Transcription - Lula#

Note: This transcript was produced from the audio of the speech and reviewed to correct speech recognition errors. Minor differences in punctuation or small discrepancies compared to the official version may occur.

My compliments to the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh. I greet each of the heads of state and government, as well as the delegates present. I address, in particular, the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Throughout his two terms, António Guterres has been a direct witness to the growing abuses of the superpower. Mr. President, this is the tenth time I have opened the general debate of this Assembly.

Since I first took this podium in 2003, this is the most critical moment for the United Nations. The feeling that moves me today is one of indignation. The UN is failing in one of its highest missions, that of freeing humanity from the scourge of war. Its credibility has never been so low. Its ability to protect the most vulnerable, those who have neither armies nor arsenals, has never been so limited.

We are all hostages to the paralysis of a Security Council that is failing to fulfill its role. In 1946, already at the first session of this Assembly, Brazil warned of the high price that the international community would pay for the right of veto. This original flaw in the UN Charter granted the great powers the privilege of recklessness. Added to this original sin is now a profound leadership crisis.

The year 2025 recorded the highest number of armed conflicts since the Second World War. Trillions of dollars are financing a new arms race. Geopolitical tensions threaten to turn regional confrontations into a conflagration of global proportions. Those who hold the reins of crucial decisions must act with responsibility and a sense of urgency. The leaders of the countries that make up the Security Council need to meet.

I am not unaware of the realities of power, but submission to the law of the strongest has gone too far. This is not idealism, it is pure realism. War is not the continuation of politics by other means, it is the total failure of politics. In an interdependent world, leadership means reconciling the interests of one's country with those of humanity. This is the conviction of someone who represents a nation that loves peace and freedom.

Someone who fought against a military dictatorship and defended his country against a coup d'état. It is the conviction of a worker elected president three times who removed Brazil from the Hunger Map. This Assembly recently corrected historical distortions. It recognized the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the most serious crime against humanity. It approved a more accurate representation of the world map.

Now, it must turn its attention to issues that will determine the future of humanity. We are called upon to choose between multilateralism and unilateralism; Democracy or extremism; Sovereignty or subordination; These choices... demand courage, political will, and clarity of purpose. That is what is expected of a statesman. Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin were statesmen. They challenged the past in order to envision a future of peace.

They were defeated by hatred. Generations of Palestinians will carry the pain and trauma left by the GENOCIDE committed by the Netanyahu government against women and children in Gaza. Israeli civilians paid the price of the radicalism and intolerance of Hamas's TERRORIST acts. Persecuting the International Criminal Court and its members is an encouragement for these crimes to go unpunished. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese cannot be silenced for telling the truth.

The illegal settlements in the West Bank make the two-state solution increasingly unviable, even though it is essential for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace. Threatening civilization with extinction will not bring stability to the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz has become a trench of war, when it should remain a vital passage for international trade.

Families around the world are paying for rising fuel, fertilizer, and food prices. The war between Russia and Ukraine has dragged on for five years in a humanitarian tragedy that continues to claim lives. We all know there will be no winners on the battlefield. Diplomacy is the only option. Initiatives such as the Group of Friends for Peace, created by Brazil and China, show that there are forces within the international community willing to work for dialogue.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, geographical proximity to the world's greatest military power is unavoidable, especially in a context of growing hegemonic temptations. Brazil does not belong in anyone's backyard. We need partners with a positive agenda that promotes development. Ideological differences should not be obstacles to greater integration among neighbors.

The countries of the region have recognized the horrors of authoritarian rule. We have come a long way toward restoring the popular will. Democracy is once again under threat. We are once again witnessing foreign interference in electoral processes. The division of the world into spheres of influence and neocolonial incursions for strategic resources constitutes anachronistic behavior. The Venezuelan people deserve to determine their own destiny.

Nicaragua will not solve its problems by preventing the opposition from running in elections. The crisis in Haiti continues to test the limits of the international community's indifference. In Cuba, the world watches in dismay as collective punishment is imposed on 10 million people through an economic embargo and an illegal energy blockade. Mr. President, Brazil does not underestimate the challenge posed by organized crime.

We are prepared to confront the criminal organizations that terrorize our communities. Workers are robbed, mothers lose their children, police officers do not return home. People are tired of violence. But we will not outsource the responsibility of defending our borders and guaranteeing the population the right to live without fear. We do not need aircraft carriers patrolling our waters.

We need cooperation to halt the flow of weapons and money that fuels organized crime. This is the spirit of the proposal I personally delivered to the President of the United States. We want to combat money laundering carried out by Brazilian criminals abroad. For a long time, Brazil's states each acted in their own way, and crime took advantage of the lack of coordination, but that is changing.

We created in Manaus, Amazonas, the Amazon International Police Cooperation Center, bringing together public security authorities from the nine Amazonian countries. In 2025, we carried out the largest operation against organized crime in Brazil's history. We set records for the seizure of drugs, goods, and illicit assets and resources. We are confronting every level of criminality, including the crime bosses. The anti-gang law, which we have just approved, imposes harsher penalties on organized crime than those provided for terrorism.

Organized crime and corruption go hand in hand. The fight against corruption will continue relentlessly, regardless of whom it hurts. No one is above the law. Ladies and gentlemen, the pillars of multilateralism are being eroded. The World Trade Organization is on life support. When governments capitulate to those who use tariffs as a weapon of corruption and blackmail, the consequences are disastrous. In the age of disinformation, obscurantists resist scientific evidence.

