Host country Brazil published the official joint declaration of the 2024 G20 Summit on Tuesday calling, with no specificity, for an end to war, hunger, poverty, and disease.
G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration called for cooperation on taxing the wealthy, fighting corruption, and addressing mass migration, as well as recognizing “the seriousness of climate change” and lamenting that the United Nations’ 2030 “Sustainable Development Goals” are unlikely to be met in time.
While mentioning the two most prominent geopolitical conflicts ongoing today – the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization – the declaration did not condemn the aggressors in those situations or offer any specific action by the G20 nations to improve the situations. Other subsections of the declarations similarly observed issues around the world but failed to offer any definitive position on them.
The declaration is a product of what reports indicate was a tense and fragmented G20 summit in Brazil, where socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva planned to focus the group’s attention towards internet censorship and a global framework to increase taxes on the “ultra” rich, but found himself thwarted by significant disagreements among the group. Lula and the other socialists and communists at the event reportedly struggled the most in their interactions with libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei.
“Argentine diplomats have thrown a wrench into last-minute talks meant to reach consensus on the communique world leaders are set to sign Tuesday, according to multiple government officials from various G-20 nations,” according to Bloomberg. “They even began backing off support for ideas they had previously signed off on in previous meetings, including a tax on billionaires, the people said.”
In addition to balancing the agendas of those present, many attending the summit reportedly struggled to reconcile the globalist priorities of G20 leaders such as Lula and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping with the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the helm of the U.S. government. Reports do not indicate that outgoing President Joe Biden took on a prominent role at the summit, while diplomats considered the major realignment in favor of Argentina’s policies that Trump’s return would represent.
The ultimate Joint Declaration spent much time declaring the countries’ “strong commitment” to the Sustainable Development Goals, a U.N. program that lists 17 vague promises, such as ending hunger and access to healthcare, for the entire world to achieve by 2030.
“The world requires not only urgent action, but also socially just, environmentally sustainable and economically sound measures,” the declaration read. “For that reason, we work, in 2024, under the motto ‘Building a just world and a sustainable planet’ – placing inequality, in all its dimensions, at the center of the G20 agenda.”
On the issue of war, the G20 states agreed that “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.” The document did not name the world’s most high-profile violators of this global norm, which include G20 members Russia and China.
“In line with the UN Charter … We affirm that all parties must comply with their obligations under international law,” the document added.
The G20 states mentioned the existence of the war between Israel and Hamas but did not name Hamas as the aggressor or even a party to the conflict.
“Affirming the Palestinian right to self-determination, we reiterate our unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where Israel and a Palestinian State live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions,” the documented read. “We are united in support for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza.”
Similarly, the segment on Ukraine did not identify Russia as the aggressor, instead offering, “We welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace, upholding all the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter for the promotion of peaceful, friendly, and good neighborly relations among nations.”
Lula succeeded in getting the G20 member states to include provisions on taxing “ultra-high-net-worth individuals,” but did not get the countries to commit to a global taxation framework above national sovereignty.
“Cooperation could involve exchanging best practices, encouraging debates around tax principles, and devising antiavoidance mechanisms, including addressing potentially harmful tax practices,” the parties agreed to instead.
Similarly, the parties agreed to address censorship of political dissidents – one of Lula’s most prominent policies – but without committing to allow for a global framework to supersede national laws on internet censorship:
[T]he digitization of the information realm and the accelerated evolution of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), has dramatically impacted the speed, scale and reach of misinformation and disinformation, hate speech and other forms of online harms.
In this sense, we emphasize the need for digital platformsˋ transparency and responsibility in line with relevant policies and applicable legal frameworks and will work with platforms and relevant stakeholders in this regard. Transparency, with appropriate safeguards, and explainability regarding data, algorithms and content moderation that respects intellectual property rights and privacy, and data protection can be key for building healthy information ecosystems.
The document expressed support for the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) and its attempts at implementing a global pandemic treaty – a measure that the incoming Trump administration will likely vocally oppose. It similarly expressed support for expanding the Paris climate agreement, which Trump withdrew from during his first term in office.
Elsewhere in the document, the parties stated that they “reaffirm our shared commitments and our dedication to lead by example in the global efforts against corruption and related illicit financial flows.” Lula, the president of the host country, was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison on charges of corruption during his first two terms in office in 2019. He did not serve his full time, as the socialist-friendly Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) overturned his sentences on procedural grounds, allowing him to run for a third term at the helm of the Brazilian government.
The G20 has struggled in recent years to produce meaningful statements in light of the disparate interests of its member parties. In New Delhi last year, the 2023 Joint Declaration similarly lamented the conflict in Ukraine, for example, and called for a “comprehensive, just, and durable peace” without condemning Russia. The summit ended without leaders taking a traditional “family photo” together to mark the occasion.
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