Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Tuesday opened the 79th United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York with a speech focused on the Security Council's shortcomings in the face of recent global events and called for a permanent seat on the body for Latin America as well as for Africa while insisting that such an omission was an unacceptable echo of the domination practices of the colonial past. Today, only the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom are permanent members, and all of them have veto powers.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira held a telephone conversation Tuesday with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov during which they reviewed the recent terrorist attack in Moscow and the UN Security Council resolution ordering an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, among other topics. The South American diplomat offered his country's help to cool down the spiraling global tensions.
Brazil's Mauro Vieira launched Wednesday the 2-day summit of G-20 Foreign Ministers in Rio de Janeiro by criticizing the paralysis of the United Nations Security Council in the face of the record number of conflicts in the world.
Effective Friday, Brazil has taken over the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the whole month of July.
The United Nations has asked Brazil to send troops to join its peace mission in the Central African Republic, said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the U.N.'s head of peacekeeping operations, in an interview on Monday.
Russia, China, Egypt and Bolivia boycotted an informal public United Nations Security Council meeting on Venezuela on Monday organized by the United States, saying the 15-member body should not be involved in the situation.
The President of Brazil, the first Head of State traditionally to address the annual United Nations General Assembly’s general debate, pledged on Tuesday that his country will sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – reiterating that the nuclear powers undertake additional disarmament.
Antonio Guterres from Portugal, unanimously backed by the Security Council, will become the United Nations next secretary general, and is scheduled to assume the office, on the 38th floor of the U.N. building in New York City, on Jan. 1, 2017. His ascendance came at a time when expectations were high that the U.N. might elect either a woman or an Eastern European to the position, neither of which has happened before.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has said he will ask President Obama to help implement a peace accord that his government expects to sign with the Farc rebel group next month. The two presidents will meet at the White House on Thursday.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are among nine countries that have lost their voting rights at the United Nations because of arrears in their annual contributions to the world body.