The relationship between the MERCOSUR agreement with the European Union and South American regionalism
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Note: this piece originally appeared in Portuguese in Revista Relações Exteriores, a Brazilian publication which provides analysis of major international events. Fernando Vieira works as a columnist in the field of political intelligence, macroeconomic analysis, and Brazilian foreign policy.
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The sealing of the political and economic agreement between MERCOSUR and the European Union (EU) in July 2019 has created an environment of optimism among the engaged members in promoting institutional and economic integration. For both trade blocs, the last few years have marked a significant setback towards these objectives: flagged by the finalization of the U.K.’s exit from the EU, the suspension of Venezuela from MERCOSUR, and the rising ideological divergences of Argentina from
The tragic final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009 have received renewed attention lately, with a mention in ex-US president Barack Obama’s new book and a panel discussion on lessons from that time as well as the more recent conflict in Myanmar. On Human Rights Day it is worth looking at one of the most pressing problems in the world: what the international community can, and should, do to protect civilians. Understanding past failures might help in building a better future, especially as millions of people in various parts of the globe are in grave danger.
When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was agreed on this day in 1948, it reflected the hope, in the wake of horrific cruelty and suffering, that never again would anything similar happen. Yet sadly there have been repeated instances since then of violations on a major scale. The United Nations has often been criticised: the determination expressed in its charter “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,