G20 calls for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine
The G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro has concluded with a joint declaration that, although not endorsed by all member states, has managed to address most of the issues that Brazil had prioritised on the meeting's agenda.
Among these issues are the two major current wars - the Middle East and Ukraine - the fight against hunger, taxes on the world's richest people and changes in global governance.
On conflicts in the Middle East, the G20 statement highlights the ‘catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon’, stressing the urgent need to expand humanitarian assistance and strengthen the protection of civilians.
‘In affirming the Palestinian right to self-determination, we reiterate our unwavering commitment to the vision of a two-state solution where Israel and a Palestinian state live side by side in peace,’ the statement said, which makes no mention of the more than 100 Israeli hostages still being held hostage in Gaza.
In this regard, during a meeting with G20 leaders before the statement was made public, US President Joe Biden was keen to stress that Hamas is solely responsible for the war, urging other leaders to ‘increase pressure’ on the terrorist group to accept a ceasefire agreement that would end the fighting and allow the hostages to return to Israel.
On the other major war, Ukraine, Biden reiterated his strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. ‘In my view, everyone around this table should do the same,’ Biden said during the summit, according to AP.
These statements come shortly after Washington decided to ease restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range US missiles to allow more strikes against Russia's interior.
The meeting also comes days after Russia launched one of its largest missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure, destroying half of the country's energy production capacity.
The final G20 statement - in which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov participated in place of President Vladimir Putin - highlighted the human suffering in Ukraine and called for peace, but without naming Russia.
The leaders of the world's major economies said that ‘such peace must be consistent with the principles of the United Nations and promote peaceful, friendly and good relations between neighbouring countries’. They also stressed the need to devise ‘relevant and constructive initiatives to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine’.
Taxes for the richest and measures to fight hunger
The other big issue at the G20 summit was taxation of the rich, one of the priorities of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who proposed a 2 percent tax on the income of billionaires. According to French economist Gabriel Zucman, who worked as a consultant to Lula's government on the issue, this measure would affect some 3,000 people around the world, 100 of whom are in Latin America.
At the end of the summit, G20 leaders agreed to ‘cooperate to ensure effective taxation of the world's billionaires’ and announced plans to devise ‘mechanisms to combat tax evasion’.
Another of Lula's priorities was to make progress and take effective measures in the fight against global hunger, as well as climate change. However, the latter issue was stalled due to a lack of commitment regarding the funds that the UN seeks to provide to help developing countries tackle global warming.
However, in the statement, the leaders did agree that the world needs to reach an agreement before the end of the UN Climate Change Summit (COP29) in Azerbaijan on a new fiscal target for the amount of money rich countries should give to poorer developing countries.
G20 pledges to work for Security Council reform
Lula has repeatedly called for reforms within the UN Security Council, the body charged with maintaining international peace and security. However, this powerful body has not changed its original configuration since its creation in 1945. The five countries that emerged victorious from World War II - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - have veto power, while ten countries from different regions serve two-year terms.
At this point, the leaders pledged to work for a ‘transformative reform’ of the UN Security Council in line ‘with the realities and demands of the 21st century, making it more representative, inclusive, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable’.
Almost all nations agree that, almost eight decades after the creation of the UN, the Security Council should be expanded to include more voices. However, the main disagreement remains on how to make it more inclusive.
‘We call for an expanded composition of the Security Council that enhances the representation of underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean,’ the statement said.
Shortly before the last UN summit in September, the United States announced that it supports the creation of two new permanent seats for African countries without veto power and the creation, for the first time, of a non-permanent seat for a small island developing country.
For its part, the Group of Four (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan) supports each of the other countries' candidacy for permanent seats, while the larger Uniting for Consensus group of a dozen countries, including Pakistan, Italy, Turkey and Mexico, wants additional non-permanent seats with longer terms.