By Xhabir Deralla
The Global Peace Summit for Peace for Ukraine, held in Switzerland on June 15-16, is of great importance on at least six grounds.
First of all, the Summit resulted in a joint communiqué with the support of high representatives and leaders from 80 countries around the world. What are the six key takeaways from this Summit?
1. INTERNATIONAL LAW: Citizens from all over the world insist on respecting international law, particularly the Charter of the United Nations and resolutions A/RES/ES-11/1 and A/RES/ES-11/6. This insistence on basic international legal documents indicates that Russia has trampled the foundations of the world order established after the Second World War. International law must be restored, and this can only be achieved by securing a lasting and just peace for Ukraine and holding Putin and his clique accountable for the brutal aggression, war crimes, and destruction unseen since the end of World War II.
2. GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES: The participants of the Peace Summit agreed that Russian aggression “continues to cause great human suffering and destruction and create risks and crises with global consequences.” All the views expressed during the Peace Summit, as well as in the document supported by 80 out of 100 participating countries, refer to the whole world, not only Ukraine.
3. TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY: The most important determination agreed upon by the state leaders of the 80 countries that supported the Joint Communiqué is the respect for the “territorial integrity or political independence of any state, the principles of sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all states,” including Ukraine, within their internationally recognized borders, including territorial waters. This emphasizes the inviolability of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, including the territories occupied by the Russian Federation since 2014. It is one of the most important points of the Peace Formula of Ukrainian President Zelensky.
Representatives from 100 countries participated. A joint communiqué was adopted that aligns with the main points of the Peace Formula of Ukrainian President Zelensky. The messages from the Summit are clear and unequivocal.
4. NUCLEAR THREAT: The world once again perceives the enormous danger of the misuse of nuclear facilities as a threat to global nuclear security. Considering that the Russian aggressors have been blackmailing and threatening the security of the largest European nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya throughout the war, this threat is more than real and concerns the nuclear security of all of Europe and beyond. In response to Russian nuclear threats, the peace summit participants stated they were unacceptable. This stance is shared by 80 countries. A question should be addressed to those who were absent in support of the joint communiqué, as well as those who did not participate in the Summit at all: Do they consider Russian nuclear threats acceptable, and how do they explain this to the public in those countries?
5. DISARMAMENT OF FOOD: Ukraine is one of the world’s largest granaries. For the third year now, the world has witnessed Russian military aggression and occupation, constant bombing of civilian infrastructure, blockades, and attacks on civilian seaports and other transport routes, as well as attacks on commercial grain transport ships. Not to mention the shameless theft of Ukrainian grain carried out by the Russian aggressors in the occupied territories. Ukraine has been facing the devastating consequences of food weaponization since the very beginning of the invasion in 2014, but the world failed to recognize this until the full-scale invasion began in 2022. But that is in the past. The world has opened its eyes. Instead of weaponizing food, the world is taking action to disarm it, ensuring global food security and preventing its use as a tool of war.
6. RETURN OF KIDNAPPED CHILDREN AND PRISONERS: Almost 20,000 Ukrainian children have been kidnapped and deported to Russia and the occupied territories. Only 388 children have been returned so far, but even this number reveals the horror of the genocidal operation carried out by the Kremlin. The testimonies of the returned children have shocked the world, leading the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his child ombudsman, Maria Alekseevna Lvova-Belova. On December 8, 2023, the inaugural meeting of the international coalition of states in action for the return of Ukrainian children deported by the Russian aggressor was held. CIVIL was among the first in the world to publish news of this event. The same urgency applies to prisoners of war and all civilians who are illegally detained and deported. All must be returned to Ukraine.
Most important of all, every aspect of the war and every argument for a just peace for Ukraine translates to peace for the world.
In conclusion, it is important to understand that, contrary to attempts to discredit and diminish the significance of this international political and diplomatic event, and despite quasi-analyses suggesting that some key global actors did not participate, the facts speak otherwise. Representatives from 100 countries participated. A joint communiqué was adopted that aligns with the main points of the Peace Formula of Ukrainian President Zelensky. The messages from the Summit are clear and unequivocal.
Most important of all, every aspect of the war and every argument for a just peace for Ukraine translates to peace for the world. Without a just peace for Ukraine, the international legal order will be destroyed, and the stability and peace of all countries will be jeopardized. Nuclear threats will multiply, and the global economy will face severe shocks, disproportionately affecting poor and developing countries. Large and powerful states that defy or abuse international institutions, as Russia does, will act like robbers, plundering the wealth of smaller nations and spreading terror worldwide. The answer to all these challenges lies in Zelensky’s Formula for Peace and the decisive action of the global community.
It remains for the leaders who attended the Peace Summit to keep their promises, and for those who did not to explain to their public and to history why they failed to do so.
This is an opinion article. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author.
