00:00For the view from the UN on bringing an end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts across
00:04the world, our correspondent Angela Scugin spoke with the former Belgian Prime Minister,
00:09Alexander de Croix, who's now with the UN Development Programme.
00:12Stopping the war would, from our perspective, be the thing we look forward to. Of course,
00:20what is a just way of stopping the war? That is a political discussion. The UNDP is not involved
00:26in that. But of course, war is development in reverse and the human misery and the level of
00:34destruction in Ukraine is something which we deplore and the huge human cost. Every month,
00:4440,000 people are dying and on the Russian and on the Ukrainian side. The earlier it stops,
00:50the earlier we can bring human progress again. But the political process is obviously one which
00:58we are expecting. Absolutely. And shifting to another conflict now in the Middle East,
01:03the United Nations released a report this month stating that Israel is deliberately targeting
01:10Palestinian children in what they described as a genocide. You were in Gaza in February this year.
01:16Does this chime with what you saw on the ground? The circumstances on the ground are dramatic and
01:22I have not seen many worse places in the world than Gaza today. More than 80% of people lost
01:33their
01:33homes, live in constructions that one would not even call tents. The level of poverty is gigantic and
01:42they're being squeezed together in a surface that is less than 50% of what Gaza used to be. And
01:49it was
01:49already a very, very densely populated part of the world. The European Commission wants to
01:55prioritize competitiveness and defense as part of this pitch. But does that mean that funding for aid
02:01will go under the hammer? Is there a clear winner and loser?
02:06I think what the current proposal or what the Commission has come forward with is that it
02:12understands that the prosperity, the security and the stability of the European inhabitants
02:18is secured by what is being done within the European borders, but also what is being done outside
02:25the European borders. Having a stable neighborhood where there is economic growth, where there is
02:35democracy, where there is no war, has a direct impact on the lives of Europeans and has also a direct
02:43impact on the economic growth that can happen. And so that is our main element is development is part
02:53of your security agenda and development is also part of your economic agenda. And these are two sides
03:00of the same of the same coin. But how do you muster support for this? Because obviously Russia's
03:06invasion of Ukraine is raging into its fifth year. Obviously tensions in the Middle East show no signs
03:12of abating. How do you fight fatigue when it comes to showing support to these countries and these
03:19communities that are being significantly impacted by conflict?
03:23Well, you know, we see more military spending and we totally understand that in the current circumstances.
03:30But if you want the military spending to be as effective as possible,
03:34you will also have to invest in preventing that a conflict arises.
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