Brazil's former foreign minister says espionage will have to be discussed by all UN agencies

Criado em 26/09/13 20h05 e atualizado em 27/09/13 12h55
Por Carolina Gonçalves Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – After Antonio Patriota's speech in favor a reform in the United Nations Security Council, and his criticism against the unilateral measures adopted by crisis-stricken countries like Syria, he was approved unanimously on Thursday (26) by the Senate’s Commission of Foreign Relations to take office as Brazil’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

According to him, the international spying scheme that threatens the sovereignty of several countries should be a major topic of debate at the United Nations General Assembly.

“Once again we have the threefold purpose of preserving what we have so industriously achieved [in the international scenario], like protecting human rights and using devices for agreements on civil rights; identifying inequalities and reporting abuse, but also coming up with solutions.”

Patriota praised president Dilma Rousseff's speech at the opening ceremony of the UN General Assembly, and said that she pointed one possible solution to the problem: “All the [UN] agencies will be mobilized to tackle the issue in a cross-sector manner. The cybernetic path must not be used for the purpose of affecting the sovereignty.”

The diplomat is expected to dedicate a significant part of his efforts at the UN to controversial discussions in which reaching compromise poses a challenge, as is the case with the situation in Syria, which grew more serious after the suspicion that chemical weapons have been used against the populations. The espionage issue and the maintenance of the achievements as a means to protect human rights and the sovereignty of countries are also some of the former minister's top priority subjects of discussion.

During the discussion at the Senate, the former minister of Foreign Relations highlighted Brazil's leading role in the global scenario in topics like sustainable development and the protection of human rights. Patriota stated that “just as the UN is crucial in consolidating Brazil's achievements and proposing solutions, Brazil becomes more and more important for the United Nations.”

Patriota further declared that Brazil's actions at the UN should be performed by means of three main strategies. In his view, preserving the achievements made in the last century – such as equal sovereignty between states and the concept of common yet differentiated responsibilities in the environment – should be issues tackled first and foremost by the Brazilian government.

“The second strategy is reporting where the international regulations are found lacking, where their inequalities, abuses, violations and gaps are. Having this as our starting point, we can put together an agenda with measures to be proposed. This would be our third strategy. And Brazil has proved capable of proposing such an agenda,” he pointed out.

He went on to remark: “There are fewer Brazilians than Argentinians and Mexicans at the Secretary of the United Nations. We make up 0.4% of the representatives. We’re trying to motivate young people and Brazilians from all regions so that this deficit can be overcome.”

While commending the government's efforts to protect human rights internationally and include sustainable development in the countries' agenda, Patriota said that Brazil is still not sufficiently represented, in spite of important positions occupied by Brazilians: Bráulio Dias is head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, José Graziano da Silva is the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and Roberto Azevêdo is the director-general of the World Trade Organization.

Antonio Patriota also pointed out that the UN celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2015, a landmark he deems important for reaching an agreement on the reformation of the Security Council and on how best to address the conflicts.

(with the collaboration of Renata Giraldi)

Editors: Valéria Aguiar / Lícia Marques
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira