|
SPEECH BY AMBASSADOR LUIZ AUGUSTO
DE ARAUJO CASTRO
TO THE FIRST COMMITTEE
OF THE 55th UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
(NEW YORK, OCTOBER 2000)
Mr. Chairman,
Having worked for a number of years as a First Committee delegate and having
had the privilege of chairing the United Nations Disarmament Commission, it
is a pleasure for me to return to this conference Room and to participate once
again in the annual deliberations of the General Assembly on disarmament and
related matters.
I wish to express our congratulations to you for your election as Chairman of
this Committee- Please accept our beet wishes and the assurance that you will
have the full cooperation of the Brazilian delegation. You have inherited a
First Committee that was conducted last year with ability and professionalism
by a fellow Latin American representative, Ambassador Raimundo Gonzalez of Chile.
I wish also to express our appreciation for the work that is being carried out
by the Department of Disarmament Affairs under the leadership of Undersecretary-General
J. Dhanapala and to thank him for the thoughtful statement he made this morning
to the Committee.
Mr. Chairman,
This general debate should permit a collective reflection on why political commitments
and words do not always translate into deeds and on how the international community
can work to build on progress achieved in different areas, in particular in
the field of nuclear disarmament. The results of the Sixth Review Conference
of the Non-Proliferation Treaty were of special significance to all of us. I
would stress the relevance of steps such as the unequivocal commitment by the
nuclear-weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals
and the adoption of a robust programme of action by the Treaty PartiesThis unequivocal
commitment is now a milestone in the stage on which the international community
is expected to carry on its efforts towards the elimination of nuclear weapons.
As Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia indicated before the Plenary of the
General Assembly, the results of the NPT Conference "will be a litmus test of
future advance in the nuclear disarmament field". The spirit of cooperation
and sense of responsibility that prevailed at that occasion should be sustained.
Having participated for the first time in a Review Conference as a party to
the NPT, Brazil is proud to have contributed, as a member of the New Agenda
Coalition, to the positive outcome of the meeting. The wide support then gathered
by the working document presented by the Coalition was a confirmation of our
common interest in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. We hope that the
New Agenda draft resolution to this Committee can enjoy the same level of support.
I will not dwell on the current context of nuclear disarmament and an the pressing
challenges ahead of us, since the Brazilian thoughts on that are reflected in
the Ministerial Declaration issued by the New Agenda Coalition countries on
September 11, circulated as document A/C 1/55/3 We welcome the statement made
by Ambassador Henrik Salander of Sweden on behalf of the seven delegations Of
the New Agenda Coalition.
Allow me to add that during its presidency of the Conference on Disarmament,
in July and August of this year, Brazil tried to broker an agreement on the
Programme of Work of that body. Despite the talent and the dedication of Ambassador
Celso Amorim, a final consensus eluded us, but we were satisfied by the level
of support achieved by the Brazilian proposal and with the fact that, as reflected
in the CD report to the General Assembly, the CD membership recognized the support
of the Conference for the text as a basis for further intensified consultations.
Mr. Chairman,
The experience of the Conference on Disarmament underscores the urgency of reinforcing
the multilateral machinery of disarmament and non-proliferation. It is not comforting
to see that this machinery runs the risk of rusting - in the words of the SG
in his opening statement to the NPT Review Conference - "due to an apparent
lack of political will to use it". A paralyzed CD is to no one's benefit.
In the same sense, Brazil attaches great importance to the United Nations Disarmament
Commission as a universal forum which can and should be used for discussing
new ideas and proposals in the field of disarmament. I personally had the opportunity
of working closely with the UNDC in the early 1990's, chairing one of its working
Groups in 1991 and acting as vice-chairman in 1992 and as Chairman of the Disarmament
Comission for its 1993 session
Bearing in mind current multilateral work in the field of disarmament, it is
interesting to recall that in the 1993 session of UNDC we were able to conduct
quite meaningful deliberations on three main subjects: nuclear disarmament and
the elimination of nuclear weapons; regional approaches to disarmament; and
the role of science and technology in the context of international security
and disarmament, which included, inter alia, discussion of questions related
to the transfer of high technology with military applications
Mr. Chairman,
As noted in the non-paper recently circulated in Geneva by the Brazilian presidency
of the CD, we should bear in mind that disarmament mechanisms are "influenced
by arid responsive to developments in the international strategic scene which
affect the security interests of individual States". one of the most visible
issues that could affect the international strategic scene was removed, in the
short-term, from the list of possible worrisome developments. As regards the
future of missile defences, we are confident that both parties to the ABM Treaty
will refrain from the implementation of any measure that would undermine the
Treaty's purpose or its integrity and validity. Brazil also hopes that the US
decision to put off initial work on a national missile defense system can promote
understanding and progress in multilateral disarmament fora, especially in the
CD.
Limiting the geographical space where nuclear weapons aredeployed is, for Brazil,
a powerful message that non-nuclearweapon States can deliver regarding their
disagreement with
the retention of such armament. We are committed to the consolidation of existing
and the creation of new nuclear weapon-tree zones.
