RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Security Council is formed by 15 countries with voting rights, 5 permanent members with veto power (United States, France, Great Britain, China and Russia) and 10 non-permanent members.
This will be the 11th time that Brazil will integrate, as a temporary member, the most important body responsible for international collective security. The last time was in the 2010 to 2011 term. Brazil had never been out of the UNSC this long. Under the Workers’ Party (PT) government, due to little interest in the UN’s work, the Foreign Ministry failed to seek its reelection as one of Latin America’s representatives.
Brazil’s period of absence would have extended until 2033, were it not for the efforts made by the Foreign Ministry in 2018 for Honduras to exchange its seat with Brazil, allowing for an early return next year.
According to statements by Minister Carlos França, in 2022 and 2023, Brazil will mark its role in the Security Council based on 7 priorities: Prevent and Pacify; Effective Peacekeeping; Humanitarian Response and Promotion of Human Rights; Advancing the Women’s Agenda, Peace and Security; Coordination with the Peacekeeping Commission; Articulation with Regional Organizations; and For a More Representative and Effective Security Council.
Brazil’s role in the Security Council over the next 2 years will broadly follow the traditional positions advocated by the Foreign Ministry. As expected, the defense of fundamental freedoms will be upheld in the search for peace, based on democracy and justice. To this end, Brazil should champion mediation, preventive diplomacy and its role as a promoter of peace.
Brazil should continue to defend UN peacekeeping operations and special political missions, with mandates that support the interdependence between security and development. Over the past 70 years, the country has participated in over 50 peacekeeping missions, with more than 55,000 military and police personnel.
It held the command of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti for 13 years and the command of the Maritime Task Force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon for almost 10 years, in addition to its participation in the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Respect for human rights must be upheld to safeguard individual freedoms and fundamental guarantees, in armed conflicts and by the Security Council when imposing sanctions and other measures to support international peace and security.
In accordance with the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, created in 2017, Brazil will promote the enhancement of women, children and the elderly’s agenda in the pursuit of peace and security, as a practical application of the relationship between peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
Brazil will remain an advocate for conflict prevention and resolution and peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and shall advocate that peace does not simply mean the absence of armed conflict, but also structurally requires respect for fundamental freedoms and human dignity, including freedom of expression and freedom of religion.
As Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission in 2014, Brazil promoted the involvement of developing countries and African regional and sub-regional organizations in the Commission’s activities and sought engagement between the PBC and the UNSC.
By assuming a seat on the UNSC, with the UN politically vacated (the crises in Syria, Iraq, and Crimea have not been reviewed by the UN), Brazil may encourage negotiations on the Council’s reform, in order to increase its legitimacy in light of the multiple and complex challenges faced by the international community.
At the last UN General Assembly, in September, the G4 countries made up of Germany, Brazil, India and Japan, advocated the urgent need to reform the Security Council by increasing the number of permanent and non-permanent seats in order to make it “more legitimate, effective and representative, reflecting the reality of the contemporary world, including developing countries and major contributors.” G4 countries are candidates for a permanent seat and will work towards starting negotiations and a single document, which will serve as the basis for draft resolutions.
Localized crises (such as Russia-Ukraine) or those that may be generated by the dispute between the USA and China (such as the South China Sea and Taiwan), concrete issues (embargo on Cuba) and others related to financial restrictions (loss of voting rights due to non-payment), the environment, climate change, democracy and human rights, refugees, and particularly the customs agenda, will put Brazilian diplomatic action to the test, in tune with the fundamental principles of the UN Charter.
The Foreign Ministry’s main challenge will be to maintain the traditional positions of Brazilian diplomacy in order to prevent a drastic reversal of multilateral policy in some of these priorities, should there be a change of government with the presidential elections in 2022.