The President of the Republic defended, on Wednesday at the United Nations, a “just peace roadmap” for Ukraine, “that allows an immediate and lasting ceasefire, with the withdrawal of the troops of the Russian Federation” from Ukrainian territory .
“Let us live up to History. It is our people, it is humanity that demands it,” appealed Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in an open debate of the United Nations Security Council (UN) on the war in Ukraine, in the UN headquarters in New York.
According to the Head of State, a “just roadmap for peace” must safeguard “Ukraine’s legitimate aspiration for full integration into the organizations it sovereignly wishes to join.”
For Portugal, “a just and sustainable peace” implies “the release of prisoners and deportees, with special urgency for children, and the credibility of international justice through a thorough investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and its authors”.
The President of the Republic also highlighted the importance of “guaranteeing nuclear safety and its facilities under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
“These steps and the political courage they require could allow, over time, the signing of a peace and security treaty between the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” he considered.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke in Portuguese in this open debate at the UN Security Council – in which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was the first head of state to intervene – and reiterated Portugal’s support for Ukraine.
“We will always be in solidarity with Ukraine’s self-defense and its formula for peace, with its fight to restore sovereignty and supporting its contribution to global food security,” he said.
Opening his brief speech, lasting about three minutes, the Portuguese Head of State asked: “How do you measure human suffering? How do you measure the pain of a child who has been orphaned? Of parents who lose your children? Those who are orphaned? Mutilated and victims of torture? How do you resist and survive all this and continue fighting for your family, your home, your country?
Recalling his visit to Ukraine in August, invited by President Zelensky, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that “it is impossible to remain indifferent to the indescribable devastation of Bucha or Moshchun, tragic examples of inhumanity and suffering.”
“But it is also impossible not to admire the inspiring vitality and moral strength of the resistance of the Ukrainian people who defend themselves with dignity against an illegal, unjust and immoral invasion,” he added.
The UN Security Council has five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who have the right of veto: the United States of America, the Russian Federation, France, the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa welcomed “the initiative of the Albanian presidency to convene in an open session this crucial debate” on the war in Ukraine and highlighted that “Portugal’s position is clear” in relation to this conflict.
“We are and will always be on the side of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, as well as any resolution of the General Assembly that condemns the aggression against Ukraine and that demands the withdrawal of troops from the Russian Federation,” he stated. declared.
From this position, he described the conditions that he considers fundamental for “a just peace roadmap that restores and gives credibility to international law” and that “allows an immediate and lasting ceasefire, with the withdrawal of troops from the Russian Federation from the territory of Ukraine.”
“We are and will always be in solidarity with the victims, the refugees that we have always welcomed, the efforts of the Secretary General [da ONU] in the creation of humanitarian corridors and in the return of thousands of children separated from their families and illegally deported,” he highlighted.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa arrived in the United States on Sunday night, where he will remain until Friday.
On Tuesday, he spoke at the general debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and maintained that the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the invasion of the Russian Federation is inseparable from the demand for respect for the United Nations Charter.
Source: TSF
