The 79th session of the UN General Assembly began this Tuesday (24), at the United Nations headquarters in New York. During the week, leaders from around the world will give speeches and address the main international issues, from conflicts to hunger and technology.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) was the first head of state to speak. He criticized the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, defended the reform of UN bodies and spoke about artificial intelligence.
However, some leaders will not be speaking at the Assembly this year. Among them are Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela, Xi Jinping, President of China and Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea, is also expected to be absent.
Leandro Consentino, political scientist and professor at Insper, explains that there is no UN determination for these heads of state to be absent, but that the gesture is symbolic and a political action.
“There is no legal determination, but the fact that they are not going as head of state and are sending a chancellor or a diplomatic representative shows that they want to signal discontent with the current international order,” he comments.
The expert states that the countries mentioned are authoritarian, constantly questioned by other nations and that, at times, they disregard international rules.
Maduro, for example, has been criticized by several countries, including the United States, where the United Nations is based, due to allegations of fraud in the July presidential election. The United States recognized Edmundo González as Venezuela’s president-elect.
In addition, the Venezuelan head of state was formally charged in New York, Washington, DC, and Miami for alleged links with the FARC, from Colombia, to send drugs to the United States.
In 2020, the US State Department announced rewards of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro.
This year, Venezuela will be represented by Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has not been to New York for the General Assembly since 2015. He delivered a virtual address to the Assembly in 2020.
Putin has an open arrest warrant at the International Criminal Court. However, the United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC.
In any case, tensions between the US and Russia have increased dramatically in recent years due to the war in Ukraine. In 2024, the country is expected to be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Xi Jinping, President of China, will in turn be represented by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
In 2023, the country’s vice president gave a speech, and in 2022, Wang Yi took the floor. The last time Xi addressed the Assembly was in 2021, via video.
Tensions with the United States have also grown in recent years, with direct criticism from President Joe Biden.
There is no confirmation of who will represent North Korea at the UN General Assembly this year, but for the last three sessions it has been Kim Song, head of the country’s delegation to the United Nations.
This content was originally published in Why will the leaders of Russia, China and Venezuela not speak at the UN? on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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