Brazil

It is with great pleasure that I present my compliments to you, Mr. Amara Essy, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, and congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its current session. I would also like to extend my recognition to Ambassador Samuel Insanally, who, as President of the Assembly at its forty-eighth session, dignified not only his own country, Guyana, but all the countries of the Amazon and South American region as well. I also greet the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to whom I convey my gratitude for the tireless efforts he has been undertaking at the head of this Organization. The close of this century is marked by the force of transformation. In the last few years there has been prodigious change. This has been of such a radical nature that we could, like Hamlet, say that "The time is out of joint" (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, scene v). The process has been so fascinating that some have deluded themselves with the fantasy that the future is already under control. That is not the case. Transformation does not have a fixed, inexorable course. We must not allow ourselves to be enticed by hasty interpretations or by mere appearances. It is our responsibility to give meaning to change and to guide trends in accordance with the greater interests of the world community. 1 It will be five years next November since the Berlin Wall crumbled. That period is sufficient for evaluating the distances that have been covered and, above all, for charting a course that will lead us to a safe harbour. The cold war took place under the sign of denial, a situation reflected even in the language that marked the period. The expressions that identified and explained almost 40 years of tense relationships denoted confrontation, exclusion or, at best, uncomfortable coexistence of opposites. The catchphrases of the day were "iron curtain", "containment" and "balance of terror". Today we are in the midst of transition. Taking stock of these last few years, we can say that the results, though tenuous and imperfect, are positive. The cause of peace has made significant headway. Nuclear war has ceased to be an impending threat. Conflicts which many of us judged insoluble either have been or are in the process of being settled through dialogue and negotiation. In southern Africa and in the Middle East, steps of historic significance have been taken toward a more just and a more peaceful world. In Central America and in South-East Asia, progress is tangible. Throughout the greater part of our planet, the logic of confrontation is giving way to the logic of cooperation. It is that very logic that we wish to see firmly established in our own region. Peace and fraternity are Latin America’s vocation. We have been striving to bring the sister Republic of Cuba fully into the inter-American and international fold by means of a policy of outstretched hands, of dialogue and of rapprochement. Political, economic and commercial isolation, apart from being unjustifiable, only contributes to aggravating the hardship endured by the Cuban people at a time when we perceive positive indications of democratic reform and of reconciliation. Here too the stasis of confrontation must give way to the dynamics of dialogue, putting to rest this remnant of the cold war. Given a set of entirely different characteristics, we are equally interested in promoting a lasting solution to the Haitian crisis, the return to office of President Jean- Bertrand Aristide, and national reconciliation. The diplomatic efforts of the international community, which we firmly support, must have as their point of reference the prompt removal of the de facto authorities by peaceful means - the only means to avoid even greater suffering for the Haitian people. We consider it disturbing that the principles of non-intervention and self-determination are the object of interpretations that are incompatible with the charters of the United Nations and of the Organization of American States. The gravity of the Haitian crisis and the urgency of the need to solve it do not make us unable to see the inherent risks of a situation that evokes traumas and scars that are still very vivid in the memory of Latin America. Once the legitimate Government is re- established, it will be the responsibility of the international community to provide Haiti with assistance in the daunting task of national reconstruction. We are still far from universal peace. Conflicts of enormous cruelty shock the world and are the cause of unspeakable suffering for millions of human beings. Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina are emblematic tragedies of our times. The scenes of horror shown by the media attest to the difficulty of finding effective solutions to the imbalances which challenge all peoples. The intensification of migratory flows toward developed countries has been accompanied by an exacerbation of xenophobia and racial discrimination. Critical situations continue to challenge the international community’s ability to ensure peace and harmony. In Angola, a country so closely linked to Brazil by historic and cultural ties, we witness with pain and indignation the prolongation of a conflict that is the longest and most devastating civil war today. We are encouraged by the prospects that the negotiations under way in Lusaka between the Government of Angola and UNITA may be promptly concluded. In paying a tribute to President José Eduardo dos Santos for his political conduct, we urge UNITA to demonstrate a real commitment to stability and peace in the country, and we call upon all those with an influence on the Angolan crisis to do likewise. We welcome the progress achieved in Mozambique. The process of national reconciliation will culminate in the general elections to be held next October, when the people of Mozambique will be able to choose, in free and fair elections, the government that will lead the country in this new era of its history. President Joaquim Chissano has played a central role in this process. Brazil takes pride in the fact that Brazilian troops are participating, through the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), in the reconstruction of Mozambique. In the case of East Timor, we have also noted positive signals in the negotiating process promoted by the Secretary-General, to whom we pay a tribute. Democracy and the values associated with it are the greatest conquest of our time. We are experiencing an 2 ethical revolution. The concern with human rights gains universality alongside a growing awareness of the imperative of public probity. The international context has ceased to be the exclusive domain of the raison d’état and has acquired a more human dimension directed to the welfare of the individual. In the economic and commercial sphere, recent developments are also positive. After eight years of difficult negotiations within the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), we adopted the Marrakesh agreements. The World Trade Organization (WTO) will open up new and promising outlooks for the economic relationship among nations. Unilateralism and protectionism, derived from parochial