President Gabriel Boric made a speech today at the plenary session of the Summit for Peace in Ukraine, which is being held in Switzerland, on which occasion he stated that only respect for human rights and international law can guarantee peace in places like Ukraine and Gaza.
To justify Chile’s participation in the summit, he said in English that “It’s not because we don’t like Putin, who I don’t like personally, or because we have sympathy for Mr. Zelensky.” adding that as a small country in the south of the world, with our 20 million inhabitants, “We are aware that only respect for international law and human rights can guarantee peace.”.
In that sense, he assured that “having the same standard in terms of human rights and territorial integrity is the key to maintaining positions that give meaning to the world.”
“We are facing a clear territorial invasion, that of Russia and Ukraine, as we are also experiencing with the attacks that are being experienced in Gaza by the Israeli army,” Boric expressed to EFE shortly before entering the Bürgenstock Hotel, scene of the peace summit.
The President insisted that the conflict is not a question of ideological blocs, but of preserving the international system that has served to govern international relations in recent decades.
Boric, who has met with the president of Ukraine via conference on several occasions and who did so yesterday, said that the same logic “applies to the conflict in Gaza.”
Before taking the stand, Boric already advanced the main lines of his speech by ensuring that “I have the deep conviction that it is respect for international law that will allow us to build peace among peoples, justice and equity and among peoples.”
In this sense, he stressed that “we are facing a clear violation of international law with the invasion of Russia and Ukraine, as we are also with the attacks that are being experienced today in Gaza by the Israeli army.”
“We believe that having the same standard in terms of human rights and territorial integrity is the key to being able to maintain positions that make sense to the world,” he stressed.
Boric and Zelensky met minutes before to study the steps to be taken after this Saturday’s summit, in addition to bilateral collaboration.
The conversation was “mainly about international law and respect for territorial integrity,” explained sources from the Chilean delegation.
President Boric’s speech at the Summit (in English):
