Brazil joins the BRICS and abstains from a resolution against Russia at Unesco

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On March 16, Jair Bolsonaro’s government modified its position in the UN (United Nations) system votes and chose to abstain in a resolution against Russia analyzed by Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization).

The text, proposed by the Western powers, was approved. But, contrary to what had been happening in other UN bodies, the project had a high number of abstentions.

Promoted by the Europeans, the resolution denounces that “several educational buildings have already been destroyed or damaged [in Ukraine], such as the building of the Karazin National University in Kharkiv.

The resolution was passed with 33 supports, 24 abstentions, and one dissenting vote, that of Russia. It is the first time that the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty) does not vote in support of a UN text condemning Moscow since the war’s beginning. No BRICS member country voted for the project.

In the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and the Human Rights Council, Brazil adopted a position of support for the projects presented by Americans and Europeans. But, in all cases, it asked for the floor to criticize parts of the text, the sending of weapons, and the unilateral embargoes imposed.

Now, the perception that the strategy of Americans and Europeans to promote a diplomatic siege against Russia in all international bodies is dangerous and could deepen the crisis. Nor did Brazil join an alliance against Russia this week at the WTO (World Trade Organization).

Sources in Brasilia explained, therefore, that the option was for abstention, following the same principle adopted by China, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, or Kenya. The goal is to create conditions for a de-escalation of tension, not to corner Moscow.

“The Russian Federation’s military actions inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine are resulting in the closure of schools and educational institutions, which has affected the entire school-age population -6 million students aged 3 to 17 and more than 1.5 million students enrolled in higher education institutions,” says the resolution approved at UNESCO yesterday.

The text further says that the “presence of the military forces of the Russian Federation within the sovereign territory of Ukraine directly threatens Ukraine’s cultural heritage.”

“The site of Babyn Yar in Kyiv, a Holocaust memorial, was hit by Russian missiles and shells. The city of Kharkiv, a Unesco creative city for music, was damaged, as was the historic center of Chernihiv, which is on Ukraine’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. St. Sophia Cathedral and its related monastic buildings, as well as the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastic complex with the Church of the Savior in Berestovo, inscribed as a World Heritage Site under the 1972 World Heritage Convention, are currently threatened by multiplying air attacks, as are many other Ukrainian sites,” it points out.

The document further refers to the attacks against freedom of expression. “Communications infrastructure has been targeted, as in the bombing of the main TV tower in Kiev on March 1, 2022, which allegedly killed several people, including at least one media professional,” it said.

“In addition, groups of journalists and individual media representatives have been subjected to threats or physical attacks that prevent them from doing their work and infringe on their fundamental rights and freedoms. Attempts to restrict access to the Internet have also been reported. It constitutes an attack on the freedom of expression of individuals in Ukraine,” it points out.

The text thus “demands the immediate cessation by Russia of any further attacks or harm to civilians, children, youth, teachers, education workers or schools, colleges and universities, and the defense of the right to education.”

Among the various points, the document also demands “an immediate end to the offensive against Ukraine to ensure protection against further damage and harm to Ukraine’s natural, built and mobile Ukrainian cultural heritage in all its forms.”

With information from UOL