Kofi To Say US/Rich Countries Are A Concern

[Annie]

Zimbabwe is NOT happy and Chirac too has doubts!

UN in dramatic climbdown after American pressure
By Charles Laurence in New York
(Filed: 20/03/2005)

The security of America and other wealthy countries will for the first time be declared a key priority for the United Nations under reforms designed to restore confidence in the crisis-ridden international body.

The reforms, to be announced tomorrow by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, will be seen as a concession to Washington after repeated clashes with President George W Bush over US foreign policy, including the war in Iraq.

Kofi Annan will present proposals for reform
The UN Secretariat promises a "real re-launch … a fundamental manifesto" after criticism of its performance since the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

Mark Malloch Brown, the Briton newly appointed as the UN's chief of staff, said: "Reform really has to align the UN behind an agenda that includes a security system which can fully meet US concerns on terrorism."

He said that the drive to cut poverty and tackle social problems in developing nations would be couched in terms of the threat to the security of the West.

"For the first time since 1945, the UN is looking at what the world wants us to do," he said. "We need to offer something for everyone, something for The Sunday Telegraph reader as well as the struggling African."

Chidyan Siku, Zimbabwe's ambassador to the UN, gave the proposals a cool reception. "My feeling, and the feeling of colleagues from developing countries, is that the Secretariat is trying to please America by slanting towards the strategic agenda of the North. That will not find favour with us," he said.

An official at the French mission said: "They may be going too far in trying to please Washington. The UN is not only about the US."

 

[Annie]

Here's a bit more details on this:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150944,00.html

Paper: Annan Proposes Sweeping Changes

Sunday, March 20, 2005

NEW YORK — Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) on Monday will propose restructuring a U.N. human rights panel, ask for a swift decision to expand the Security Council and request sweeping changes designed to prevent new scandals in a report Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The blueprint for reform, according to a draft copy obtained by The Times, also proposes ways to keep the U.N. the primary setting for global security decisions and the key player in international development issues.

The reforms depend on the endorsement of the 191-member General Assembly and the agreement of world leaders who are coming to a U.N. summit in September, the Times said in a story posted to its website Saturday.

Many of the ideas in the document have been floated in recent months by special panels on U.N. reform and global development that Annan commissioned. But fierce reactions from some governments led Annan to temper a proposed definition of terrorism, stop short of requiring criteria for membership on the human rights panel and caused him to refrain from choosing between two options to expand the Security Council, U.N. officials quoted by the Times said.

With the U.N. still bruised by the U.S. decision to lead an invasion of Iraq without the Security Council's blessing, Annan has searched for ways to keep the Bush administration engaged in the world body and address the United States' post-Sept. 11 sense of vulnerability.

In an attempt to put the U.N. at the center of security policy, the report calls for a comprehensive anti-terrorism convention by September 2006, new measures to stem nuclear proliferation and an agreement on rules for the use of force and preemptive action, the Times said.

To bolster peace and development, the report urges the creation of a peace-building body to help societies recover from war and asks developed countries to set aside 0.7 percent of their gross national income for development aid.

Only six countries now provide that amount; the U.S. plans to contribute about $22 billion, or 0.18 percent of its gross national income, in aid next year.

As the U.N. reels from scandals, the report describes ways for the U.N. to become more accountable and to hew more closely to its ideals.

Most notably, it suggests that nations that violate human rights should not have a place on the U.N. panel that monitors such actions, the Times said.

In the shadow of the failures of the U.N.'s "oil-for-food" program for Iraq, Annan suggests better oversight of U.N. contracts and sanctions, the Times said. He also requests funding for a one-time staff buyout to help younger, energetic employees rise in the organization.

The report declares a policy of zero tolerance for sexual exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers or other personnel and strongly encourages all countries who contribute troops to the U.N. to prosecute any wrongdoing because the U.N. has no power to punish them.

The proposal is also in part an appeal to the United States not to forsake the U.N. but rather to help guide the reform. "In today's world, no state, however powerful, can protect itself on its own," it quoted Annan as saying.

