Brazil, 1995

It gives me

great pleasure to make use of our common language to

congratulate you, Sir, on your election. We are honoured

to see a Portuguese statesman, a friend of Brazil, and a

representative of our commonwealth of Portuguese-

speaking countries presiding over this session of the

General Assembly, a session that is bound to become a

milestone in the history of the United Nations. My

Government is confident that, under your skilled

guidance, our deliberations will forge the kind of

understanding and commitment capable of asserting the

credibility and pre-eminence of our Organization in world

affairs.

Let me also express our heartfelt appreciation to

another friend of Brazil, Minister Amara Essy of Côte

d’Ivoire, for his outstanding work at the helm of the

forty-ninth session of the General Assembly.

(spoke in English)

I wish to congratulate the Secretary-General,

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and the Secretariat for their

continued dedication to the United Nations and for their

relentless work in carrying out their duties to the

international community.

In opening this debate today, Brazil wishes to renew

its unwavering commitment to the principles and purposes

embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. These

principles and purposes set a mandate for peace and

development, and are as relevant today as they were 50

years ago. They coincide entirely with the aspirations of

Brazilian society. Our Constitution reflects them as the

supreme values of our political and social life in

democracy.

I am proud to address the Assembly as the

representative of a country that has widened its

commitments to democracy and human rights, to

sustainable development with economic stability, to peace

and disarmament — a country at peace with itself,

constantly striving to extend its presence in the world by

strengthening traditional partnerships and fostering new

ones. We expect from our partners an attitude of

cooperation commensurate with Brazil’s growing

participation in world markets and with its contribution to

international peace and security.

Democracy in Brazil continues to show extraordinary

vitality under the leadership of President Fernando Henrique

Cardoso. Our institutional framework is being strengthened,

and progress in the social sphere is generating a renewed

sense of citizenship among Brazilians.

While strictly enforcing existing mechanisms,

President Cardoso is proposing legislation that will ensure

the full observance of human rights. Both at home and

abroad, Brazil’s human rights policies are based on

transparency and full cooperation with civil society.

Together with strong governmental action to tackle the

country’s social problems, measures to promote and protect

human rights will greatly contribute to redress the unjust

distribution of wealth that unfortunately still prevails in

Brazil.

Long-needed structural reforms and privatization are

being carried out, paving the way for the consolidation of

economic stability and sustained economic growth.

Brazil has achieved a high degree of economic

openness, thus accelerating its integration into the

international economy and creating more favourable

conditions for increased participation in international trade,

technology transfers and productive capital flows. Inflation

has been reduced to the lowest level in a quarter of a

century, allowing the country to pursue policies that benefit

the poor and the underprivileged.

We are also engaged in a broad and dynamic process

of open economic integration with our neighbours, adding

economic substance to the political harmony that we enjoy

in our region. MERCOSUR — a customs union bringing

together Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — is

a highly successful political and economic reality, a

partner ready for business and cooperation with all

countries and regions.

Brazil has taken significant steps to further

strengthen its commitments to disarmament and to the

non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

President Cardoso publicly stated that Brazil has forgone

the development, acquisition and export of long-range

military missiles. Congress is about to approve the

Chemical Weapons Convention, and comprehensive

legislation on export controls of dual-use technology is

being finalized. Having decided unilaterally to abide by

the Missile Technology Control Regime’s guidelines, the

Brazilian Government is currently discussing its

participation in the regime.

Brazil’s commitment to peace and understanding was

clearly illustrated by its recent role, alongside the other

three Guarantor countries of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol,

in bringing together two friendly nations in our region —

Ecuador and Peru.

Brazilian forces are actively participating in various

United Nations peace-keeping efforts, particularly in

Angola, a country that shares with Brazil a common

heritage and is finally on the verge of healing the wounds

inflicted by years of internal strife. We are also proud of

the role played by our Government and our forces in the

peaceful transition to an elected government in

Mozambique.

After too many years of difficulties, Brazilians have

recovered their pride. The country has entered a cycle of

long-term growth and greater long-term opportunities, an

era of optimism and confidence. It is in this spirit that

Brazilian diplomacy is prepared to approach the world

and to work within the United Nations.

