The Democracy Without Borders blog has a detailed report on the recent UN Civil Society Conference, with a clear statement from an official UN diplomat:
Discussion with the Pact’s co-facilitator
A large part of the session on the second day was dedicated to an interaction with the German UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse, one of the co-facilitators of the Pact for the Future. Following a presentation of the proposals, she pointed out that in her view they all “have the right direction of creating a global democratic space”. However, in her assessment, none of the proposals can be included in the Pact as a number of member states were explicitly against civil society involvement and the negotiations were based on consensus. But she said she would explore the possibility of including stronger language on protecting civic space.
It is very nice when civil society is tolerated at the very least. The only question is what the whole theatre of conferences is supposed to achieve. DWB sums up in the latest newsletter from 14 June:
Pact for the Future // Following the Nairobi UN conference, a new draft of the so-called Pact for the Future was presented and is now discussed by UN Member States. The draft does not acknowledge the UN's support of democracy and does not propose meaningful changes for better inclusion of civil society, elected representatives or citizens.
That is unmistakable. If civil society groups no longer want to give themselves false hope and tread water, they need to come up with something else.
My suggestion: United Mankind Initiative.
Substack: What does consultative status at the United Nations mean? - Is it more than a hamster wheel for do-gooders?