The South Atlantic has an historical identity and its own strategic characteristics. Resolution No 41/11 of the United Nations General Assembly calls for militarily significant states of other regions to not introduce nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction in the South Atlantic. The military presence of these states in the Atlantic Ocean should be reduced and, in future, eliminated. States located in other regions should not project on the South Atlantic any conflicts and rivalries that are alien to it. By renewing its involvement in such multilateral precepts, Brazil wishes to contribute, in a responsible way and in collaboration with its partners in ZOPACAS, to the South Atlantic region’s potential socioeconomic development. Defense Related Treaties Brazil has a solid tradition of peaceful solution of conflicts and a commitment to international law. Brazil’s first democratic constitution (1891) prohibited wars of conquest and, since joining the Global forum, in the Second Hague Peace Conference (1907), Brazil has advocated legal equality among states, while refusing to enter into discriminatory treaties and agreements. The country’s territorial disputes were solved through diplomatic means and international arbitrage, which have consolidated its borders with ten neighbors. In this way, Brazil anticipated the principles which motivated the creation of the League of Nations (1919) and the United Nations Organization (1945). Art. 2 of the United Nations Charter affirms that “The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members”. DEFENSE WHITE PAPER 39 CHAPTER 2 — THE 21st CENTURY STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT and Cooperation Zone for the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS). Created in 1986 by the United Nations, today ZOPACAS has 24 members — Angola, Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, GuineaBissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo and Uruguay. In diplomatic terms, the reinforcement of ZOPACAS is important for the Country’s defense.