Position Paper for the General Assembly Plenary

Delegation from                                                                                            Represented by

The Federative Republic of Brazil                                                                                                  M. Walouche

Position Paper for the General Assembly Plenary

The issues before the General Assembly Plenary are: Sustainable Energy Worldwide ; and Fair-Trade for Clothing.

1. Sustainable Energy Worldwide

The broad majority of the world’s energy sources are non renewable as fossile fuels. However a change in mentality and  habits is to expect since these resources are rarefying. Alternative sustainable energy sources are developping as hydroelectric, solar power, windpower, geothermal, wave/tidal energy, biomass. Brazil is conscious of those quesions as more than 75% of its electric power supply is furnished by hydroelectricity.^[1]

Sustainable energy has always been considered by the delegation of Brazil as a fundamental matter, and essential for the developping countries to catch up the rest of the world. Brazil hosted the Rio + 20 meeting in 2012, the United Nation Conference on Sustainable Development. M. Andrade underlined the importance of fulfiling the agreements made at this occasion, and promotes high-level political forum on those subjects (A/C.2/67/SR.24). However sustainable energy worldwide must not enter into conflict with any biological diversity issue, which is the reason why the delegation of Brazil encourage Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study these kind of concerns.

On the nuclear file, the delegation of Brazil follows closely the reports of the International Atomic Agency (IAEA), and is very concerned about the lack of safeguards on information’s secutity (cf. H.E. De Aguiar Patriota, A/68/PV.43).

1. Fair-Trade for Clothing

Fair-Trade is a new trading approach that consists of a partnership between producers and consumers. In more concrete words a better deal is proposed to farmers, and consumers are involved in a more active way in reducing world inequalities. Trade become thus  a vector of sustainable development, against poverty and marginalization.

Moreover, the delegation of Brazil thinks this topic is essential as it is well known the working conditions in Textile, Clothing and Footwear sectors (TCF)  are in some countries deplorable.

The Brazil delegation thinks fair-trade is an incredible opportunity as substantial progresses of  little cocoa or cofee producers’s lifestyle may be observed in Brazil.

Thus the Brazil delegation fully support and encourage the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in its analyse of issues of concerns, notably from a gender perspective, and to share its conclusions with the relevant stackeholders, as proposed in the A/RES/68/199 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2013, on international trade and development. We also believe the use of chidren in TCF sectors should be a major point in future discussions in order for this inacceptable situation to be settled.

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