Brazil

Mr. President, I am deeply gratified and honoured to be able to congratulate you, in the name of Brazil, upon your election to the presidency of the fifteenth session of the General Assembly, Our fifteenth session will, no doubt, be one of the most important held by this Organization; and the guidance of its activities requires a dependable helmsman of acknowledged capability and impartiality, as is the case with Your Excellency, to whom I wish to renew my tribute. 4. Only a short time ago the American, nations held in Costa Rica one of their most important conferences of foreign ministers. The most significant outcome of this conference was the affirmation of solidarity of the countries of this continent with regard to the principles and ideals that have formed the basis of our peoples aspirations. 5. Nineteen nations of this hemisphere solemnly reaffirmed that the regime accepted by the American peoples as compatible with their traditions and collective aspirations is that regime characterized by the free expression of thought, by free elections, by the separation of powers, by the limitations upon the terms of elective office, and by respect for civil liberties and human rights. At the same time, these nineteen nations declared that they attached quite as much importance to the need for economic development of their peoples as to these political aspirations. It was with this preoccupation in mind that the President of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek, proposed the plan now known as Operation Pan America. Its basic aim, is to lay the foundation of a close economic solidarity among the nations of the continent, so that, in the spirit of the ideals of peace, freedom and democracy which characterize our political philosophy, it may be possible to foster the economic and social progress of Latin America as speedily as possible. 6. After the close of the Costa Rica conference, the American nations assembled in Bogota, where the nineteen countries of the continent again accepted collectively a plan for social progress submitted by President Eisenhower, as well as measures to promote their economic development, within the objectives of Operation Pan America, Thus, the Latin American countries reaffirmed their desire to solve their dramatic problems of economic growth without sacrificing the ideals of freedom and respect for human dignity. Only two abstentions were recorded, and we hope that these will shortly disappear. 7. What is the real meaning of this consensus of opinion among the American countries in the United Nations? It means that America has its politico-social policy defined and adopted, and staunchly defends it. But this definition does not exclude respect for the ideas of others, particularly since intransigence is impossible today. 8. Indeed, peaceful coexistence of peoples is an imperative in our time. The development of nuclear weapons has ruled out war as an alternative instrument of policy. Faced with the inadmissibility of resorting to war as a solution, the world is confronted with the necessity of settling through negotiation those differences that separate nations. The only feasible path leading to a solution of the problems of our age is that of permanent negotiation, the persistent determination to continue to negotiate. The United Nations is not a super-state, but is, rather, an affirmation that the world must live in a continuous patient, constant state of negotiation. It is a mechanism that offers maximum opportunities for meetings and lines of compromise. Although it is true that this process of negotiation may always entail the risk of a stalemate, it is equally true that it is the only means for arriving at solutions that will assure the survival of mankind. 9. Nonetheless, to attain this state of peaceful coexistence that we are all seeking, a basic premise, a point of departure, must be fixed. This premise is the acceptance by each one of the reality, just or unjust, of nations with regimes, ideologies, and organizations, not as we would wish them to be, but as they are today. This acceptance must be accompanied by the pledge of non-intervention, direct or indirect, by one ideology in the sphere of another. How can we aspire to disarmament, cessation of the cold war and unrest, if there is fear that some countries wish to destroy or dominate others? So long as the principle of the status quo of the present political geography among the existing politico-ideological organizations is not accepted, we shall waver between the cold war and the prospect of catastrophe. In this connexion, a relevant role can be played, vis-à-vis the major protagonists in the current political scene, by the lesser, anti-war Powers, which can become the impartial interpreters of the world’s desire for peace. Attempts to modify the order existing today will merely delay the establishment of an understanding which is indispensable if the world is to look forward to disarmament, peaceful coexistence, and an end to the cold war. The stalemate in efforts to achieve disarmament stems from the lack of mutual confidence. Why not negotiate this point of departure right now? 10. The problem has another aspect, which the President of Brazil has constantly stressed? only economic development can consolidate peace among nations. The world spends at least $100,000 million per year on armaments, while the industrialized countries have in the last ten years spent only about $40,000 million on aid, assistance, investments, etc., for the under-developed areas of the world. It is inconceivable that armaments, garrisons, and armies should be done away with; this Virgilian scene is chimerical. But the arms race can be brought to a halt, by applying the resources thus saved to economic