Mexico City, November 9, 2021.- “The international community's most important organization must rouse itself from its lethargy, get out of its rut and not stand on ceremony. It must reform and denounce, combat corruption around the world and fight against the inequality and social unrest that are spreading across the planet with more determination and depth. It must play a more active role, be more of a leader."

With these words, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador headed the session of the United Nations Security Council, announcing that in the coming days Mexico will propose a World Plan for Fraternity and Well-being to the General Assembly that would finance a fund of one trillion dollars a year to ensure the right to a decent life for 750 million people who survive on less than two dollars a day.

“Never in the history of this organization has anything really substantial been done to benefit the poor, but it is never too late to do justice. We must act today against marginalization, addressing the causes and not just the consequences."

The Mexican president explained that the proposal aims to establish a worldwide state of fraternity and well-being based on at least three sources:

A voluntary annual contribution of four percent of the fortunes of the thousand richest people on the planet; a similar amount from the thousand private corporations with the highest value in the world market; and 0.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of each G20 member country.

He said that the resources would go directly to the world's poorest with no intermediaries in order to prevent corruption. This would be based on a census taken next year with the collaboration of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to determine the target population and disperse the funds as scholarships, pensions for the elderly, and to children with disabilities, farmers and youths, including vaccines and free medicines.

“I do not believe, and I say this sincerely, that any of the permanent members of this Security Council will oppose our proposal, since it does not involve nuclear weapons or military invasions, nor does it put the security of any State at risk. To the contrary, it seeks to build stability and peace through solidarity with those who are in most need of our support."

He affirmed that it is the collective duty of nations to offer the right to food, health, work, social security, sports and recreation to each of their sons and daughters.

The president emphasized that he had not come to the United Nations to speak about security as a synonym for military power or as a reason to use force, but rather based on the proposals of former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the creation of the UN for the right to a life free from fear and misery, which continues to be a solid foundation for the security of all societies and States.

He pointed to corruption in all of its dimensions as the main obstacle in the world that prevents the exercise of rights and is the main cause of inequality, poverty, frustration, violence, migration and serious social conflicts:

"...The transnational powers, the opulence and frivolity that is a wayof life for the elites, the neoliberal model that socializes losses, privatizes profits and encourages the looting of natural resources and of the property of peoples and nations.

"It is corruption when courts punish those who don't have the means to buy their innocence and protect the wealthy and large business corporations that steal from the treasury or don't pay taxes. Corruption is the impunity of those who conceal and hide illicit funds in tax havens. And corruption is also the usury practiced by the shareholders and administrators of the so-called vulture funds, without even losing their respectability."

He highlighted that an example of the decadence we are experiencing today, where never before has so much wealth been concentrated in so few hands at the expense of the suffering of others, is the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines:

"While private pharmaceutical companies have sold 94 percent of the vaccines, the Covax initiative, created by the UN for poor countries, has barely distributed six percent: A painful and resounding failure."

He said that in Mexico we have employed the formula of banishing corruption and applied the criteria that, for the good of all, the poor come first, so resources are being used for the well-being of the people: 

"Focusing on the poor also means accepting that peace is the result of justice and that no country can be viable if marginalization and misery persist and increase."

--