As I reflect upon the events that have taken place

over this past year, I am tempted to say that

“it was the best of times; it was the worst of times”.

It has been a time for legitimate hope, but also a

time of fear and horror; a time for accomplishments, but

also a time of frustration; a time for confidence in a

brighter future for mankind, but also a time of regret for

the fact that peace, freedom, justice and well-being are

still unattained in many places in the world; a time in

which risks and opportunities coexist side by side.

2

Current patterns in international affairs converge on

the twin concepts that inspired the revolution of the 1990s:

democracy and economic freedom with social justice. This

is the main thrust that will shape the coming century and

ensure liberty and prosperity for all.

The very concept of power has changed. A country’s

sovereignty and its capacity to satisfy the needs of its

people depend increasingly on good social indicators,

political stability, economic competitiveness, and scientific

and technological progress, not on military strength. It is

now widely understood that the fulfilment of national pride

lies in democracy, development, trade and economic wealth,

rather than in the quest for hegemony or territorial gains.

A new era of freedom is at hand. Countries are

peacefully seeking their place in their regions and in the

world, helping in the creation of wealth through trade and

cooperation. Emerging economies have become a

significant force around the world, benefiting from

globalization, greater economic freedom and the continued

growth of international trade. Economic integration has led

to stronger regional ties.

Reconstruction and enhanced participation in

international affairs are seen in many parts of the world,

just as others continue to prosper and grow in peace. New

or renewed partnerships have emerged in the five

continents.

The Middle East is finally following the path of

dialogue and understanding, through a peace process that

we firmly support and encourage. Angola and Mozambique

are the new promises of southern Africa, furthering regional

peace and conciliation as the South Africans have done.

Latin America, and in particular the Southern Cone

countries, has continued to show vitality both at the

political level, with democracy fully at work, and at the

economic level, with freedom and openness leading to the

resumption of growth and the expansion of trade.

The United Nations has kept its role in the

maintenance of international peace and security. A broader

agenda for the remainder of this century is under

consideration. Positive initiatives are under way to ensure

that the Organization is capable of more effectively

promoting peace and development. Reform of the system is

also due to make it more responsive to the challenges that

lie ahead.

The promotion of civil liberties and the quest for

equal rights among women and men, minorities and

majorities, weak and strong are shaping the debate,

guiding action and strengthening citizenship all over the

world.

These are indeed times of positive change. But even

as one celebrates these positive trends, one is painfully

aware of the manifold threats posed by the persistence of

poverty and violence in many areas of the world. The

images of the former Yugoslavia are living proof of past

failures and present challenges and misperceptions. They

remind us of how much needs to be done to fulfil the

promises embodied in the United Nations Charter.

Extreme poverty and unemployment emerge as

perhaps the most pervasive of the international issues,

affecting developed and developing countries alike,

corroding the social fabric while fostering extremism on

the part of individuals and engendering short-sighted

solutions on the part of governments.

Terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime,

xenophobia and racism, ethnic cleansing, religious

fanaticism and intolerance, and persistent violations of

basic human rights continue to afflict millions of human

beings. Misguided economic policies, financial

speculation and the volatility of capital flows threaten

markets on a global scale. Emerging economies, striving

to consolidate stability and the resumption of growth

while dealing with variables such as interest rates and

commodity prices, have become increasingly vulnerable.

Disarmament continues to be an elusive goal. The

promises heralded by the end of the cold war seem to

have vanished in a cloud of vague excuses. The so-called

peace dividends have yet to materialize. The world is

theoretically less threatening and dangerous.

Competitiveness, technological capability, economic

strength and social indicators have become the standards

of national power. Yet, more positive moves in

disarmament and non-proliferation have been offset by

anachronistic economic practices and irresponsible

military endeavours.

Some countries continue to seek military strength

and strategic power. Even as commitment to

non-proliferation and support for nuclear disarmament

gain ground in Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia,

nuclear tests painfully remind us of the threats and

horrors that haunted the collective imagination during the

cold-war years. Besides endangering the environment they

3

encourage the resumption of a purposeless arms race in

various parts of the world.

