Annan Proposes Radical Reforms for the UN -- 03/21/2005
Annan Proposes Radical Reforms for the UN
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
March 21, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will present the General Assembly Monday with a report calling for the most sweeping changes to the world body since its founding 60 years ago.
He will urge the U.N.'s 191 member states to approve the package of proposals by next September, when world leaders hold a summit in New York.
The report was released at two U.N. briefings in New York a day early because of leaks to some media outlets.
Among the most far-reaching changes proposed is the expansion of the Security Council from its current 15 members to 24, in line with one of two formulas suggested earlier by a panel of experts commissioned by Annan.
One proposal would add six permanent members to the current five - two from Asia, two from Africa, and one each from Europe and the Americas -- but they would not have the veto right enjoyed by the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia.
Under this proposal, the number of rotating, non-permanent members would also increase from the current 10 to 13, bringing total council membership to 24.
The second suggestion would retain the current five permanent members and 10 more with two-year stints, but add a third tier of nine additional members, each with a four-year tenure that could be renewed.
Nations that have made bids for permanent membership of an expanded council include Japan, India, Germany, South Africa, Nigeria and Brazil. Some of the current permanent members are likely to resist some of those bids. China opposes Japan, for example, and Italy has questioned Germany's qualifications for membership.
Annan also wants the Security Council to draw up guidelines for the use of force to settle international disputes, and for the U.N. to agree on a universal definition of terrorism -one making it clear that no cause whatsoever justifies the deliberate targeting of civilians.
Arab-Muslim nations have resisted this in the past, arguing that a violent Palestinian response to "foreign occupation" was legitimate.
Another major focus of the proposed reform package deals with the Commission on Human Rights, the Geneva-based body whose credibility has increasingly been called into question because some of the world's most abusive regimes have become members, and used their positions to block scrutiny.
Annan's chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, said the secretary-general is proposing replacing the commission with a new Human Rights Council. Its members would be elected by the General Assembly, and would be "held to certain standards."
Annan wants human rights to be raised "to the same level as security and economic and social affairs of the organization," Malloch Brown said, and the envisaged new body would be a third "council," alongside the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.
Other proposals include:
-- Streamlining of General Assembly committee structures to speed up decision-making;
-- The conclusion of conventions on terrorism and nuclear terrorism;
-- The creation of a "peace-building commission" to help countries emerging from conflict to achieve lasting peace;
-- Measures to meet the Millennium Development Goals of poverty and hunger alleviation by 2015, including commitments by all developed countries to allocate 0.7 percent of gross domestic product to development assistance by no later than 2015, with significant increases by 2006, and a goal of 0.5 percent three years later; and
-- Full funding of the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the provision of resources provided for an expanded, comprehensive strategy to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS.
Malloch Brown said while Annan expected member states to negotiate on the proposals in the months ahead, it was not meant to be picked apart, with elements added or abandoned to address the concerns of particular nations.
He characterized the overall report as having "something in it for everybody."
Annan had stuck with the expert panel's recommendations on tough language in the terrorism definition "despite the fact there had been huge pressure by some [member states] against that," Malloch Brown said.
On the other hand, the proposal that donor countries earmark 0.7 percent of GDP for development would no doubt infuriate a different set of nations, he added.
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Kofi Annan unveils UN reform plan
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will formally present a plan this morning to the UN General Assembly when it meets in New York later today. The plan, entitled , is part of the UN's attempt to revitalise itself during its sixtieth anniversary year.

If implemented, this plan will be the largest change ever to the international body, calling for the addition of nine members to the Security Council, and for the creation of a new Human Rights Council to replace the 53-member .

The Canadian ambassador to the UN,  , was the first diplomat to officially respond by saying, "A lot of hard work lies ahead but we are optimistic." , Amnesty International, and other , have come out in support of the plan.