Topic: 2025 – No First Use Policies and Nuclear Disarmament
Country: Brazil
Delegate Name: Wendell Cornell
Disarmament and International Security Committee
No First Use Policies and Nuclear Disarmament
Brazil
Wendell C. Cornell
A ban on nuclear weapons for all countries with no double standards is necessary for the prosperity of the modern world. Nuclear weapons were first developed in the United States after receiving intelligence that Germany was building nuclear weapons. Soon after the end of the second World War, the USSR developed nuclear weapons. For nearly 50 years, an outright war between the two was avoided because they had mutually assured destruction (2).
Brazil had a secret nuclear program during the military dictatorship of 1964-85, however the program was officially dismantled in 1990. In 1998, Brazil signed into the Non-Proliferation Treaty (4), and later signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (4). We have nuclear capabilities however, having the highest uranium reserves by extraction cost (5). We now have a civic nuclear program, with 2 reactors and are working on a nuclear powered submarine (4).
Resolutions regarding this issue include the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Brazil approves of this treaty, and we are also a member (3). This treaty contains no tolerance for threats, development, movement, stockpiling, testing, and use of/about nuclear weapons (3). This treaty contains everything we approve of, however it is still an ongoing issue, because all of the countries that have nuclear weapons are not in it.
Brazil believes that treaties that do not go to this level and contain double standards are the reasons for ongoing issues regarding nukes. We support the actions of the TPNW, and do not condone the continued testing of nuclear weapons by many powerful nations. We support the testing of nuclear energy, however acknowledge the danger it poses. We also do not condone the mutually assured destruction that has existed since the 50s. We believe that a safer way that helps not just superpowers, but all other countries is the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons. Brazil is not alone on this, the majority of countries have this stance, however we don’t approve of the unreasonable amount of power in the hands of very few countries.
[1] “Brazil.” The Nuclear Threat Initiative, 19 July 2025, www.nti.org/countries/brazil. Accessed 24 Nov. 2025.
[2] Cleveland, Harlan. “The Cold War.” National Archives, 24 Sept. 2016, www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/cold-war/symposium/cleveland.html.
[3] “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons | United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.” Unoda.org, 2025, disarmament.unoda.org/en/our-work/weapons-mass-destruction/nuclear-weapons/treaty-prohibition-nuclear-weapons.
[4] United Nations. “Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.” Treaties.un.org, treaties.un.org/pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=08000002801d56c5.
[5] “Uranium Reserves by Country 2024.” Worldpopulationreview.com, worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/uranium-reserves-by-country.
