Manama – The Speaker of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, reaffirmed on Sunday in Manama, capital of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the commitment of Angola to the promotion and preservation of peace and security at world level.
While speaking at the afternoon session of the 146th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), she said that dialogue, consultation and respect for the democratic principle of participation by all as solutions to the main problems and bases for understanding and building a fair social reality.
"We must always bear in mind that peace represents a priority in the global agenda for development, social justice, stability and human solidarity”, she stressed.
Carolina Cerqueira clarified that the fact that climate change, the inequitable distribution of natural resources, the knowledge and science, the multi-scale conflicts, including the Cybercrime and wars on almost every continent, religious and cultural conflicts, poverty, corruption and lack of transparency contribute to the eruption of social problems and harm in communities.
She added that due to all that, the world faces a deplorable situation related to security and well-being, increase of poverty, unemployment and deficient social infrastructures.
“The migration crisis experienced especially in Europe, with thousands of people who, in desperation, search for better economic conditions and opportunities for social inclusion with more dignity to the human person, sometimes die along the way while searching for better conditions of life”, she emphasised.
According to Carolina Cerqueira the solution to the problems that affect peace among peoples and nations should be based on transforming important instruments for peace in inviolable, essential and timeless agreements to promote the values of human dignity and fundamental rights, paying special attention to gender issues and the defence of women.
In addition to recognizing it as a challenging task, Carolina Cerqueira stressed that the parliamentarians must make an incisive contribution by creating new ways to the peaceful resolution of conflicts still prevailing in the world.
She added that selfishness has weakened the foundations of the collective strength of human existence and that the complexity raised by the Covid-19 pandemic continues to challenge the world to think of new ways of building a common life and well-being for families, especially for the most vulnerable groups.
To the Angolan Parliament Speaker, it is urgent to increase the values of human solidarity and inter-assistance, with a new approach to the phenomena that today underlie the struggles of social movements, the inclusion of minorities, freedom of the press, of religion and of opinion, so that from diversity democracy and social stability may be promoted in order to make affective the peaceful coexistence of humanity.
Carolina Cerqueira defended joint efforts to reach a balanced agreement in the fight against climate change, in order to reduce and dignify the effects of the natural disasters that are multiplying and whose recent events in Turkey and Syria have shaken the world.
She said that Angola defends the emergence of a new global revolution, the circular economy revolution, focused on a more equitable, resilient and inclusive future, based on the environmental protection and conservation of the planet and ecosystems, as well as the sustainable use and management of resources.
Fraternal Dialogue
Carolina Cerqueira acknowledged that the consequences of conflicts, often provoked and motivated by a spirit of intolerance, are more complex in developing countries, where in many cases, mechanisms for solidarity and social inclusion are marginalized.
In this regard, as representatives of the people she said that it is necessary to continue to defend peace and to commit all our knowledge to open and fraternal dialogue, as well as to strengthen mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
She highlighted the contribution of Angola in the search for peace in various conflicts in Africa, especially in the Great Lakes region and Central Africa, with the intervention role of the Head of State João Lourenço that has allowed his recognition and distinction by the African Union, with the title of Champion of Peace.
Carolina Cerqueira also expressed solidarity with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique, whose people are victims of conflicts and terrorism acts.
She also hoped for an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has been going on for over a year, expressing her desire to achieve peace through fair comprehensive dialogue, respecting the sovereignty and integrity of states in order to put an end to a war with catastrophic effects and unpredictable consequences for peaceful coexistence.
Carolina Cerqueira praised the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), efforts to strengthen the role of dialogue in the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts in the world.