development. Why, then, not adopt in a special conference a system whereby the Powers would pool their savings effected by an arms reduction and turn them into a United Nations international development fund? It would be very difficult to devote, in addition to the large sums turned over to this fund, an equivalent sum to armaments as well. It would mean paying twice. Brazil supports the efforts to achieve international disarmament by realistic means in technically studied and effectively controlled stages. The accumulation of funds through decreases, in expenditures for arms, linked with a percentage of resources that more highly developed countries could lend to this fund would instill life into the field abandoned and forgotten by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Finance, The United Nations will win everyone’s heart the day it enters upon the path of ample, generous programmes of co-operation that will promote the social well-being and economic progress of nations. 11. In the United Nations fifteen years of existence, we have not succeeded in creating genuinely effective instruments of economic co-operation, nor has international peace been consolidated. But the United Nations is, none the less, humanity’s great hope today and constitutes, with all its serious limitations, the best instrument for diplomatic negotiations and the most perfect mechanism for maintaining the peace that we have been able to devise to date. The vigour, energy and speed with which the Security Council acted in the crisis involving the Congo are proof of the Organization’s real possibilities. With the Council paralysed by the veto, an emergency special session of the General Assembly was immediately called under the provision of the “Uniting for peace” resolution [377 A (V)]. At that session, which ended two days ago, the Assembly approved without a negative vote the resolution [1474 (ES-IV)] that will make it possible for the United Nations to continue its activities in the Congo without disruption or delay. And it behooves me here to say a special word of praise and encouragement to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Hammarskjold, who, with patience, courage, devotion and impartiality, has faithfully interpreted and forcefully expressed the yearning for peace which lies behind the anxiety with which the people of the world look upon the dangerous and delicate situation in the Congo. 12. Brazil, through officers of its air force, is participating in the effort being made by the United Nations to maintain law and order in the Republic of the Congo. Bound by cultural and historic ties to the peoples of Africa, conscious of the geographic affinities, and the heritage of blood which link us with the nations of the black continent, the Brazilians follow with extreme interest the awakening of their African brothers. And here we extend our sincere and wholehearted welcome to the States newly admitted to the United Nations. 13. In Suez, also, with hundreds and hundreds of Brazilian soldiers, we are paying the price of peace in the hope that the Middle East may reach a peaceful solution of coexistence, in a spirit of mutual respect and self-determination. 14. If peace hinges upon the criterion, as we have pointed out, of a previous, preliminary, basic understanding, economic development has yet to find the means to attain it. 15. It is encouraging that one of the items to be considered by the General Assembly is that entitled "Economic development of under-developed countries", a problem that has been of concern to us since the establishment of the United Nations. Some important steps were taken with the creation of the Special Fund at the thirteenth session of the General Assembly [resolution 1240 (XIII)], and that of the Committee for Industrial Development at the twenty-ninth session of the Economic and Social Council [resolution 751 (XXIX)]. But there still remains on our agenda the question of establishing a development fund with resources for financing and expanding the economy of the under-developed countries where over a billion human beings await the social justice to which they are entitled. We are certain that the capital development fund will win full acceptance in the Assembly. 16. The Brazilian Government, together with various other countries, this year sponsored the request for including in the agenda of this session the item referring to racial discrimination. Brazil has always supported all recommendations presented in the United Nations opposing the policies of segregation based upon differences of race, colour, or religion, which are repugnant to the conscience of the Brazilian people and are clearly condemned by the Charter. Brazil submitted a draft resolution to the Council of the Organization of American States expressing repudiation of any and all forms of racial discrimination and segregation, a proposal which was adopted unanimously by the American States. In this connexion, I wish to recall that Brazil subscribed to and ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations [resolution 260 (III)]. Racial persecution is contrary to the spirit and the purposes of the United Nations, and Brazil, with the civilized world, most vehemently condemns it. 17. This session opens in an atmosphere of anxiety. Public opinion is fearful lest the men responsible for their Governments may not find the formulas conducive to peace. Antagonisms are strong and deep-rooted. Allow me to conclude with the earnest hopes of the people of Brazil, and I trust of the entire world, that the wisdom of the statesmen present here may find the way, not to unify thought and action — an impossibility — but to allow each one in his sphere to respect his fellow man and make possible coexistence with a just peace.