Draghi recalls Andreatta: "Patient and far-sighted reformer, protagonist of the European debate"
Italy-Germany: Draghi, working together to strengthen the European Union
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September 14, 2021 "In recent days, we are witnessing images that take us back to the darkest years in the history of Afghanistan. In particular, women, who in the past twenty years had regained basic rights, such as education, are now in danger of even be banned from playing sports, repressing their representation in the government. As an international community we have a moral obligation to a country we have been in for twenty years. An obligation to humanitarian aid, to prevent terrorism, to support the protection of human rights ".
The Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, spoke at the G20 interreligious Forum "Time to Heal: peace between cultures, understanding between religions" in Bologna. Religious freedom, Afghanistan, the fight against the pandemic and fairness in the distribution of vaccines, ecological transition: these are the issues addressed by the Prime Minister, who quoted Pope Francis speaking of religious freedom: "For me, religion is love and its principles are defended with firmness but with charity, not with irreconcilable aversion, or, worse, with war and terror. As Pope Francis said: "hostility, extremism and violence do not arise from a religious soul: they are betrayals of religion", which are not it must be "never exploited".
Religious freedom
"It is fundamental to protect religious freedom, of opinion and expression. The right to freely profess one's faith and to worship it, in private or in public. To be able to convert to a religion or abandon it, without being persecuted. Today, however, We are witnessing a worrying number of episodes of religious extremism and conflicts between different faith families. We have seen it in the terrible attacks claimed by organizations such as ISIS. In terrorist acts committed in the name of white or Christian supremacism. And in demonstrations of anti-Semitism. , a disturbing growing phenomenon. In some cases, particularly hateful, in places of worship. These brutal events are often used to represent a world divided between opposing communities.But it is useful to remember that victims of terrorism often share the same faith as their killers. Fanaticism affects everyone, indiscriminately ", observes the head of the government.
Helping those who want to leave Afghanistan
"The international community, and the G20 that Italy is presiding over this year, must have respect for freedoms and the maintenance of peace as primary objectives. The crisis in Afghanistan has re-proposed these priorities with terrible urgency", said Draghi. explained that it is a duty we have as the West, and in particular as Europe, to protect those who decide to leave Afghanistan. Italy has helped some 5,000 Afghan citizens escape the enormous risks they were exposed to. A "significant effort, of which we must be proud", said the premier, but which cannot be exhausted now: "For years, the Union has been unable to build a common approach on the issue of migration, and in particular on the distribution of those arrives and asks for asylum.height of this crisis and of the values we say we represent. It is also on reception, and not only on the economy, that the maturity of the European integration process is measured ".
Fighting the pandemic
Overcoming differences in vaccine procedures and strengthening economic safety nets for poorer countries are moral goals and responsibilities. Today only 2% of the population of the poorest countries has received the vaccine, compared to 42% of the world population ". Instead," to defeat the pandemic, the vaccination campaign must go everywhere "globally:" only in this way we will be able to save lives, curb contagion, avoid the emergence of dangerous variants ", said Draghi, underlining the commitment of pharmaceutical companies to provide 1.3 billion doses at controlled prices for low-income states. While atri 2 billion doses will arrive by 2022. The European Union will donate at least 100 million doses by 2021 through COVAX. But now, he explains,doses must reach those who need them: in other words, there is a logistical problem of equal importance to that of the availability of vaccine production.
Global emissions
"The G20 as a whole is responsible for about four-fifths of global emissions. The effects of climate change, however, particularly harm the poorest states. Nine of the ten states most affected by extreme weather events between 1999 and 2018 are not in fact advanced economies. These countries have benefited less than others from our development model, but they are the main victims, "said Draghi. "In the meeting on environment, climate and energy in Naples, the G20 reaffirmed its commitment to contain global warming by 1.5 degrees and to achieve zero net emissions by 2050 - he continued - We also intend to raise funding of at least 100 billions of dollars a year to help developing countries in the ecological transition.Italy organizes COP26 together with the United Kingdom. Pope Francis, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Canterbury recently appealed to the international community to "choose life", to protect future generations as well. At the November conference in Glasgow we must respond positively to this invitation and take courageous decisions that involve all states ".
Commitment to poor countries
"After the trauma of the pandemic, the world economy is growing again. However, the recovery does not affect everyone equally. According to the most recent forecasts, most of the G20 countries will regain the ground lost during the health crisis by 2022. This will not happen for two thirds of the most fragile states. The consequences for the poorest run the risk of being dramatic ". Prime Minister Mario Draghi pointed this out, rattling off dramatic numbers. "According to the FAO - in fact, the Prime Minister remarked - there are over 150 million more malnourished people due to the pandemic. The G20 has promoted a package of measures to support developing economies, which involves the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.We have reached an agreement to facilitate debt restructuring for overly indebted countries. There is still a lot of work to be done to increase resources, to involve private creditors who do not participate in this agreement, which has so far benefited a small number of countries. We need to watch over the commitments already made and be ready to take more courageous ones ".