Brazil, 2002

I congratulate you, Sir, on

your election to the presidency of the General

Assembly. I thank your predecessor, Mr. Han Seung-

soo, for the leadership he displayed at a particularly

critical moment for the Organization.

To Secretary-General Kofi Annan, I reaffirm

Brazil’s confidence in his statesmanship.

I have the pleasure of greeting the entry of East

Timor into the fold of the United Nations, just as we

welcomed it last July in Brasilia into our Community

of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. A free Timor is a

remarkable United Nations success story.

Brazil also welcomes Switzerland, as it has now

become a full member of this global political forum.

I come to this Hall as the representative of a

country that has faith in the United Nations and that

views multilateralism as the guiding principle of

relations among States. This is a conviction we hold

dear at all times, good and bad. We are at a particularly

difficult juncture for the Organization. This moment

calls for measures sustained by the principles and

values on which the United Nations was founded.

Brazil has defended them since the first international

conferences of the twentieth century.

We have never let ourselves be tempted by the

argument of power. Rather, we have been guided by the

power of argument. This has been the foreign policy of

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Throughout the

eight years of the two terms of office to which he has

been democratically elected, certain fundamental

guidelines have been recurrent: fostering democratic

decision-making; overcoming the governance deficit in

international relations; designing a new financial

architecture and providing effective solutions for

volatility in capital flows; defending a multilateral

trade regime that is both fair and balanced — hence,

the importance of the World Trade Organization and of

the Doha mandate; correcting the distortions resulting

from economic globalization that is not accompanied

by a corresponding process of political and institutional

globalization; and affirming the value of human rights

and sustainable development. These are challenges that

we cannot face alone.

For this reason, President Fernando Henrique

Cardoso has sought to strengthen the Common Market

of the South, together with South American integration,

as instruments for peace, cooperation and greater

competitiveness among our countries. Similarly,

President Cardoso has promoted the development of

partnerships in all continents, pursuing well-balanced

negotiations for the establishment of free trade areas, in

particular with the European Union, as well as with the

countries taking part in the Free Trade Area of the

Americas process.

We are committed to seeing the entry into force

of the Kyoto Protocol and the establishment of the

International Criminal Court; to furthering the social

development agenda; and to moving forward on

nuclear and conventional disarmament. The Brazilian

vision of the world under the leadership of President

Fernando Henrique Cardoso expresses goals not just of

Government, but also of the entire country and society.

That is why the electoral process now under way will

further strengthen democracy in Brazil and highlight

the country’s international credentials.

Our commitment to the United Nations and to

multilateralism will not waver “in times of storm and

blustery winds”, to quote Camões, the great poet of the

Portuguese language. The greater the challenges, such

as those facing us at this difficult juncture, the greater

the need for answers grounded in legitimacy —

legitimacy born of participation and consensus.

Cooperation must be our modus operandi.

In the multilateral sphere, leadership is crucial to

the tasks before us. We are clearly aware of that, yet

the form and content of each task must be defined

through dialogue. Only through dialogue will a

coalition of truly united nations be built — nations

united by the power of persuasion. The tangled

interests that form a global web of interdependence can

be managed only through authority rooted in

multilateral institutions and in respect for international

law. The commitment to negotiated settlements, under

the aegis of multilateralism, must be upheld.

At the time of the 11 September terrorist attacks,

this Organization immediately showed its solidarity

with the United States of America by adopting

resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security

Council. At the regional level, the Inter-American

Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance was invoked on a

Brazilian initiative as an expression of our firm

repudiation and condemnation of all barbaric acts of

terrorism and of our solidarity with the United States.

These responses have taken the form of renewed

collaboration in security, intelligence, police and

judicial cooperation issues.

Lasting solutions to terrorism, international drug-

trafficking and organized crime require careful and

persistent efforts to set up partnerships and cooperative

arrangements consistent with the United Nations

multilateral system.

Many countries and regions have been burdened

with the costs of globalization, while at the same time

being deprived of its benefits. The very same free flow

of capital that can foster investment is responsible for

speculative attacks against national currencies and

balance of payment crises, with negative impact on the

continuity of public policies and on the alleviation of

social ills.

Protectionism and all forms of barriers to trade,

both tariff and non-tariff, continue to suffocate

developing economies and to nullify the

competitiveness of their exports. Liberalization of the

agricultural sector has been nothing more than a

promise repeatedly put off to an uncertain future.

5

A/57/PV.2

The globalization to which we aspire requires

reform of economic and financial institutions. It must

not be limited to the triumph of the market.

A modern understanding of development must

encompass the protection of human rights, be they civil

and political or economic, social and cultural. In this

respect, the appointment of Sergio Vieira de Mello as

the new United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights is a great honour for all Brazilians. He

succeeds Mary Robinson, whose important

achievements deserve recognition.

The United Nations was created to maintain

peace and security. However, armed conflicts and

pockets of irrational violence persist today.

The situation in the Middle East underscores how

distant we still are from the international order

imagined by the founders of the United Nations

Charter.

Brazil supports the creation of a democratic,

secure and economically viable Palestinian State, as

well as the right of the Palestinian people to self-

determination. Brazil defends the right of the State of

Israel to exist within recognized borders and of its

people to live in security. These are essential

prerequisites for lasting peace in the Middle East. Only

by mutually and comprehensively acknowledging the

conflicting legitimacies in the region, as well as by

building on existing agreements, can we staunch the

indiscriminate destructiveness of violence and forge a

way forward.

The use of force at the international level is

admissible only once all diplomatic alternatives have

been exhausted. Force must be exercised only in

accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and

in a manner consistent with the determinations of the

Security Council. Otherwise, the credibility of the

Organization will be undermined in a way that will not

only be illegitimate, but that will also give rise to

situations of precarious and short-lived stability.

In the specific case of Iraq, Brazil believes that it

is incumbent upon the Security Council to determine

the measures necessary to ensure full compliance with

relevant resolutions. The Security Council’s exercise of

its responsibilities is the way to reduce tensions and to

avoid risking the unpredictable consequences resulting

from wider instability.

In Angola the international community must

support recent positive developments that open the way

to the rebuilding of the country and the consolidation

of peace and democracy.

Strengthening the system of collective security

remains a challenge. The Security Council needs

reform in order to enhance its legitimacy and lay the

foundations for more solid international cooperation in

building a just and stable international order. A central

feature of this reform should be the expansion of the

number of members, both in the permanent and non-

permanent categories.

Brazil has already made it known — and I

reaffirm it here — that it is ready to contribute to the

work of the Security Council and to assume all its

responsibilities.

For Brazil, the United Nations is the public space

for the creation of power, which, according to Hannah

Arendt, can result only from the human capacity to act

in concert. The United Nations is the crucial hinge in

creating a global governance focused on more

equitable distribution of the dividends of peace and

progress.

Therein lies our vision for the future, a vision of

solidarity among peoples and nations, a vision made

legitimate by renewed and inclusive understanding of

power.

We are inspired by the observation of

Guicciardini, the politically more successful Florentine

contemporary of Machiavelli: “Among men, hope is

normally more powerful than fear”.