interests, will lose any semblance of legitimacy. The effective progress achieved cannot obscure the fact that there are challenges that continue to demand firm resolve from the international community. The fundamental rights of individuals, despite having been incorporated into the realm of universally recognized values, still demand the firm and decided support of all those who believe in them. The social conditions of the majority of the world’s population continue to deteriorate. In the last 20 years, the gap has widened between rich and poor nations, between the millions of people who are adequately fed and educated and have a surplus for leisure and the billions who are struggling for survival. The pressures for migration toward the developed North and the many conflicts of the impoverished South are two sides of the same coin. Youth, in particular, continues to be a victim of deprivation and of a lack of prospects in most of the world. The globalization of the economy and the strengthening of free trade have yet to demonstrate in practice their undeniable potential as factors of growth and well-being. Lingering protectionism, now draped in new colours, resists the assault of economic rationality. The positive impact of the Marrakesh agreements is under substantial threat from new conditionalities that will have a restrictive effect on the flows of international trade. Issues that are in themselves legitimate, such as the protection of the environment and universally accepted labour standards, cannot and should not serve as pretexts for even greater barriers to the access of goods produced in poor countries to the markets of wealthier nations. The cost of readjustment of the most prosperous economies cannot be shunted onto the shoulders of those who possess little or nothing. The mastery of technology is a major watershed between industrialized and developing countries. The difficulties in access to advanced technologies are an obstacle to overcoming the disadvantages of developing countries, reducing their competitiveness and creating barriers to the transformation of productive processes. The new international division of labour cannot re-enact past formulas that have proved to be inefficient. The competitive integration of developing countries into the world economy must build upon dynamic comparative advantages, not static ones, with an increasing integration of knowledge into the productive process. Alongside the indispensable internal efforts of each country, such a qualitative leap requires an international environment based on cooperation. In order to consolidate peace and ensure that the progress already achieved shall be irreversible, we must be able to develop a vision for our future, an attainable and forward-looking Utopia. Brazil is convinced that a truly new order must be based on a pluralistic and democratic perspective on international relations. We do not contend unrealistically that States and other international players will refrain from affirming their specific and often conflicting interests. The fact is that we all stand to gain, and our interests will be better served, once the basic aspirations of the great majority have been reasonably satisfied. Interdependence must be understood in an integrated way, and not merely as the expression of a market- economy phenomenon. It presupposes the political ability to act in coordination with others toward the fulfilment of objectives shared by all mankind. In an interdependent world the improvement of living conditions in a poor country may have an impact on the creation of jobs in a developed nation. The integration of those that are excluded and the promotion of participation by all in world affairs is not only a moral obligation, but, first and foremost, a demonstration of lucid judgement. The fundamental commitment to development is the cornerstone of the order to which Brazil aspires. This concept has the advantage of encompassing the essential needs of all nations, large and small, rich and poor. Development reinforces freedom, invests the dignity of man with a concrete dimension, stresses efficiency, 3 promotes stability and enhances democracy. Development builds peace. The promotion of development stands to benefit from the lessons of the past. We must formulate a concept of development that recognizes each country as the main actor in creating its own prosperity, while incorporating the various features of its international dimension in the fields of trade, investment and flows of technology. A renewed international effort in favour of development will be successful only under an active and mutually advantageous partnership between the countries of the North and those of the South. Advancement of the interests of the richer nations requires their involvement in efforts to overcome the backwardness of the less prosperous. To hold the opposite view would be tantamount to believing that a fire in our neighbour’s house cannot reach over the fence into our own. In short, it is an absurdity the price of which even the wealthiest cannot afford. The nations of the world have a fundamental role to play in the construction of an open and equitable international system. We must undertake a profound reformulation of the United Nations performance in promoting development. No other task under the United Nations mandate will more adequately support and promote peace and establish a just and stable order. We must avoid the crystallization of an undesirable division of labour between the United Nations on the one hand and the Bretton Woods institutions on the other. Peace and development constitute an indivisible whole and must support each other. This great forum cannot be kept outside decisions on matters arising from objectives inscribed in its very Charter. These concerns have been at the root of the launching of the Agenda for Development, in which Brazilian diplomacy has been deeply involved. Several United Nations Conferences, some having already taken place, others yet to come, are significantly contributing to shedding light upon the need for a comprehensive and coordinated consideration of the development issue. In one way or another, development was a central concern, or will continue to be so, in Rio de Janeiro at the Conference on Environment and Development, in Vienna at the Conference on Human Rights, and in Cairo at the Conference on Population and Development, and it will continue to be so in the forthcoming meetings in Copenhagen on Social Development, and in Beijing, on Women. Awareness of the fact that the decisions reached at these encounters will produce effective results only if all these issues are examined in an integrated fashion is becoming increasingly firm and universal. With a view to fostering a debate on all such issues in a wider conceptual framework, the Brazilian Government proposes the convening of a United Nations conference on development, possibly in 1996, which would seek to synthesize the initiatives and programmes designed to promote human dignity and well-being. Democracy should be the rule for political relations within and among States. To bring democracy into politics and international relations is a goal which can be turned