Foreign Minister Mélanie Jolie is calling on UN members to confront growing political polarization abroad while attacking conservative rhetoric at home.
Jolie put women’s rights and international law at the heart of her speech to the United Nations General Assembly, in what may be the Trudeau government’s last speech at the annual gathering of leaders and ministers in New York.
“Some of the loudest voices claiming to speak for freedom are those trying to redefine this word for their own purposes,” she told the assembly Monday morning.
“They are hiding behind the word to tell us that everything is broken,” she added, echoing the language of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, without mentioning his name.
Jolie criticized leaders who seek to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people, their reproductive choices “or even what they can wear,” although she did not specify restrictions on religious symbols in Quebec or France.
“We see it in our country; “We see it all over the world,” she told the General Assembly, before delving into a series of conflicts that she said could only be resolved by countries upholding the rules of sovereignty and human rights.
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That means challenging the “inhumane rules imposed by the Taliban against women and girls” in Afghanistan that restrict their education and access to public spaces, she said. It also means more countries are supporting Haiti as it seeks to end what they describe as a disastrous situation of gang rule.
In the Middle East, the cycle of violence “requires both sides to make real efforts” to end the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been going on for nearly a year. She stressed the importance of the United Nations in seeking to reach consensus and resolve deep differences.
“Polarization is a real problem and division is real. We have a collective responsibility to bring people together,” she said.
“People have the right to protest peacefully, but no one has the freedom to intimidate others.”
Likewise, it framed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Moscow’s distortion of the concept of freedom to justify the undermining of international law.
“No country or freedom has the right to invade its neighbor, and there is no freedom to impose your will on others,” she said.
She added: “The Ukrainian people have the right to be free from fear and aggression.”
Her speech noted Canada’s support for efforts to reform the United Nations, with countries saying Western countries have enormous power that does not reflect the population and economic growth of many countries.
She reiterated a call earlier this month by a group of female foreign ministers for the next Secretary-General to be a woman for the first time in the UN’s nearly eight decades of existence, which she denounced as “unacceptable.”
Monday’s speech came as Canada campaigns for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, and within a year of a potential national election in which the Liberals face dismal poll numbers.
Jolie’s speech ended by pointing out the decline in women’s rights, including access to safe abortion and contraception.
The speech did not mention climate change, but said the world has many problems that can only be solved by working together.
“Canada will work with partners to get through this moment of crisis,” she said.
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