On September 16 Nicaraguan statesman Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann assumed the presidency of the 63rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Tortilla con Sal takes a look at his personal and political background and his proposed agenda for the Assembly during the coming year.

Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, is a Nicaraguan diplomat and politician as well as a Catholic Priest with the Maryknoll order. Born on February 5th 1933 in Los Angeles, California, D'Escoto moved to Nicaragua at the age of three where he spent the rest of his childhood. In 1962 he was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest for the Maryknoll congregation. Maryknoll, or the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, is a U.S. Catholic Society of Apostolic Life which focuses on missionary work overseas.

In 1970 D'Escoto co-founded Orbis Books while working at the Maryknoll’s Social Communications Department in New York. Orbis Books is the publishing arm of the Maryknoll congregation. Shortly after its founding Orbis Books rapidly became an influential publisher of books on Liberation Theology and other themes. On its website Orbis Books describes its main objective as being "to address a broad readership exploring the global dimensions of faith, inviting dialogue with diverse cultures and traditions and serving the cause of reconciliation and peace."

During his community and religious work in Managua in the 1970s D'Escoto became a supporter of the FSLN (the Sandinista Front for National Liberation) which was involved in an armed insurrection with the aim of overthrowing military Dictator Anastasio Somoza whose government was being propped up with excessive US support. D'Escoto first made his sympathy with the FSLN's political objectives public when he co-founded a group of twelve prominent Nicaraguan intellectuals, businessmen, lawyers and clergies, known as Los Doce. The group issued a public statement of support for the FSLN in 1977. This communique lead to widespread acceptance of the FSLN both within Nicaragua and by the international community.

After Somoza was overthrown in 1979 D'Escoto was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held until 1990 when the FSLN lost the presidential election. During his time as Foreign Minister D'Escoto played a key role in the Contadora and Esquipulas peace processes which brought an end to the armed conflicts in Central America in the 1980s. In recognition of D'Escoto's efforts to bring peace to Nicaragua and the Central American region he has been awarded several international acknowledgments including the International Lenin Peace Prize (1985 - 6), the Thomas Merton Prize (1987), the Julio Cortázar Prize for Peace and Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean (1985) and the Alfonso Comín Peace Prize (1984).

Also during his time as Foreign Minister D'Escoto lead the Nicaraguan government's claim against the US for its support of Contra troops at the International Court of Justice. In 1987 the International Court ruled in favor of Nicaragua ordering the US to pay US$17 billion in compensation for the damages inflicted on the Nicaraguan people. To this day, however, the US has not honoured the international court ruling.

D'Escoto has remained faithful in his support of the historic FSLN leader (and current Nicaraguan President), Daniel Ortega, rejecting the political objectives of the faction led by the MRS (Sandinista Renovation Movement) which split from the FSLN at the beginning of the 1990s.

Currently D'Escoto is Senior Advisor on Foreign Affairs to Nicaraguan President Ortega. He also presides the National Committee on Water for Nicaragua, which seeks to preserve the country's fresh water sources including Lake Cocibolca, the largest body of water in Mesoamerica.

In the biography provided by the UN for the President of the 63rd session of the General Assembly, D'Escoto is described as having been "inspired by the lives and works of such personalities as Leo Tolstoy, M.K. Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day." It goes on, "Father D'Escoto is an advocate of multilateralism and respect for international law. He is deeply committed to the principals of active non-violence, solidarity and social justice, which together with a deep sense of ethics, have formed the basis of his political life."

Since being elected President of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly D'Escoto has emphasized his intention to support and promote proposals to "democratize" the international organization. During his acceptance speech  to the Assembly on June 4 of this year he said:

"The United Nations still has a lot to contribute to the world. However, in order to do so effectively, it must be precisely what its name implies: an organization of united nations, not an organization of nations in disarray, much less one of subjugated nations. Unity based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members is currently the greatest demand placed on the Organization - unity in the struggle to democratize the United Nations and unity in the effort to preserve the world and all manifestations of life within it, for the sake of present and future generations, from the scourge of war between Member States and acts of aggression such as those occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan. ... Rest assured ... that during the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, we will follow [President of the 62nd General Assembly, H.E. Srgjan Kerim's] dynamic example by giving all of our support to the Working Group on the revitalization of this Assembly, and we will endeavour to strengthen [the Assembly's] role, its efficacy and its efficiency, reaffirming the leadership role assigned to it by the Charter."