Nuclear testing undermines efforts towards

disarmament and jeopardizes the conclusion of a

comprehensive nuclear-test ban. Instead of helping the

international community strengthen collective security

mechanisms, certain countries persist in testing and

improving their nuclear arsenals. We deplore it.

So where does the United Nations stand in the current

international scene? How can it deal with the conflicting

and ambivalent forces operating in the world today? Where

does its responsibility begin and where does it end? What

can we do to realize the vision of our founding fathers?

These are some of the questions that come to mind as we

prepare to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our

Organization.

It is certainly true that the Organization may have

seemed at times to be overwhelmed by the challenges

before it. But it is also true that the shortcomings over these

past 50 years would have been greater had it not been for

the United Nations, a universal conscience, an instrument

for peace and understanding, as no other instrument has

ever been, with a moral authority that the peoples of the

world have learned to recognize and support.

In 1941 when the United Nations was but a distant

dream overcast by war, Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined

the four freedoms upon which a true community of nations

should be built. They were — and I find it useful to recall

Roosevelt’s own inspiring words — the freedom of speech

and expression; the freedom of every person to worship

God in his own way; the freedom from want, which

“translated into world terms, means economic

understandings which will secure to every nation a

healthy peace time life for its inhabitants”;

and the freedom from fear, which

“translated into world terms, means a world-wide

reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a

thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position

to commit an act of physical aggression against any

neighbor”.

Providing mankind with these four freedoms was the

challenge that ultimately gave birth to the United Nations.

Yet, these four freedoms are still largely unattained. They

remain an inspiration and a goal.

In the past 50 years, the nations of the world have

used this podium to voice their hopes and concerns and

to express their feelings about a true international

partnership based on peace and prosperity. The United

Nations has undoubtedly represented a call for consensus,

a moral and ethic force, a promoter of political will and

action, a substitute for confrontation and dispute.

The time has come for us to carefully assess the

achievements and shortcomings of the United Nations in

order to set the course for the next half-century. The time

has come for us to create the conditions for the United

Nations of the twenty-first century.

In the aftermath of the Second World War the idea

of an international body such as the United Nations may

have seemed utopian, especially in the light of the failure

of the League of Nations and of the tragedies and crimes

that resulted from the pursuit of power politics, the kind

of politics that led the world into war and its horrors.

While avoiding utopianism, the United Nations was

designed to provide actual instruments of diplomatic

interaction capable of replacing power politics by ethical

values and of promoting conflict prevention and conflict

resolution through negotiation and dialogue.

With a pledge to peace and security on the one hand

and to development on the other, the United Nations

helped to write important chapters of contemporary

history, such as the building of a new pattern of

relationship between developed and developing countries,

the search for development, disarmament, the protection

of human rights and human dignity, decolonization, the

struggle against apartheid and the condemnation of

tyranny and oppression.

In this process important organizations such as the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD), and decisive forums such as the United

Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(UNCED), and the several other United Nations

conferences dedicated to global issues, have played a

paramount role. In these forums we have enhanced

commitments in the areas of cooperation for development,

the law of the sea, the rights of children, the environment

and sustainable development, human rights, population,

social development and the rights of women.

We have certainly accomplished one part of our

dreams. So why not set our eyes on further

accomplishments? We look at the recent past and find the

4

United Nations at the centre of the most important

international events. Even when its action has been

constrained by circumstances, the United Nations always

displayed moral strength. We look at the present and we

see a United Nations limited by its structure, struggling

very hard to take advantage of its own experience to adapt

to changing world realities in order to remain the foremost

international force.

And so Brazil confidently looks to the future. Peace

and development in the years to come will depend largely

on our capacity to renew and reform the United Nations. In

institutions, as in human beings, reassessment and reform

are a sign of vitality, of maturity, of responsibility. As

Brazil has already pointed out a normative gap has opened

up between some of the provisions of the Charter and the

realities of today’s world.

The fact is that most of the structures of the United

Nations remain those crafted 50 years ago. Back then, the

world was entering a new phase of power politics and

confrontation that no longer applies. The membership of the

United Nations was less than one third of what it is today.

The concept of development was not at the core of an

international agenda. Significant players in the developed

and in the developing world had yet to achieve the

influential role they have today.

