Brazil and the United Nations

Brazil is a charter member of the United Nations and participates in all of its specialized agencies [ [http://www.mre.gov.br/ingles/politica_externa/grupos/onu/onu_organiza.asp Brazil and the United Nations (Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil)] ] . It has contributed troops to UN peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, the former Belgian Congo, Cyprus, Mozambique, Angola, and more recently East Timor and Haiti. Brazil has been a member of the UN Security Council nine times, most recently 2004-2005.

Activities

UN General Assembly

Brazil has traditionally played a relevant role in the United Nations General Assembly. In 1947, the foreign minister at the time, Oswaldo Aranha, chaired the First Special Session of the General Assembly and the second Session of the General Assembly.

Since the Fourth Ordinary Session of the General Assembly, Brazil has been the first country to speak at the General Debate. Five Brazilian presidents and 34 foreign ministers have been the first speakers at the annual meetings of the General Assembly. For this reason, speeches by the Brazilian representatives, who in general present an assessment of the international situation as the backdrop to express the Brazilian point of view on the main issues, are high profile [ [http://www.mre.gov.br/ingles/politica_externa/grupos/onu/assembleia.asp United Nations General Assembly (Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil)] ] .

UN Security Council

Brazil has been elected eighteen times to the UN Security Council, and is the country that has served for the most number of years as an elected member.

List of terms as an elected member to the Security Council:Brazil is currently seeking a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. It is a member of the G4, an organization comprised of Brazil, Germany, Japan, and India, all nations who are currently seeking permanent representation. According to their plan the UN Security Council would be expanded beyond the current fifteen members to include twenty-five members. This would be the first time that permanent status has been extended to a South American nation and supporters of the G4 plan suggest that this will lead to greater representation of developing nations rather than the current major powers.

Financial contribution

Brazil is one of the main contributors to the UN regular budget (USD $18 million for the 2007 Assessment) [ [http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/tables/reg-budget/large07.htm Regular Budget Payments of Largest Payers: 2007 (Global Policy Forum)] ] .

Representation

Brazil maintains a permanent mission to the UN, currently headed by Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti.

References

ee also

* Foreign relations of Brazil

External links

* [http://www.un.int/brazil Official website of the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN]
* [http://www.mre.gov.br Official website of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil]