressed both their hopes and their lingering concerns about the financial resourcing and global multilateral cooperation that will be required to achieve the objectives of the Pact and its annexes.

There is work ahead for all of us.

International Human Rights Consortium - Our takeaways from the Summit

Recapping Our Goals & Objectives for the Summit:

Join the circle, be part of the current & continuing conversation

As with previous IHRC endeavors, building relationships is the foundation of our efforts, and we developed contacts while there with other organizations and individuals whose mission is well aligned with ours, as you can see below.

Advance our mission by sharing IHRC Human Rights & SDGs educational tools including a UDHR screensaver and card deck, and our SDG Music Volume

Our UDHR Screensaver was shared with multiple individuals, and our UDHR card deck prototypes were distributed to multiple new contacts, all of whom expressed delight in receiving them.

The first four songs of our International Human Rights Consortium Presents: Sustainable Development Songs World Compilation Album of 17 songs promoting the themes of the SDGs was released in the continuation of the Arts for the Future activities during the week after the summit, and has also been made available for purchase in our online store.

Connect and network with other individuals and groups to broaden relationships, including identifying potential partners for future fiscal sponsorships

As a consortium, we intentionally viewed the Summit as an opportunity to identify potential partners for future endevors that align with our mission and thus expand our reach.

Two examples of how these potential collaborations were achieved at the Summit itself were through connections made by Board Member Timothy Trujillo, and also highlight our work through passion projects we fund as fiscal sponsor - a doctor from India who had developed an app for caregivers stemming from his experience with his aging wife, and a Summit NGO delegate from the Middle East, were both ecstatic to receive access to First Medicines' Five Minute Miracle stress-relief meditation in a digital format, that they fully expected to directly plug into their existing communications.

Meet the Delegation:

Jan Robinson | President / Executive Director Summit of the Future Head of Delegation

Jan is IHRC Board Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. She has worked with IHRC for the past six years, participating in her first trip to the annual NGO CSW Forum in 2018 as a member of the IHRC delegation. She assumed her role as Board VP and COO over the course of the next two years as the organization restructured governance for future growth. She attended CSW63 in 2019 as a delegate with Voices of African Mothers, and has continued to attend each NGO CSW Forum since, including speaking in two of IHRC’s parallel events.
Jan is also a full-time consultant for Atos, Inc. with over forty years of IT industry experience, primarily in services delivery and client account management, and has worked with clients in the transportation, manufacturing, and financial sectors.

Timothy L. Trujillo | VP, Dir. of Education Summit of the Future Committee Chair

Timothy is IHRC Board VP and Director of Education. He has been working with IHRC for over twenty years, beginning as a Guest Professional on roundtables during the 2002 Sub-Commision on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Geneva. In 2003 He was Dean of Students for the Geneva internship program and served as Chair for two statement drafting committees for the Indigenous Caucus during the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. That year he was also awarded the Medaille d’Excellence for his Spirit of Creativity in addressing global health and peace. In 2012 he joined the IHRC delegation to the Summit of Indigenous Tribes in Costa Rica where he also co-chaired statement drafting sessions. In recent years, he has chaired multiple presentations for NGO CSW/NY.
Timothy is a specialist in Mind/Body Healing, recognized globally for his hypnotherapy protocols in managing immune related disorders and trauma, teaching practitioners and medical providers through seminars and conference. In order to deliver these tools to populations in need, he founded First Medicines, an IHRC fiscally sponsored project, and has led relief projects in zones affected by tsunami, hurricane, tornado, and civil conflict. He chronicled this work in his book Tsunami Effect. He provides freely accessible resources through firstmedicines.org. He was a participant and spokesperson of the US transcontinental Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament in 1986. He is still marching, today as a Walker for Life and Peace in the World, following the path of Tata Pedro Cruz, Elder of the Tzutujil Maya.

Laura Carisa Gardea | Arts & Culture Liaison Summit of the Future Asst. Committee Chair

Laura is a dedicated advocate for arts and cultural workers, actively representing their interests in the UN policy space as Regional Youth Lead of North America for the Arts and Culture Working Group. As an International Human Rights Consortium delegate, Laura has championed the integration of arts and culture into sustainable development frameworks, emphasizing the crucial role of creative sectors in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
In addition to their advocacy work, Laura co-founded the Southside Food Forest and WS Permaculture Collective, blending permaculture principles with the arts to promote ecological resilience and community well-being. Their initiatives have fostered global collaborations, driving forward policies and practices that ensure the representation and empowerment of artists and cultural workers worldwide.

Saja Alissa

Summit of the Future Delegate

Benjamin Pulgar-Guzman Summit of the Future Delegate

Areej Alissa