New realities demand innovative solutions. Greater

expectations require stronger commitments. Nothing is more

emblematic of the need to bring the United Nations into

line with the realities of the post-cold-war world than the

reform of the Security Council. As a catalyst for other

much-needed reforms within the United Nations system,

reform of the Security Council is an imperative that should

no longer be put off.

In order to carry out its mandate in the field of

international peace and security on behalf of all Member

States, the Security Council must have unquestionable

legitimacy. As is well known, legitimacy ultimately rests on

representativeness.

Reform cannot entail a wholesale or indiscriminate

enlargement of the Security Council, much less an

insufficient one predicated on the convenience of a limited

number of States. Above all, it will be essential to ensure

a more equitable representation of developed and

developing countries with both the capacity to act and an

effective presence on a global scale.

The emergence of new economic powers and of a

number of developing countries with global projection has

significantly altered the dynamics of world politics. These

players have come to the forefront of the international

scene and should be present in the core group of

permanent members, so that the Council’s composition

becomes more balanced and better reflects the diversity of

world views.

A qualitative increase in the number of permanent

members of the Security Council, together with an

enlargement of the non-permanent membership, would

correspond to the necessity of making it more

authoritative and efficient in carrying out its increased

responsibilities in the post-cold-war era.

Reform is not about the individual prestige of any

country but about the prestige of the Security Council

itself. Brazil, for its part, is ready to assume its

responsibilities in this endeavour.

The same attention that is being given to improving

the United Nations performance in the area of peace and

security must be given to efforts in the area of

strengthening international cooperation for development.

Poverty and unemployment both in industrialized and in

developing nations, economic instability and misguided

economic policies affecting individual countries, as well

as the persistence or the rise of various forms of

protectionism, are factors that adversely affect sustained

growth worldwide. These are issues that must be accorded

high priority.

Unemployment cannot be used as a pretext that will

ultimately lead to protectionism directed mainly against

the developing countries. There is no use in trying to

alleviate unemployment by accusing other people, by

creating new forms of disguised protectionism, by putting

a new strain on international relations. We must

strengthen the role of the World Trade Organization as

the mainstay of an open and non-discriminatory

multilateral trade system. We must promote a broader

coordination of macroeconomic policies and foster

regional economic integration, and provide better and

more effective cooperation in the areas of health,

sanitation, education, the administration of justice and

other areas of great social impact. We must widen the

decision-making circles in order to include countries

whose contribution to these objectives can be

instrumental.

5

The United Nations should be able to ensure

implementation of the commitments reached at the highest

level at the United Nations Conference on the Environment

and Development, for much needs to be done to fulfil the

promises that were made in Rio de Janeiro regarding

international cooperation for sustainable development. The

same kind of follow-up should apply to the commitments

reached at subsequent international conferences on global

issues.

These are the main goals to be achieved by a reform

of the United Nations institutions that directly or indirectly

deal with the issue of sustainable development. We firmly

believe that a broad vision of reform of the United Nations

institutions will lead to an improved, more efficient and

revitalized Organization. For, as once stated in this very

forum by a distinguished Brazilian statesman, Oswaldo

Aranha, who presided over the first special session of the

General Assembly, in 1947:

“Above all, it is within our power to make the United

Nations the sum total of justice, security and peace, or

through our lack of wisdom to allow it to be

transformed into one more sword to be wielded

blindly by force and instinct.” (Official Records of the

General Assembly, First Special Session, 68th plenary

meeting, pp. 3 and 4)

The United Nations will stand as the greatest symbol

of the twentieth century as long as it is able to keep its

vitality and effectively promote peace and development.

Brazil is also committed to peace and democracy and

believes that if all peoples of the world are free to express

their ideas and to build their own destinies, democracy will

be strengthened and will continue to serve the purpose of

development and social justice. Brazil is also committed to,

and knows that development depends on, an international

environment of peace, cooperation and economic freedom.

As our Heads of State and Government prepare to

gather in New York in October to celebrate the

accomplishments of our Organization, let us hasten to

create the necessary conditions for them to build for the

future with the same impetus and boldness that inspired the

international community 50 years ago. Let us make sure

that through our unfaltering commitment and our timely

action the United Nations will emerge stronger from the

fiftieth session of the General Assembly.