São Paulo – Brazil and another four countries are slated to leave the Security Council of the United Nations on January 1st. According to the Brazilian ambassador to the UN, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, over the two years the country occupied a seat at the organisation, the country exerted what it called “preventive diplomacy”, through which conflict was avoided in many countries.
One of the examples of the “preventive diplomacy” applied during the period in which Brazil participated in the Security Council, according to Maria Luiza, was the independence process in South Sudan, which became official in July, after a referendum in January 2011.
“The fact that the referendum was promoted in a peaceful manner, on time and with respected results, followed by the independence of South Sudan, was a good example of the preventive democracy with which the Council behaved,” said the ambassador on Tuesday (27) at the United Nations, in New York.
The Security Council includes 15 countries. The United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom are permanent members and have veto power on decisions. Another ten non-permanent members have seats for two year periods. They do not have veto power.
Apart from Brazil, the other nations leaving the organisation are Gabon, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nigeria. The companies taking over their places are Togo, Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco and Pakistan. Another five members will remain in the Security Council up to 2013. They are Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa.
*Translated by Mark Ament