We will never forget the millions of lives lost due to negligence in the response to Covid-19. Anti-vaccine campaigns are bringing back diseases we believed had been eradicated. Weakening the World Health Organization makes everyone more vulnerable. Until recently, the response to climate change was firmly established at the center of the international agenda. This year, the issue disappeared from the discussions of the G7 and G20, forums that bring together the world's largest carbon emitters.

It is time to resume the offensive and defeat climate denialism. Nature reminds us every day that there is only one planet. The glaciers of the Himalayas are melting. A super El Niño could cause torrential rains, droughts, and wildfires in different parts of the globe. Its effects will strike the most vulnerable above all. Brazil has been demonstrating that it is possible to combine economic growth with emissions reductions.

We have achieved self-sufficiency in oil and will continue researching the potential of new reserves such as those in the Equatorial Margin. We will not abandon the environmental agenda. We will move forward with the roadmap for decarbonizing the Brazilian economy. The Tropical Forests Forever Fund, launched at COP30 in Belém, shows that it is possible to change old paradigms. The forest is worth more standing than destroyed.

We will continue reducing deforestation, which has fallen by half in the Amazon and reached its lowest level in 11 years. We have the moral authority to reject protectionist measures disguised as commitment to the environmental cause. Brazil is a global reference in green energy. We have the critical minerals and rare earth elements the world needs to carry out the energy transition. Our natural resources belong to the Brazilian people. And it is for their benefit that they will be exploited.

Access to our minerals will have as mandatory conditions the generation of value within our territory, technology transfer, and the supply of strategic national sectors. Mr. President, we are living through an unprecedented technological revolution, with great risks and opportunities. It would be an unforgivable historical omission not to confront the challenge of regulating big tech companies and artificial intelligence.

A handful of techno-oligarchs want to resurrect a version of digital neoliberalism without rules or transparency. They are promoting an unchecked race devoid of ethical safeguards, in defiance of the UN and the scientific panel on artificial intelligence. As Pope Leo XIV warns, "decisions about technology must never be separated from conscience and responsibility." Companies that know the risks of their products are transferring to families the impossible task of dealing with algorithms.

The billion-dollar betting industry turns addiction into profit. Its rapid spread is driving millions of households into debt and destroying them. Brazil will not tolerate this business model. We have passed one of the world's most advanced laws to protect children, adolescents, and women in the digital environment. We will ensure fair compensation for artists, musicians, and audiovisual content creators.

We will not yield to pressure from multinational corporations that want to privatize our PIX, a public and free payment infrastructure that has made financial inclusion a reality for millions of Brazilian men and women. Ladies and gentlemen, the Sustainable Development Goals are under attack from reactionary forces that seek to normalize injustice. Inequality and underdevelopment result from political choices.

It is possible to put the poor in the budget and make the wealthy pay their share. It is necessary to cut privileges and invest in free, high-quality education and healthcare. There is a legitimate desire for change throughout the world. But change does not mean going backward. Change does not mean taking away rights. It does not mean reviving theories of racial supremacy or female subjugation. It does not mean recolonizing the Global South. Change means moving forward toward a future of greater participation and greater achievements.

It means creating and sharing effective public solutions to development challenges through a democratic, strong, efficient, and capable state. It means embracing the spirit of solidarity and cooperation with Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Initiatives such as the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the International Panel on Inequality are born from this political will. Brazil is eager to become a developed and socially just nation.

We have adopted an economic model based on income distribution, job creation, and the appreciation of wages. We are investing in improved productivity, expanded access to credit, and the construction of a robust social protection network. Brazil has returned to sustained growth. We are the third-largest destination for foreign direct investment. Despite the tariffs imposed on our economy, this year we will set a new export record.

There is still much to be done. The world of work is undergoing transformation. Older people want to remain active, young people want to become entrepreneurs, and workers need time to rest, pursue qualifications, and spend time with their families. In Brazil, achieving this goal involves ending the so-called 6x1 work schedule to guarantee workers two days off per week. This change is essential to ease the domestic burden that still falls disproportionately on women.

We are building a Brazil where women do not need to ask permission to occupy positions of power or enter the labor market. A country free from femicide, where no woman, inside or outside her home, lives under threat of violence. This is a cause the world needs, and the whole world needs to embrace. Mr. President, upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King said, "what self-centered people have destroyed, others who care for their fellow human beings can rebuild."

The UN was born under the sign of hope. Over eight decades, it has contributed to decolonization, promoted human rights, and supported sustainable development. It has protected immigrants and refugees, condemned racism, antisemitism, and religious intolerance. These were achievements of leaders who occupied this podium, driven by indignation at the injustices of their time. Men and women who refused to accept war as destiny, colonialism as a right, and apartheid as a legitimate system.

It was from this ability to say no to inequality that some of the greatest transformations we have experienced were born. Faced with the paralysis of the United Nations, we need to rediscover the political will for it to once again become the temple of peace. I want to conclude with a message about my country to everyone listening to us.

On October 4, millions of Brazilian men and women will go to the polls to determine their destiny. They will not merely elect the President of the Republic, state governors, and representatives of the legislative branch. They will decide between democracy and denialism. Whether Brazil will move forward toward a future of greater opportunities or return to a past of exclusion. We will have a transparent and competitive election in which all candidates enjoy the broadest freedom of expression.

We know that some abuse this freedom to associate themselves with foreign interests opposed to the country. We do not underestimate the challenge posed by disinformation networks that seek to distort public debate during the campaign. But we have a modern and robust electoral system. Under the watchful eye of a plural citizenry and a free press, we will not allow enemies of democracy, domestic or foreign, to undermine the popular will.

Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians. Brazil will remain a sovereign country. No one, no one will take us off this path. May God bless us all, and thank you very much.