Lula da Silva/AFP at the 2023 United Nations General Assembly.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for “dialogue” to resolve the conflict in Ukraine at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, calling for “dialogue” to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, in a speech that highlighted global inequality and the lack of political will to resolve it. attacked.
Twenty years after he first took to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly, Lula said the Ukraine conflict “demonstrates our collective inability to enforce the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.” I reminisced.
“We do not underestimate the difficulty of achieving peace,” he said. Brazil’s president will hold his first meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, warning of the need to “create room for negotiations” as “no solution will last long without dialogue.” assembly.
Lula said in an interview last year that Ukraine is “just as responsible for the war as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” and since then, as president, he has refused to provide weapons like other Western countries. relationship is strained. I’ve done it.
Brazil has been trying to position itself as a negotiating power in the Ukraine war without taking sides since its initial position came under criticism from Western countries, especially the United States, which has called Brazil “parrot-like.” “I repeat this.” .
“Armed conflict is an affront to human reason,” Lula said in a highly political speech from the General Assembly’s podium, which was interrupted several times by applause.
The President said that last year, global military spending totaled more than $2 trillion, and nuclear weapons spending reached $83 billion, 20 times the United Nations budget, while hunger affected 735 million people. He reflected on the continuing injustice in the world. You’re going to bed tonight not knowing if you’ll have anything to eat tomorrow. ”
overcome resignation
During Brazil’s G20 Presidency next year, Lula announced that the fight against inequality will be the focus of the chosen club’s agenda.
The climate crisis “knocks on our doors, destroying homes, cities and countries, forcing loss and suffering especially on the poorest,” he warned.
But he added that the UN’s most ambitious actions to reduce inequality, such as the 2030 Agenda, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “could be its biggest failure.”
He said those who govern the world “lack the political will” to reduce inequality, adding that the top 10 billionaires on earth have a higher income than the poorest 40% of people. I remembered that I had wealth.
“We need to overcome the resignation of accepting this injustice as a natural phenomenon,” he said.
Inequality is at the “roots” of “multiple simultaneous imbalances” the planet is experiencing, including COVID-19, the climate crisis and food insecurity, which he said are “major global challenges”. is thinking.
He vowed that his government would work to “build back a country that is sovereign, just, sustainable, cooperative, generous and joyful.”
“To reduce inequality within a country, we need to include the poor in the national budget and make the rich pay taxes proportionate to their wealth,” he added.
Amazon speaks for itself
Conservation of the Amazon rainforest will be a top priority during his term. Logging fell by 48% in the first eight months of his administration, he recalled.
Some 50 million people in nine countries share the lungs of this planet, and its future “depends on decisive and concerted action.”
The Amazon countries, along with other tropical forest countries in Africa and Asia, are working in Dubai with a joint vision that reflects the conservation priorities of the Congo-Borneo and Mekong Amazon basins without oversight. We hope to arrive at COP28, which will be held. .
“The whole world has always talked about Amazon. Now Amazon speaks for itself,” Lula concluded.
Source: Diario.Elmundo
