At the “Future Summit” at the United Nations headquarters, the President of Brazil said that failure to meet the Sustainable Development Goals risks being the “greatest collective failure.”
The Brazilian president said Sunday at the United Nations that 730 million people cannot be “naturalized” to suffer from hunger around the world and that not meeting the Sustainable Development Goals risks being the “greatest collective failure.”
“Naturalizing the hunger of 730 million people would be shameful. Reversing our commitments would call into question everything we have worked so hard to build,” said Lula da Silva, speaking at the “Future Summit” at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, an event designed by the organization’s secretary general in 2021 and presented as a “unique opportunity” to change the course of history.
“Other ideas did not take off. We have two great responsibilities towards those who will come after us. The first is to never go back. We cannot turn back in promoting gender equality, nor in the fight against racism and all forms of discrimination. We cannot go back to living with nuclear threats, it is unacceptable,” the Brazilian Head of State appealed.
In his speech at the summit, which aims to revitalize and restore confidence in multilateralism, Lula da Silva acknowledged that the Sustainable Development Goals “were the greatest diplomatic undertaking of recent years.”
However, he admitted that the initiative “is on track to become the biggest collective failure”: “At the current pace of implementation, only about 17% of the Agenda 2030 objectives will be achieved within the established time frame. As president of the G20, Brazil will launch a global alliance against hunger and poverty, to accelerate the overcoming of these scourges.”
Lula da Silva recalled that at the last Climate Summit (COP28) “the world carried out a global assessment of the implementation of the objectives of the Paris Agreement”, assuming that “the current levels of greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate financing are insufficient to keep the planet safe”.
“In collaboration with the Secretary General [da ONU]In preparation for COP30, we will work towards a global ethical balance, bringing together different sectors of civil society to consider climate action through the prism of justice, equity and solidarity,” Lula da Silva assured.
The “second responsibility” listed by the Brazilian president pointed to the “common responsibility” of “opening paths to new risks and opportunities.”
“The Pact for the Future” [adotado minutos antes nesta cimeira] “It points the way forward. The document addresses important issues such as developing countries’ debt and international taxation in an unprecedented way. The creation of a forum for dialogue between heads of state and government and leaders of international financial institutions promises to place the UN at the centre of the global economic debate,” he said.
UN member states have pledged to chart a “better future” for humanity affected by war, poverty and global warming, despite opposition from some countries, including Russia, to the adoption of the “Pact for the Future”.
Following tough negotiations down to the last minute, Russia on Sunday expressed its opposition to the text of the agreement, without however preventing its adoption by consensus, before the opening session of the “Summit of the Future”.
The “Global Digital Pact”, which will also be adopted at this summit, Lula da Silva acknowledged, “is a starting point for inclusive digital governance that reduces asymmetries and a data-based economy and mitigates the impact of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence.”
“All these advances are praiseworthy and significant, but ambition and boldness are still lacking. The global governance crisis requires structural transformations. The pandemic, conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the arms race and climate change have revealed the limitations of multilateral organisations,” he criticised.
According to Lula da Silva, “most organs lack the authority and the means to enforce their decisions,” the United Nations General Assembly “has lost its vitality,” while the “legitimacy” of the Security Council “is increasingly diminished” as it “applies double standards” in its decisions.
In addition to statements by UN Member States, the “Future Summit” will also feature interactive dialogues on topics such as transforming global governance and promoting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; or strengthening multilateralism for international peace and security.
Source: Observadora
