Joly urges UN to seek consensus, counter growing polarization globally

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly put women's rights and international law at the centre of what could be the Trudeau government's last speech to the UN General Assembly.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is asking members of the United Nations to counter growing political polarization abroad while taking shots at Conservative rhetoric at home.

Joly put women’s rights and international law at the centre of her address to the UN General Assembly, in what could 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 the ones trying to redefine that word for their own purposes,” she told the assembly on Monday morning.

“They hide behind the word to tell us everything is broken,” she said, echoing the language of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre without naming him.

Joly called out leaders who seek to restrict people’s LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive choices “or even what they can wear,” though she did not specify restrictions on religious symbols in Quebec or France.

“We see it in our country; we see it around the world,” she told the assembly, before delving into a series of conflicts that she said can only be resolved by countries upholding rules on sovereignty and human rights.

She said that means challenging the Taliban’s “inhumane rules against women and girls” in Afghanistan that restrict their education and access to public spaces. It also means more countries supporting Haiti as it tries to end what she called the catastrophic situation of gang rule.

In the Middle East, a cycle of violence “requires both sides making 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 UN in seeking consensus and ironing out profound differences.