MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula critical of United Nations Security Council

“We will fail the millions of people who go hungry around the world while billions of dollars are spent on wars,” Lula insisted

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva blamed international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for their “failure” to find a solution to the ongoing humanitarian crises.

“It is essential to address the issue of global governance reform. The humanitarian tragedies we are witnessing highlight the failure of international institutions. By failing to reflect the current reality, they have lost effectiveness and credibility,” Lula said in a teleconference speech during the “Voices from the Global South” virtual summit, which he attended at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lula, who has likened Israel's ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip to the “terrorist acts” of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, cited as an example the draft resolution on the creation of a humanitarian corridor introduced by Brazil in October, which was vetoed by the United States.

“We must restore confidence in multilateralism. We must recover our best humanist traditions. Nothing justifies that the main victims of conflicts are women and children. We must restore the primacy of international law, including humanitarian law, which applies equally to all, without double standards or unilateral measures,” he said.

Lula defended the concept of the Global South to “recognize that we see the world from a similar perspective” and called for solving social problems by reducing investment in armed conflicts.

“We will fail the millions of people who go hungry around the world while billions of dollars are spent on wars. We will bear the brunt of climate change, even though we have not historically been the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. We will fall victim to a new predatory race for natural resources, including critical minerals, without the opportunity to diversify our production base,” he warned.

“The humanitarian tragedies we are witnessing demonstrate the failure of international institutions. By failing to reflect the current reality, they have lost effectiveness and credibility. In its mandate on the UN Security Council, Brazil has worked tirelessly for peace. But the veto continues to thwart solutions,” Lula said.

The UN Security Council is made up of the veto-wielding United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, as well as rotating members Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.