Lula discusses policies for women with former leaders of Chile, Costa Rica and Senegal

This Tuesday afternoon (14), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the first lady, Janja Lula da Silva, hosted Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile and of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUL) and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica; and Aminata Touré, former prime minister of Senegal. The visit occurred in connection with the event “Women in Power: Strategies for the Implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goal to Achieve Gender Equality”, promoted on the same day by the minister for Women, Cida Gonçalves.

During the meeting, they discussed the role of women in modern societies and the need to promote agendas that will reduce gender inequalities, such as the recently approved bill on equal pay. They also talked about the desirable reform of global governance institutions, and agreed that the conflicts under way in the Middle East and Ukraine are a reflex of the operational difficulties of the UN, in particular of the Security Council. They commented on the risks faced by the democracies of the world, shaken by the proliferation of fake information and hate discourses, and on the need to review the discourse of the progressive forces.

President Lula and Ms. Bachelet, who presided UNASUL during the 2008-2009 term, commented on the current state of the relations among South American countries, agreeing that they were at their best between the years of 2003 and 2013, when UNASUL was first established. A positive example mentioned by Bachelet in this regard was the approximation between UNASUL and Africa, which lost priority in subsequent years.

President Lula then listened to Ms. Touré’s comments on the opportunity that the Brazilian presidency of G20 represents, with the recent inclusion of the African Union, and on its role in BRICS, to advance the debate about the defense of democracy and the fight against poverty and food insecurity, “item number one in the African agenda”. President Lula was also saluted on the reactivation of Brazilian social programs, particularly the Bolsa Família, "a social revolution and a model for the world”. He agreed that providing financing for women, who are the mainstay of great part of the families, significantly impacts societies, as demonstrated by the recent initiatives in this direction in the African continent. The president expressed his desire to visit the African Union headquarters, in Adis Abeba, and declared that one of his agenda items will be the defense of the renegotiation of the unpayable debts of the continent’s countries.

The issue of excessive debt in the developing world was also pointed as a concern by Ms. Chinchilla, from whom Lula heard comments about Latin America’s loss of protagonism over the recent years, partly due to the lack of leaders who promote an effective regional integration. The disproportionate amount of deaths by Covid-19 in the region, compared to the rest of the world, was cited as an example of the lack of an integrated policy in favor of vaccination.

President Lula thanked the comments about the resumption of the successful social programs of his first terms, which were abandoned by the previous governments, and highlighted the need to think about new initiatives, with innovative approaches, about the demands of women, youth and the middle sections of society, in essential areas such as education, health, and financing social inclusion.