The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has proclaimed this Tuesday, after receiving at the Yuste Monastery, in Cuacos de Yuste (Cáceres) the Charles V Award from the hands of Felipe VI, that “instead of bullets”, it is necessary to resort to “diplomatic arsenals” and negotiation as ways to make peace possible in Ukraine and in other countries where there are wars, in the opinion that “building bridges is the only option”.
“Negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration… We must try everything to peacefully resolve our disagreements”, defended Guterres, who lamented that “peace is weakened” and that violence “runs wild in too many corners of the planet”.
In the case of Ukraine, Guterres has condemned the invasion of Russia for violating international law and the United Nations Charter, and has stressed that for peace to be lasting “it must be based on respect for and protection of human rights in its entirety”.
“Peace should never be underestimated or taken for granted. We must work for and for her, every day, without rest. In a world that is tearing itself apart, we must heal divisions, prevent escalations, listen to grievances. Instead of bullets, we need diplomatic arsenals”, she has maintained.
Felipe VI: “Without dialogue, we will not find lasting solutions”
For his part, the King of Spain has maintained that “without dialogue, without understanding and without consensus” it will not be possible to find “durable solutions” to challenges such as the war in Ukraine, for which he has also considered it pertinent for Europe to ” reaffirm and unite with greater strength and determination”.
Among the challenges that Europe faces, the monarch has highlighted the war in Ukraine caused by the “unacceptable” Russian invasion, before which he has called for “reaffirming and uniting even more strongly” to try to achieve peace
The Head of State also stressed that in the current context, “mutual support” is necessary as a basis for defining the configuration of the international system, in addition to “rebuilding trust” between the States that make up the United Nations.
In addition, he has praised that Estremadura sea “a land proud of its roots and its history” and “example that feelings are not exclusive, but enrich those who boast of the value of all of them”.
In the act in which the president of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara underlined that Europe is “the only way” that can lead to the future, to the paa, freedom, solidarity and equality, and has influenced that “Extremadura cannot fail you”
The voice of a Ukrainian refugee “permeates” the ceremony
The torn voice of Ukrainein the testimony of a refugee, Lana Tryhub, has impregnated the Carlos V European Award ceremony, with a story focused on how he experienced the start of the invasion and how he faced the long road to Spain with his two daughters, which has received the most emotional and extensive applause of this ceremony, with Felipe VI, the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the head of the Executive of Extremadura, standing, as well as the rest of the authorities and guests at this gala.
The courage of this 34-year-old woman from Poltava (Ukraine) was reflected when reading her speech; not a single crack in her words, not a single tear on her face, while the audience that listened to her tried to hide her pain from her.