Brazil has the responsibility, each year, of being the first country to speak at the opening of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York. But why does Brazil speak before other countries, including the host of the meeting?
As this is more of a tradition than a written rule, there are no formal records of the reasons. The first suggests that Brazil volunteered to speak at the first meetings. During the first years of the UN, created in 1945, no country wanted to be the first to speak at the assembly. Brazil then volunteered, being the first speaker in 1949, 1950 and 1951.
The organization decided to make the country official as the one that would open the general debate from 1955 onwards. “Over time, certain customs emerged during the general debate, including the order of first to speak”, says the UN on its official page.
Since 1955, the opening order has been: the UN Secretary-General, followed by the President of the General Assembly, followed by representatives of Brazil and the United States — the host country. The other countries speak according to the order established by an algorithm that takes into account the speaker’s level of representation, speech request, among others.
The only times Brazil did not open the speeches were in the 1983 and 1984 sessions, when United States President Ronald Reagan spoke first.
Another explanation for the privilege given to Brazil is the recognition of the Brazilian Osvaldo Aranha for his performance in 1947, in the second assembly. Aranha presided over the First Special Session of the Assembly, a historic meeting in which the creation of the State of Israel was approved. The Brazilian’s role in supporting the two-state solution and ensuring that the vote was not postponed earned praise from several countries and Zionist entities, which even considered him as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The third theory says it was a consolation prize. Professor Oliver Stuenkel, coordinator of international relations at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, says that the “informal tradition” can be considered a consolation prize for the fact that Brazil was left out of the Organization’s Security Council, composed of the United States, Russia , France, China and the United Kingdom since the founding of the UN in 1945.
To this day, the country is requesting changes to the composition of the Council, which also has ten rotating members elected every two years. However, only the initial five have veto power over decisions.
“Most likely, this tradition began because Brazil ended up being vetoed by Winston Churchill (leader of the United Kingdom) and Josef Stalin (leader of the USSR) from being part of the Security Council on a permanent basis. So, that ended being a kind of consolation prize because there had to be a way to recognize the importance of Brazil at the time”, he said.
Brazil was part of the first group of 51 founding countries of the UN. Today, there are 193 nations, but the “rule” continues, despite there being no UN documents or standards with this prediction. Another widespread theory is that the country has this attribution due to its participation in the peaceful solution of the creation of the State of Israel, still in the early days of the UN.
“It is a tacit recognition of his participation in the founding of the organization and the efforts of the then Brazilian chancellor, Oswaldo Aranha, in the discussions at the time, especially the creation of the State of Israel”, stated professor Lucas Leite, from the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation, doctor in international relations.
In addition to the motivations of tradition, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Celso Lafer, who spoke on behalf of Brazil at the General Assemblies of 1992 and 2002, when he was chancellor, says that it is a special moment for the country’s voice to be heard at the international level. “It is an attempt for Brazil to contribute to the formulation of the global agenda and, therefore, to the objectives of our foreign policy and our insertion in the world.”
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