The leaders of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) showed this Tuesday his “deep concern” about “the war in Ukraine” in the final declaration of the summit held in Brusselswithout the support of Nicaragua.
“We express our deep concern about the ongoing war against Ukraine, which continues to cause immense human suffering and is exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy, restricting growth, increasing inflation, disrupting the supply chain, increasing energy insecurity and food and raising risks to financial stability,” the statement said.
Leaders also supported “all diplomatic efforts aimed at a just and sustainable peace in accordance with the UN charter”. They also supported the efforts of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, to get Russia to comply again with the agreement to export Ukrainian cereal through the Black Sea, after Moscow disassociated itself from the pact yesterday.
The text of the document received the support of 59 of the 60 countries participating in the
summit.
The statement included a footnote specifying that Nicaragua did not support the issue on Ukraine. “This statement was supported by all countries with one exception due to their disagreement with a paragraph,” the statement said without citing the country.
The condemnation of the war in Ukraine has marked the negotiations throughout the summit, since the EU has insisted on censoring it, while Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela opposed it.
The second day of the summit began with support for the territorial integrity of the countries on the basis of the United Nations Charter, without specific mention of the conflict in Europe, which it did end up including.
“We discussed a lot, of course, the fact that everyone wants this war to end and that peace must be lasting and that it must be centered on the UN Charter,” said European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.
As the negotiations progressed, Havana and Caracas accepted an explicit condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Nicaragua was left alone in its rejection.as it has already done in the UN General Assembly, voting against the resolutions.
The interim Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, considered that the CELAC summit was “a complete success” and stressed that “unanimity with almost sixty countries is impossible, not even in the European Union of 27 countries it is always possible to be all of agreement”.
End of the US blockade of Cuba
Except for Nicaragua, the States also declared themselves in favor of end the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba and pointed out that the country’s inclusion on a list of State sponsors of terrorism hinders international financial transactions to the Caribbean island.
In the same vein as the resolution approved by the United Nations General Assembly on November 3, 2022, the 27 members of the EU and 32 of Celac included a point in their conclusions on “the need to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed against Cuba” and recalled their “opposition to laws and regulations with extraterritorial effect”.
“The new designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, and its maintenance on the list, has introduced obstacles to international financial transactions with the island,” added the 59 signatories of the final declaration of the EU-Celac summit.
Venezuela and Colombia
The final declaration of the summit expressed this Tuesday its firm support for the peace process in Colombia and urged dialogue in Mexico between the government and the Venezuelan opposition.
“We encourage a constructive dialogue between the parties to the negotiations led by Venezuelans in Mexico City,” reads the penultimate statement of the 41 hard-negotiated points up to the last minute of the two-day meeting in Brussels.
In the statement, the leaders stated its “full support” for the peace process in Colombia, “as well as the commitment to advance in the dialogues with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and other armed actors.
They also expressed support for the implementation of the Peace Agreements reached in 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas.
In another section of the declaration, the EU “took note of CELAC’s historical position” on the Malvinas Islands (whose sovereignty is disputed by Argentina and the United Kingdom) “based on the importance of dialogue and respect for international law in the peaceful settlement of disputes”.
Defense of indigenous peoples and fight against slavery
Among other issues, the leaders pledged to fight against different forms of discrimination, to support human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples, and they rejected and regretted all forms of slavery.
In the declaration, the EU and Celac commit to fight against multiple forms of discrimination and gender and promote the fundamental principles and rights of the International Labor Organization (ILO), based on equity, equal representation and participation of women and girls in decision-making.
Also the rights of indigenous peoples, as stated by the UN, as well as those of children, human rights defenders and people in vulnerable situations and Afro-descendants.
The signatories to the statement acknowledge and “deeply” regret the “incalculable” suffering inflicted on millions of men, women and children as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. They also underline its “full support” for the principles set out in the “Durban Declaration and Program of Action”, the United Nations action plan proposing concrete measures to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, all over the world.
And he recalls in the statement that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were “terrifying tragedies in the history of humanity”, not only because of the barbarities committed, but also because of their magnitude, organization and especially for the denial of the victims and of the fact itself as a “crime against humanity”.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
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