• The international community needs a higher conception of legacy.  

• Reconfiguring the status quo requires an honest reassessment of the principles underpinning the institutions and narratives of the modern world. 

• We are not simply witnesses to a given moment of history; we are agents of human legacy. 

The consultations in Stockholm this week offer an opportunity to reflect on where humanity was 50 years ago. They also invite us to consider how we wish to be remembered a half-century from now. What kind of ancestors do we hope to be for future generations? What kind of international order do we wish to leave behind? These are questions that speak to our shared hopes and aspirations—and call for a clear-eyed vision as to the steps we must collectively take to attain them. 

The international community has repeatedly agreed that it seeks a sustainable world, free of poverty and hunger, infused with equality and human rights and a gamut of similar conditions. This is commendable, of course. But is somewhat like a coach saying that the team intends to win by scoring more points than its opponent. It sidesteps vital questions of how. 

Progressing toward a different kind of legacy will require fundamental shifts in institutional arrangements. Means and methods must be made consistent with the world we are working toward. And yet, in numerous areas, the means at our disposal are insufficient to, or inconsistent with, the ends we seek. 

Remedying this misalignment will demand a degree of courage and ingenuity never before seen at a planetary level—courage to consciously step away from practices that, while familiar, are harmful and unsustainable, and ingenuity to imagine and test new horizons. 

Systems that advantage one segment of society over others, for example—whether along lines of class, sex, race, age, nationality, or any other—must be replaced with arrangements that lead to the flourishing of all. Concern for profit, the accumulation of wealth, and ascendancy over rivals must give way to the active promotion of human well-being and sustainability, built on cooperation and trust. 

This is no small task. But courage of this kind is, itself, a kind of legacy toward which we might rightly aspire. This is what makes descendents proud of their ancestors: that they were willing to set aside personal advantage and short-term interests to better serve the collective—of today and tomorrow. 

The past 50 years—and even more, the past two witnessing a global pandemic—have demonstrated beyond question that we are highly interdependent, often in ways that exceed our immediate understanding. Our systems and structures do not yet reflect the reality that we are one global community on one shared planet. But they can and they must.   

In this light, Stockholm+50 stands as a prime opportunity to define with greater clarity something humanity has never yet seen: a world organized around the notion that all generations, present and future, are equal in dignity and worth. We are not simply witnesses or even participants in a given moment of human history; we are agents of human legacy. 

What we aspire to leave behind must, itself, be elevated at Stockholm. The commitment to leave future generations in a stronger position should become a clear area of consensus towards which all can channel their work. Let us rise to the demands of this commitment and begin exploring its many possibilities. 

 

Daniel Perell is a Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations

Nudhara Yusuf facilitates the Global Governance Innovation Network at the Stimson Center