From Gaza to Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond, our world needs peace, says UN chief at BRICS Summit

United Nations: With the leaders of four countries involved in conflicts disproportionately hitting the Global South at the BRICS Summit, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for peace.

“From Gaza, to the broader crisis in the Middle East, to Ukraine, Sudan and beyond, our world needs peace,” he said at the summit in New Delhi.

Peace “is essential for shaping inclusive global growth,” he said.

Adversaries in the West Asia conflict in the Gulf, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on one side, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, were at the summit.

So did Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine, setting off a crisis of foodgrains and fertilisers.

Guterres said, “Across the board, States must respect their obligations under the UN Charter and international law.”

He said their obligations include “international navigational rights and freedoms; the principles of sovereign equality; respect for territorial integrity and political independence of States; peaceful settlement of disputes, (and observance of) international humanitarian law and international human rights law”.

The disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after the February attack on Iran by Israel and the US has choked off a large portion of the 20 per cent of the world’s supply of petroleum and gas that pass through it.

Guterres referred to the Summit’s theme set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“As your Summit’s theme rightly frames it, we must build for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability”, which, he said, are “essential for shaping inclusive global growth”.

Peace was one of the factors he listed as necessary to achieve these aims.

Guterres’ call for peace in the Middle East, Gaza and Sudan was reflected in the BRICS joint declaration adopted on Saturday.

In a sign of BRICS-driven diplomatic harmony, the leaders of Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia signed on to it.

The declaration of the 11-member group expressed “deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in the Middle East/West Asia” and called “for exercising maximum restraint, as well as avoiding actions that could further aggravate the situation”.

The BRICS declaration asked all parties in Gaza to maintain the ceasefire, supported protection of the “inalienable rights” of Palestinians, and opposed their displacement.

On the Sudan civil war that Guterres mentioned, the BRICS Declaration expressed “grave concern over the deteriorating situation” and the humanitarian crisis and called for “an immediate, permanent ceasefire”.

But the declaration avoided any mention of the Ukraine war, although its declaration at the summit in Brazil last year had a fleeting reference noting that members had taken positions on it in international forums.

IANS