The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, yesterday defended the “reform of international institutions”, in particular the “financial” institutions and the UN Security Council, so that it is possible to build peace, taking into account these two urgencies linked to respect for the United Nations Charter.
“There is no reform of institutions without respect for the Charter of the United Nations,” Marcelo said during his intervention at the 78th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, a day before taking part in the open Security Council where he will speak exclusively about the war in Ukraine.
“There is an urgent need to reform institutions, designed in the last century, that are completely removed from the realities of today’s world”, the head of state appealed in his fifth intervention at the UN General Assembly, criticizing the fact that world leaders “year after year” during that plenary session make promises without keeping them. “It is time to comply,” he stressed. Without this reform, Marcelo continued, “there is no multilateralism possible, there is no sustainable cooperation, there is no peace, all over the world.”
The call for reform of the institutions – especially the United Nations Security Council itself, and international ‘financial institutions’ – continued throughout the intervention of the President of the Republic, referring to the intervention of his Brazilian counterpart, Lula da Silva , who argued that “most Sustainable Development Goals are moving at a slow pace”. “In the seven years we have left, reducing inequality within and between countries should become the overarching objective of the 2030 Agenda,” said the president of Brazil. For this reason, Marcelo warned, “it is not possible to build peace” without accelerating “the 2030 development goals.”
From the perspective of the Portuguese head of state, “every day lost is a new day of inequality, selfishness, conflict and war” and on the other hand, every day gained is a new day of “justice, solidarity and peace”.
One day before I spoke at the UN security councilwhere Marcelo will focus exclusively on the war in Ukraine, the Portuguese president stated that the United Nations body “corresponds to a world that no longer exists”. For this reason, Marcelo emphasized that Portugal defends that “Brazil and India should be permanent members” of the Security Council.
Environmental protection
“Portugal defends the fight against climate change and takes the lead in decarbonization”, in the same way that the country maintains the “protection of the ocean” and the reform of “international financial organizations” as fundamental objectives, the Portuguese president emphasized. “We will not give up the defense of the Secretary General of the United Nations,” António Guterres reminded the head of state, emphasizing the importance of respecting the Charter of the United Nations.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa gave Portugal as an example, referring to the “conversion agreement” of the public debt “into an environmental protection fund”, signed with Cape Verde, which will allow the “sustainable economic development” of that state. “This should be done systematically,” he argued, adding that the aim is to expand this agreement “to other countries in the Portuguese-speaking community.”
Marcelo hoped “that in a year it will be possible to say that there is more peace than war”, more justice than injustice and “more reforms of financial institutions”. “If this is not the case,” the President of the Republic added, “We will continue to hear the same people, and so many of them very influential, making promises and not keeping them, and we will understand why people believe less and less in those who govern them.”.
Source: DN
