BRAZIL STATEMENT BY H. E. DILMA ROUSSEFF, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL, AT THE OPENING OF THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 68TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY New York, 24 September 2013 (check against delivery) Ambassador John Ashe, president of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Ban Ki-mo0n, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Heads of State and Government, Ladies and Gentlemen, Allow me initially to express my satisfaction in having a renowned representative of Antigua and Barbuda - a country that is part of the Caribbean, which is so cherished in Brazil and in our region - to conduct the work of this session of the General Assembly. You can count, Excellency, on the permanent support of my Government. Allow me also, at the beginning of my intervention, to express the repudiation of the Brazilian Government and people to the terrorist attack that took place in Nairobi. I express our condolences and our solidarity to the families of the victims, the people and the Government of Kenya. -ÿ Terrorism, wherever it may occur and regardless of its origin, will always deserve our unequivocal condemnation and our firm resolve to fight against it. We will never give way to barbarity. Mr. President, I would like to bring to the consideration of delegations a matter of great importance and gravity. Recent revelations concerning the activities of a global network of electronic espionage have caused indignation and repudiation in public opinion around the world. In Brazil, the situation was even more serious, as it emerged that we were targeted by this intrusion. Personal data of citizens was intercepted indiscriminately. Corporate information - often of high economic and even strategic value - was at the center of espionage activity. Also, Brazilian diplomatic missions, among them the Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the Office of the President of the Republic itself, had their communications intercepted. Tampering in such a manner in the affairs of other countries is a breach of International Law and is an affront to the principles that must guide the relations among them, especially among friendly nations. A sovereign nation can never establish itself to the detriment of another sovereign nation. The right to safety of citizens of one country can never be guaranteed by violating fundamental human rights of citizens of another country. The arguments that the illegal interception of information and data aims at protecting nations against terrorism cannot be sustained. Brazil, Mr. President, knows how to protect itself. We reject, fight and do not harbor terrorist groups. We are a democratic country surrounded by nations that are democratic, pacific and respectful of International Law. We have lived in peace with our neighbors for more than 140 years. As many other Latin Americans, I fought against authoritarianism and censorship, and I cannot but defend, in an uncompromising fashion, the right to privacy of individuals and the sovereignty of my country. In the absence of the right to privacy, there can be no true freedom of expression and opinion, and therefore no effective ÿdemocracy. In the absence of the respect for sovereignty, there is no basis for the relationship among Nations. We face, Mr. President, a situation of grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties; of invasion and capture of confidential information concerning corporate activities, and especially of disrespect to national sovereignty. We expressed to the Government of the United States our disapproval, and demanded explanations, apologies and guarantees that such procedures will never be repeated. Friendly governments and societies that seek to build a true strategic partnership, as in our case, cannot allow recurring illegal actions to take place as if they were normal. They are ur/acceptable. Brazil, Mr. President, will redouble its efforts to adopt legislation, technologies and mechanisms to protect us from the illegal interception of communications and data. My Government will do everything within its reach to defend the human rights of all Brazilians and to protect the fruits borne from the ingenuity of our workers and our companies. The problem, however, goes beyond a bilateral relationship. It affects the international community itself and demands a response from it. Information and telecommunication technologies cannot be the new battlefield between States. Time is ripe to create the conditions to prevent cyberspace from being used as a weapon of war, through espionage, sabotage, and attacks against systems and infrastructure of other countries. The United Nations must play a leading role in the effort to regulate the conduct of States with regard to these technologies. For this reason, Brazil will present proposals for the establishment of a civilian multilateral framework for the governance and use of the Internet and to ensure the effective protection of data that travels through the web. We need to create multilateral mechanisms for the worldwide network that are capable of ensuring principles such as: 4 - Cultural diversity, without the imposition of beliefs, customs and values. 5 - Neutrality of the network, guided only by technical and ethical criteria, rendering it inadmissible to restrict it for political, commercial, religious or any other purposes. 1 - Freedom of expression, privacy of the individual and respect for human rights. 2 - Open, multilateral and democratic governance, carried out with transparency by stimulating collective creativity and the participation of society, Governments and the private sector. 3 - Universality that ensures the social and human development and the construction of inclusive and non-discriminatory societies. 2 Harnessing the full potential of the Internet requires, therefore, responsible regulation, which ensures at the same time freedom of expression, security and respect for human rights. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, The choice of the Post-2015 Development Agenda as the theme for this Session of the General Assembly could not be more appropriate. The fight against poverty, hunger and inequality constitutes the greatest challenge of our time. For this reason, we have adopted a socially inclusive economic model based on generating employment, strengthening small-scale agriculture, expanding credit, increasing the value of salaries and developing a vast social protection network, particularly through the Bolsa Familia (Family Stipend) Program. Beyond previous achievements, we have lifted 22 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty in only two years. We have drastically reduced child mortality. A recent report by UNICEF indicates that Brazil has promoted one of the most notable reductions of this indicator in the world. -Children are a priority for Brazil. This is reflected in our commitment to education. We are the country which has most increased public investment in education, according to the last OECD report. We have also just approved legislation which earmarks 75% of all petroleum royalties to education, and 25% to health services. Mr. President, In the debate on the Post-2015 Development Agenda we must focus on the results of Rio+20. The major step taken in Rio de Janeiro was to place poverty in the center of the sustainable development agenda. Poverty is not a problem exclusive to developing countries, and environmental protection is not a goal to achieve merely once poverty is overcome. The meaning of the Post-2015 Agenda is the development of a world in which it is possible to grow, include and protect. By promoting, Mr. President, social ascension and overcoming extreme poverty, as we are doing, we have created an immense contingent of citizens with better quality of life, increased access to information and greater awareness of their rights. Citizens with new hopes, new desires and new demands. The protests in June, in my country, are an inseparable part of the development of our democracy and of social change. My Government did not repress them, on the contrary, it listened to and understood the voices from the streets. We listened and understood because we ourselves came from the streets. We were educated day to day by the great struggles of Brazil. The street is our ground, our base. 3
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:38:40 +0000
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