In a recent interview with El Pais journalist Sandro Pozzi D'Escoto spoke at length about the urgent need for reforms within the UN. "It is unacceptable that resolutions by the Assembly, which is constituted by representatives of the peoples [of the world], are considered no more than recommendations and are totally ignored. ... The UN is potentially the most important organization in the world and the only [organization] that can save the planet from the morass of demented selfishness in which we find ourselves and get us on track to building a better [world]."

Since his election, D'Escoto has made no secret of his objection to the exclusive privileges of veto and permanence enjoyed by the five permanent members of the UN's Security Council (the US, the UK, China, Russia and France). Speaking about the specific proposals of reform for the Security Council during the same interview he said:

"[The proposals] are mainly to do with finding a balance in geographical representation and whether new members should be given permanent membership with the right to veto [resolutions]. But those do not go far enough. The worst thing [about the way the Security Council operates] is that is has become a refuge for those [nations] that systematically violate the UN charter with total impunity. If this is the part of the UN that is supposed to avoid wars and guarantee stability, [then] how is it possible that it perpetuates some of the worst anomalies? At the UN there is an unwritten rule which is widely respected; that nothing should be said which incommodes the powerful [nations]."

D'Escoto considers global perception of the UN to be at the worst moment of the organization's history due mainly to its "inability to call [the US] to order." Comments like these have provoked criticism of the new Assembly President by representatives of rich nations. After D'Escoto's acceptance speech, spokesman for the US permanent mission to the UN, Richard Grenell, said "the president of the General Assembly is supposed to be a uniter. We have made it clear that these crazy comments are not acceptable, and we hope he refrains from this talk and gets to work on General Assembly business." (1)

Another of the reforms D'Escoto would like to bring into effect during his one year presidency is a mechanism by which the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) exercises greater control over international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank which were created by the UN. According to D'Escoto these institutions tend to "blackmail' impoverished countries into accepting economic policies which turn out to be "lethal" for the countries' social and economic development.

In a recent interview with EFE D'Escoto acknowledges that reforming the UN is a "gigantic task" but believes there is "a new sense of urgency among member countries" to consolidate the democratic structures of the international organization. One of the most important changes that must take place in the short term, said D'Escoto, is to rid the minds of certain member country representatives of "the idea that they can evade UN regulations as happened during the Iraq invasion. ... There are some [countries] that do not want peace, what they want is control over the planet, but imperial dreams and ambitions will never bring peace."

Father D'Escoto's first important task as President of the General Assembly will be to coordinate the annual general debate. This debate, which will begin on September 23 and last for eight days, will include the participation of dozens of Heads of State and Government as well as Ministers. The overarching theme of the debate, proposed by D'Escoto will be "The impact of the global food crisis on poverty and hunger in the world as well as the need to democratize the United Nations."

D'Escoto and his team have set out the key issues to be discussed by the Assembly during the 63rd session as follows:

• Democratization of the United Nations, including evaluations of the work of the Security Council and of the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as revitalization of the General Assembly;
• Financing for development to end hunger, poverty and lack of access to clean water and basic health services;
• Climate change in a divided but ecologically interdependent world;
• Achieving the goals of the United Nations Decade: “Water for Life” (2005-2015);
• Implementation of the Counter-Terrorism Strategy, with full respect for human rights;
• Human security as a part of international peace and security, including disarmament and nuclear control. (2)

Notes
(1) http://www.wtop.com/?nid=380&sid=1415686
(2) http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/issues/issues.shtml