Lula da Silva: “Leaders must fight to end the scourge of hunger that shames humanity”

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The Global Alliance Against Hunger was launched this Monday at the opening of the G20 Summit, with Brazilian President Lula da Silva stating that leaders must fight to “end this wound [da fome] that shames humanity“.

Lula da Silva considers Brazil to be a “living portrait of historical and persistent inequalities” around the world, with a “diverse and vibrant people on the one hand and deep social injustices on the other.” The President of Brazil remembers that he was at the first meeting of the G20 leaders during the 2008 financial crisis and says that, 16 years later, he notes, with sadness, “that the the world is worse“.

“We have the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II and the highest number of forced displacements ever recorded. Extreme weather events have a devastating effect on all corners of the planet. Social, racial and gender inequalities are deepening after a pandemic that has claimed more than 15 million lives,” he says.

The prime minister speaks this Monday at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro

The Brazilian leader says it is time for the leaders of the countries with the largest economies in the world to take “responsibility on the issues of hunger and poverty.” “According to the FAO, in 2024 we will live with a contingent of 733 million people remain undernourished. It is as if the populations of Brazil, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Canada together are dying of hunger,” he adds.

Lula says that hunger is “the biological expression of social evils” and “the product of political decisions” that “perpetuate the exclusion of a large part of humanity.” “The G20 represents 85% of the world’s $110 trillion GDP. It is up to those of us who are here and around this table to have the urgent task of putting an end to this scourge that affects humanity,” he assured.