Together with other countries, as announced this morning by Ambassador Pearson,
of New Zealand, Brazil intends to present once again to this Committee a draft
resolution on the Southern Hemisphere and adjacent areas free of nuclear weapons.
We are convinced that freeing the Southern Hemisphere from nuclear weapons is
a common initiative of interest to all members of nuclear-weapon-free zones
as well as to other countries.
Mr. Chairman,
Brazil commends the work done by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons, under the leadership of its Director-General, Ambassador Jose Mauricio
Bustani The Brazilian Government is sparing no effort to fulfill its obligations
under the Chemical Weapons convention, including by presenting its annual declaration
of activities in the chemical industry and by successfully hosting, to this
date, five inspections in our chemical industries and the first simulation of
a challenge inspection in a private industry. As a reaffirmation of our support
for the implementation of the Chemical weapons Convention and of our commitment
to the elimination of all chemical weapons, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
will visit the OPCW Headquarters in The Hague next week, in the context of his
official visit to the Netherlands.
Mr. Chairman,
in the field of conventional weapons, as well, the disarmament community has
been active. Brazil had the opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to the banning
of antipersonnel landmines on the occasion of the Second Meeting of the States
Parties to the Ottawa Convention, held in Geneva some weeks ago- We have joined
the international efforts of mine-clearance, sending personnel to perform such
activities in the context of UN missions in Angola and providing assistance
and experts to operations in South and Central America. Brazil is actively participating
in the preparatory process of the 2001 Conference on the illicit trade in small
arms. As we have been pointing out, the destabilizing
accumulation of small arms is, from a south American perspective, mainly related
to organized crime and urban violence- Brazil hopes that the scheduled informal
consultations an this issue will permit us to define the venue and date of the
conference, as well as provide a good basis for understanding on other outstanding
matters related to the c-vent. Among these matters is the participation of
NGOS, which we support.
As foreseen, we will have before us the report of the Group of Governmental
Experts mandated by this Committee to review the functioning of the UN Register
of Conventional Arms. Brazil has been providing detailed information to the
Register since its inception and would invite other countries to do the same.
we endorse the observations and conclusions of the report and underline the
importance of achieving universality for the Register, so that it can fulfill
its envisaged role as a credible and useful global contidence building measure.
Also in the field of conventional arms, it is our opinion that the First Committee
should pay attention to the worrisome trend of qualitative armament and the
increased sophistication of conventional arsenals, especially among the major
military powers. We believe this tendency contradicts the disarmament goals
of the international community and ignores the calls that this committee and
the General Assembly have made repeatedly for a decrease in military expenditures.
Mr. Chairman,
Brazil is proud to belong to a region free of international conflicts. Latin
America and the Caribbean countries traditionally present low levels of military
expenditure. Defense procurement in our region aims basically at the replacement
of obsolete material.
The commitment of our region to peace and disarmament is reflected in a number
of regional and sub-regional instruments that attest to our common purpose of
integration and development. The Treaty of Tlatelolco, which created the first
nuclear-weapon-free zone in an inhabited area of the world, and the Zone of
Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic are meaningful examples of this
determination.
In the South Cone, even prior to the Chemical Weapons Convention, Argentina,
Brazil and Chile renounced, by the 1991 Mendoza Declaration, the use, production,
acquisition, stockpiling arid transfer of chemical and biological weapons. we
were subsequently joined by Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador. Later, the
Political Declaration of Ushuaia, in 1998, established the Mercosul countries
and Bolivia and Chile as a Zone of Peace, free of weapons of mass destruction.
All those progressive steps dating back to the sixties were complemented and
reinforced by the decision to establish a South-American Zone of Peace which
was announced in Brasilia on September 1, 2000, by the Presidents of all the
countries of South America. In the Brasilia Communique that was then adopted,
the text of which has been distributed in document A/55/375, our Presidents
also encouraged the deepening of the dialogue on security in South America,
taking into account the human, economic and social aspects of the issue.
Mr. Chairman,
In matters relating to international security, we reject the logic of power
through arms and we firmly believe in the value of cooperation among nations
based on dialogue and understanding and on respect for the United Nations Charter
and other rules of international law.
We are of the view that all weapons of mass destruction should be banned as
a matter of priority. No other disarmament goal is more imperative- Chemical
and biological weapons are being dealt with. Nuclear weapons remain to be eliminated.
The retention of nuclear weapons is illegitimate and a constant threat to humanity.
At the Millennium Summit Declaration we resolved, at the highest levels of our
Governments, to strive for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, particularly
nuclear weapons".
it is now time to act. By translating this commitment into practice we will
be heeding the appeals of all our peoples for a safer world.
777 UN Plaza - 6th Floor - New York, NY - 10017 - Ph: 212.682.1265 - Fax: 212.286.8211 - info@reachingcriticalwill.org
This site was created by Kache Productions ©2008
|
