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G7 Leaders Tackle The Issue Of Migration On The Second Day Of Their Summit In Italy
BARI, Italy – As the second day of their summit began on Friday, the leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries focused on migration, looking for methods to stop human trafficking and boost investment in the countries from whom migrants begin their frequently fatal journeys.
Additional hot issues discussed at the meeting in a posh resort in southern Puglia, Italy, include climate change, artificial intelligence, the Gaza War, financial support for Ukraine, and China’s industrial policies and economic security.
However, there also seemed to be differences in the summit’s final proclamation; a reference to abortion was reportedly the subject of dispute.
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G7 Leaders Tackle The Issue Of Migration On The Second Day Of Their Summit In Italy
Being on one of the main routes into the European Union for people escaping poverty and conflict in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, summit host Italy is particularly interested in migration.
Hard-line right-wing Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has been keen to boost financing and investment in African countries to lessen the impact of migration on Europe.
At the summit opening on Thursday, Meloni said, “Italy wanted to dedicate ample space to another continent that is fundamental to the future of all of us, which is Africa, with its difficulties, its opportunities.”
She added, “Linked to Africa, and not only to Africa, there is another fundamental issue that Italy has placed at the center of the presidency, which is the issue of migration, the increasingly worrying role that trafficking organizations are assuming, clearly exploiting the desperation of human beings.”
Meloni has a contentious five-year agreement with neighboring Albania that calls for the Balkan nation to house thousands of asylum applicants while Italy handles their applications. She has also led the “Mattei Plan” for Africa, a pan-African initiative to boost domestic economic prospects and thereby deter immigration to Europe.
UNHCR statistics show that as of right now, in 2024, over 22,000 migrants have landed in Italy by sea. Over 157,000 came in 2023, and almost 2,000 perished or vanished while trying the treacherous Mediterranean voyage.
The United States has also been grappling with an increasing number of migrants at its southern border. When a bill he attempted to push through Congress was not passed, President Joe Biden implemented new measures to reduce immigration.
However, on Thursday, proponents of immigrant rights filed lawsuits against the new regulations, and it is unknown if they will survive the legal challenges in American courts.
“We intend to fight against the smugglers, these criminal groups which are abusing (vulnerable people) to make money and to destabilize regions and countries across the world,” he said, “together with our partners.”
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G7 Leaders Tackle The Issue Of Migration On The Second Day Of Their Summit In Italy
Along with the G7 countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the Italian hosts have extended invitations to several African leaders, including Tunisian President Kais Saied, Kenyan President William Ruto, and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to promote Meloni’s development and migration plans.
Speaking on artificial intelligence on Friday, Pope Francis will also become the first pope to attend a G7 summit. Invitees also include Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A powerful demonstration of support for Kyiv marked the start of the summit on Thursday: an agreement was reached on a U.S. plan to approve a $50 billion loan to Ukraine using blocked Russian assets as security.
The freeze of Russian assets was branded “theft” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who further promised that it “will not go unpunished.”
Speaking at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, he stated, “Western countries have frozen a part of Russian assets and foreign exchange reserves and are now thinking about some kind of legal basis to completely appropriate them.” However, despite all the planning, thievery will still be stolen and will not go unpunished.
On Thursday night, Biden also inked a bilateral security deal with Zelenskyy in an effort to convey to Russia the American commitment to backing Kyiv.
Zelenskyy called it a “truly historic day” and stated that the agreement was “on security and thus on the protection of human life.”
But significant rifts emerged among the G7 leaders, with French President Emmanuel Macron criticizing the summit’s final document’s omission of abortion.
Following the meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, last year, a declaration was released pledging to protect gender equality and the rights of LGBTQ+ people while also giving women and girls access to safe and legal abortion.
G7 | AP News Image
G7 Leaders Tackle The Issue Of Migration On The Second Day Of Their Summit In Italy
A top EU official affirmed on Friday that while promoting sexual and reproductive health rights was mentioned in this year’s final declaration, the word “abortion” was not.
The person, speaking under anonymity to disclose the specifics of the private talks, said, “It was not possible to reach agreement on these things in the room.”
France “has included women’s right to abortion, the freedom of decision on one’s own body, into its Constitution,” Macron said, adding that France defends “this vision of equality between women and men,” when questioned on Thursday about reports that abortion would not be included in the final text.
In response to an Italian reporter’s inquiry, Macron stated, “It’s not a vision that’s shared across all the political spectrum.” “I respect it even though I regret it because your people made that sovereign decision.”
Despite her campaigning around the slogan “God, Faith and Fatherland,” Meloni has refuted claims that she is reversing Italy’s 1978 legalization of abortions. The opposition on the center left has cautioned that her policies are eroding those rights, particularly by granting women thinking about abortion access to pro-life organizations.
According to Italy’s ANSA news agency, this year’s wording states that the G7 “repeats our commitment expressed in the final communique of the G7 of Hiroshima for a universal, adequate and sustainable access to health services for women, including the right to reproduction.”
SOURCE – (AP)