into reality. The strengthening of the role of the General Assembly and the expansion of the Security Council, with the participation of developing countries in all member categories are important and necessary steps on the road to democratization and greater legitimacy. Like other Member States, we favour a reform of the Security Council that will increase its effectiveness. We understand that such effectiveness will be ensured only by a composition truly representative of the world community. At the beginning of this month the Heads of State and Government of the 14 nations from Latin America and the Caribbean which form the Group of Rio met in Rio de Janeiro and stated that "in accordance with their legal tradition and their contribution to the cause of peace, the Latin American and Caribbean region must be included in any expansion of the Security Council". Brazil has participated actively in the debate on the expansion of the Security Council. We have clearly stated our readiness to assume all responsibilities required of countries eligible to occupy permanent seats. Elected to the Security Council for the current period, Brazil has lived up to its responsibilities. We have based our positions on respect for principles such as non-intervention, as well as on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States; we have consistently favoured peaceful and negotiated solutions to conflicts, as well as consensus; we have stood by the rule of law in safeguarding the international public order; we have risen 4 in defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms; and we have increasingly participated in peace-keeping operations in several regions of the globe. As part of Latin America, we are proud of sharing its long history of peace. Latin America is the least armed region of the world and the only one to have become, by virtue of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, definitively free from nuclear weapons. Cuba’s adherence to the Treaty, announced in a letter from President Fidel Castro to President Itamar Franco - in response to a Brazilian initiative - has brought this process to a conclusion. Latin America has been a factor of international stability in a turbulent world. Our legal tradition, built through decades of efforts to regulate inter-American relations, represents a relevant contribution to the international community. As pioneers in the promotion of disarmament, we feel entitled to seek equivalent gestures from the entire international community, and in particular from the nuclear-weapon States. In this context, we attribute special significance to the prompt adoption, through multilaterally negotiated commitments, of effective measures to reduce, and not merely control, their arsenals, including sensitive nuclear material such as plutonium. It is likewise imperative that negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty be successfully concluded, leading to signature. Brazil is ready to join in the construction of a new international agenda based on universal participation and cooperation for peace and development. This readiness derives from our own identity. We are a pluralist and open society, having emerged from the meeting of different cultures and ways of life, which in turn produced a new culture and way of life, founded on tolerance and understanding. We enjoy peacefully defined borders with 10 neighbouring countries, and an absence of conflicts for more than 120 years. Forged through dialogue, conciliation and peaceful reform, Brazilian society is experiencing a moment of intense democratic affirmation under the leadership of President Itamar Franco. In a few days we shall be holding the largest elections in our country’s history. Nearly 100 million voters will cast their ballots, in an atmosphere of absolute freedom, to choose their representatives in the executive and legislative branches at the State and federal levels from as many as 35,000 candidates. Ours is one of the most diversified economies in the southern hemisphere. As we head toward economic stability, with a strong currency, conditions become favourable for the resumption of a sustained process of economic growth which will undoubtedly place Brazil once again among the most dynamic economies in the world. We have made important advances in increasing the exposure of our economy to world trade. As of next January, we will have brought into force a common external tariff, along with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and will have consolidated a Customs Union capable of generating growth and prosperity, one of the first customs unions among developing countries. The interest expressed by other South American countries in joining MERCOSUR - Common Market of the South - provides ample proof that the vision of a South American free trade area is gradually materializing. These accomplishments represent a telling example of the enterprising capacity of Latin American nations, and constitute a fundamental step toward a harmonious and integrated South America. Our efforts in developing political and economic cooperation go well beyond Latin America. In line with the universal inspiration of our diplomacy, we have set out to reinforce the ties that associate us to friendly nations in all regions of the globe, as well as to expand into new and important political and commercial partnerships. Such actions range from the intensification of traditional relations within our hemisphere and with industrialized countries to new and creative formulas for cooperating with countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In all cases, we have tried to raise the dialogue to increasingly higher levels and, in many instances, have succeeded in establishing dynamic and privileged relationships. The ties between Brazil and African nations have been strengthened through the action taken to give structure to the community of Portuguese-speaking countries. This new and important forum will unite our brothers and sisters on different continents and lead to even greater understanding and cooperation. Beginning in the South Atlantic which we share, we intend to expand the horizons of cooperation between America and Africa, with the added strength, in the political and moral spheres, brought about by the election of Nelson Mandela in the new South Africa. 5 The zone of peace and cooperation of the South Atlantic will transform this area into a zone free of nuclear weapons, constituting an example of solidarity and brotherhood between two continents. With this objective in mind, the 24 countries that make up this forum have just met in Brasilia, with very encouraging results for friendship between Africa and South America. Brazil desires for itself what it desires for each and every other nation. We know that there can be no happiness and prosperity in the midst of strife and misfortune. Together with the family of nations, Brazil, which does not countenance any form of hegemony, seeks to move forward in a spirit of confidence toward the creation of a world order responsive to the aspirations for democracy, stability, disarmament and respect for the sovereignty of States and a world order committed to development.