Lula Warns UN Credibility at Record Low as Global Conflicts Surge
Brazil's Lula tells UN General Assembly that the body's credibility has never been lower amid rising conflicts, urging reform and rejecting foreign interference.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to warn that the world body's credibility has reached its lowest point, as armed conflicts multiply across the globe.
Speaking shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump took the same podium, Lula pressed fellow leaders to act more decisively on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. He said 2025 is on track to record the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II, with trillions of dollars flowing into a new arms race.
"The U.N. is failing in one of its highest missions: to save humanity from the scourge of war," Lula said, adding that its credibility "has never been lower." He called for reform of the Security Council and said the organisation must recover its capacity for dialogue and mediation.
"Concessions to the law of the stronger have surpassed all limits. This is not idealism, but pure realism," he said. "War is not the continuation of politics by other means; it's the complete breakdown of politics."
Alongside his criticism of the UN's response to global conflicts, Lula struck a defensive note on sovereignty, warning that countries should not interfere in one another's internal affairs. His remarks come only weeks before Brazil's elections, in which he is seeking a fourth, non-consecutive presidential term.
"Brazilian democracy belongs to Brazilians. Brazil will continue to be a sovereign country," he said. "Nobody will turn us away from this path."
Tensions between Washington and Brasília have deepened since last year, when the U.S. imposed an initial round of tariffs, citing what Trump described as a "witch hunt" trial against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. Relations have since been further strained by mounting allegations of foreign interference in October's vote.
Lula's main rival in that contest is Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, a son of the former president, who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest after being convicted for an attempted coup.
Turning to the economy, Lula said Brazil would set a new export record this year despite what he called massive tariffs against the country.