By Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop
Thank you, Mr. President.
The Report of the Security Council makes it clear that attempts continue to be made to reach out to the wider membership and other relevant international actors. Open debates, field missions and consultations with troop and police contributing countries reveal such intent. It is essential to deepen and broaden the effort under way, so that non-members of the Council be properly heard and the organ better prepared to discharge its responsibilities. Increased participation in and access to the Council by non-members will certainly strengthen international peace and security.
However, Mr. President, Brazil believes that, no matter how often the Security Council reaches out to other actors, all such initiatives will be insufficient if that body does not truly reflect present-day global realities. Only genuine reform in the Council's structure can bring it closer to that goal. Diversity has to be embedded in its very heart, thus making it more legitimate, more representative and, hence, more effective. That is why we are discussing here the equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council.
During the 63rd session, we have made decisive progress in that direction. That has been possible through the faithful implementation of Decision 62/557, which mandated the launching of intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform in the informal plenary of the General Assembly.
The three rounds of negotiations have yielded important results, which have been captured by Presidential Note A/63/960. After the oral and written positions exhaustively discussed by the membership, the main options and negotiables for a successful reform are now very clear. It has also been possible to establish that the model of Security Council reform that commands the most support from delegations is the one that includes expansion in both categories of members.
As for the so-called intermediate model, it has become evident that it does not represent the first preference of any delegation. Besides, it continues to raise many questions due to the lack of clarity about its meaning.
As importantly, Member States have also agreed, in Decision 63/565, to immediately continue intergovernmental negotiations in the 64th session of the General Assembly, building on the progress achieved during its 63rd session.
In that connection, Mr. President, we welcome your letter of 13 October, in which you have appointed His Excellency Mr. Zahir Tanin, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, to continue charing the negotiations on the Presidency's behalf. Ambassador Tanin has ably performed that task in the past GA session. His stance of impartiality to any of the positions, yet partiality to decisive progress, has earned the trust of the Member States.
My delegation eagerly awaits the work plan for the negotiations you have requested him to draw up. We cannot afford to waste more time. We have to keep the momentum generated in the 63rd session. We should not miss the opportunity to take advantage of current movements towards global governance reform. Renewed commitment of Member States to multilateralism has sent the right message across the whole UN membership.
By the end of this session, my delegation expects a concrete outcome. If this outcome is to be accomplished, it is imperative to narrow down the options for reform as soon as possible, discarding those that have very limited chance to achieve the majority required for Charter amendments. We hope that Ambassador Tanin's text can be used as a basis for negotiations, which should - I repeat - narrow down the options and clear the way to our objective. A road map with too many roundabouts and detours gives us no direction.
Mr. President,
History has been evolving towards ever growing interconnectedness and interdependence among peoples. The establishment of multilateral institutions is testimony to that broad tendency. Security Council reform is, in that sense, a historical necessity.
Brazil has always been a staunch supporter of the UN as the embodiment of multilateralism. We are convinced to be on the side of the UN when we uphold our preferred model of reform. A Security Council of 25 members, with six new permanent members and four new non-permanent seats, including developing countries in both categories, can bring about the desired change.
Such a Council would be up to the task of dealing with not only the threats of peace and security of today, but also with those of tomorrow. Such a Council would be better prepared to hold high the principles and purposes of the Charter in the 21st century. That is an imperative of sound international governance, the fulfillment of which we should not delay any further.
Thank you.
