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Multilateral Relations
Brazil was a founding member of the League of Nations in 1920 and
the UN in 1945, and has chaired the UN Security Council on several
occasions. Brazil is also an active participant in the Organization
of American States , IMF, World Bank , Inter-American Development
Bank , African Development Bank (ADB), World Trade Organization
(WTO, which now administers the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade--GATT; see Glossary), International Commodity Organization
(coffee, cocoa beans), and Antarctic Treaty. International pressures
have been strong on Brazil to join certain agreements, such as the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Brazil announced its decision
to sign on June 20, 1997. Brazil joined the Missile Technology Control
Regime in October 1995.
Brazil has participated in UN peacekeeping operations since the
Suez Crisis in 1956. A Brazilian contingent participated in the
UN observer force that guaranteed the October 1994 elections in
Mozambique, and in the UN observer force in Bosnia in 1995. Regarding
the latter, a Brazilian general commanded a force of 680 observers,
of whom thirty-four were Brazilians. In May 1995, two Brazilian
officers were among the several hundred UN observers captured by
the Bosnian Serbs and used as human shields against further NATO
bombings. The number of Brazilian personnel attached to UN peacekeeping
operations has gradually declined from 1,166 in August 1996 to forty-eight
in September 1997. Because of its active participation in UN activities
and its status as a middle-level emerging economic and political
power, Brazil aspires to a permanent seat on the Security Council,
if and when membership in this body is expanded.
Data as of April 1997
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