GIORGIA MELONI, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, situated current global happenings in “complex times of continuous emergencies and change” stating that the leaders cannot afford luxury of lofty principles which have never been realized or easy choices over right ones.  She counselled on the need for Member States to look back at what gave meaning and life to the United Nations in its founding in 1945.  Stating that if two fundamental premises of the Organization — the sense of belonging to a community and the adoption of reason and dialogue towards dispute settlement — are its foundation then member countries “must reject the utopistic and self-serving narrative of those who say that a world without nations, without border, and without identity, would be a world without war and conflict.”

Pointing out that the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine has consequences which extend to other poor countries, she urged that Member States must fiercely oppose the return to the use of force as a tool to resolve international conflict because the war shows that, reason can still prevail against dominion and neo- imperialism.  “It is up to us, each and every one of us, to decide on what side of history we want to stand in good conscience”.  She highlighted the implications of the war on all countries, particularly the poor ones and some in Africa, already bedevilled by the effects of climate change and drought, stating that this is what informed Italy’s stand out of a sense of justice.

The chaos caused therefore makes affected countries more vulnerable to instability, terrorism and fundamentalism, spiralling into forced migrations which provide a fertile ground for human traffickers, who deceive people in search of a  better life and are only concerned with profit margins.  “We want to battle against the mafia in all its forms, and we will battle against this too.  The fact is that the fight against organized crime should be an objective that unites us all,” she said.  Describing human trafficking as the most lucrative venture in the world, she called on the international community to wage a global war against it, pledging her country’s foremost involvement in same.  She announced an effort with Mediterranean and African nations along two main paths:  defeat slave traders and tackle root causes of migration.

Calling for the adoption of “Algor-ethics” — ethics for algorithms — she admonished that the risks posed by artificial intelligence “cannot be lost on us“ as “human intellect today risks being replaced with consequences that could be devastating, particularly for the job market.”  She stressed the need to put in place global mechanism to ensure that it respects human boundaries.  She also called for a reform of the Security Council to ensure a fair geographical distribution of seats.