Annan became secretary-general eight years ago with firm U.S. backing to reform the organization. But the recent scandals have provided a focal point for conservative critics, who have long held the U.N. in contempt and considered it a hindrance to U.S. interests.

If Annan is able to complete the two years remaining in his term, the new blueprint may represent his last chance to achieve a legacy of reform.

In a key innovation, Annan proposes that the much-criticized 53-nation Human Rights Commission (search) be changed to a smaller "human rights council" directly elected by the General Assembly, the Times said.

But rather than establish criteria to exclude violator nations from the council, he gently suggests that they have no place on it. "Those elected to the council should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards," the Times quoted the report as saying.

The current process of selecting members from regional groups has given seats on the 53-member commission to countries with questionable human rights records, such as Sudan, Libya and Cuba, making it a lightning rod for criticism, even from supporters of the U.N.

On another attention-getting topic, Annan says expansion of the Security Council must occur but he takes no stand on two competing proposals, according to the Times.

Annan wants to enlarge the 15-member council to better reflect current realities and involve more countries who contribute financially, militarily and diplomatically to the United Nations. Both proposals would increase the membership from 15 to 24 but differ on the number of permanent and elected members.

 

[onedomino]

An official at the French mission said: "They may be going too far in trying to please Washington. The UN is not only about the US."

Why is this quote not surprising? The UN has many reforms that will be necessary before it can be seen as a credible and viable organization.

 

[Gunny]

Many reforms? Burning it to the ground, and starting over with people capable of actual thought might remove the foul stench that permeates anything the UN is involved in.

 

[musicman]

"...no state, however powerful, can protect itself on its own"???!!! What is this man smoking?

And, now that the U.N. is busted six ways from Wednesday, it will deign to reform itself? Too little too late, I say. Flush 'em. Rapacious sociopaths and snarling ingrates from top to bottom. What do we need this bullshit for?

 

[Gunny]

Wonder whatever happened to all those Oil for Food Program allegations? I guess "reform" means a clean slate for all past criminal activities.

Isn't THAT special.

 

[musicman]

Wonder whatever happened to all those Oil for Food Program allegations? I guess "reform" means a clean slate for all past criminal activities.

Isn't THAT special.

What a collection of assclowns! Of course, we've funded and enabled them even as they sink their fangs into our hand - what does that make US?

You'll no doubt find "oil-for-food" under the same rug which hides serial rape and Russians spiriting WMD out of Iraq in the dead of night. Worthless, lying bastards - I marvel that we even ask the question, "What good are they?" A four-year-old could deduce the answer to that.

 

[Merlin1047]

Bah. More posturing and empty rhetoric. Want to reform the UN? Kick the bastards out of the country and let France support them.

 

[musicman]

Bah. More posturing and empty rhetoric. Want to reform the UN? Kick the bastards out of the country and let France support them.

Amen and amen!

 

[Annie]

Uh, before we get around to reforms, let's uh pack the Security Council. Yeh, that's the ticket.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20294376.htm

Annan seeks U.N. Security Council, rights reforms
20 Mar 2005 18:30:32 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the United Nations on Sunday to expand the Security Council and scrap the Commission on Human Rights as part of a package of sweeping reforms at the world body.

Annan, in a report to be delivered on Monday to the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly, also waded into the debate over the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, calling on the Security Council to set out rules for when it should authorize the use of military force.

However, in the use of force as well as in reform of the 15-nation Security Council, Annan did not set out his own recommendations, leaving these questions to U.N. members.

Annan's plan aims to preserve the United Nations as the focus of global multilateral action and also to respond to growing criticism of the United Nations, fueled by allegations of sex abuses by peacekeepers and mismanagement of the $67-billion oil-for-food plan for Iraq.

Before they can take effect, the reforms must be endorsed by world leaders attending a U.N. summit in September and then by the General Assembly.

The United Nations has come under increased scrutiny since the U.S. decision to invade Iraq without Security Council approval. Several conservative U.S. lawmakers have called for Annan to resign and a number of congressional committees and a U.N.-appointed panel are investigating the oil-for-food plan.

U.S. President George W. Bush recently nominated John Bolton, an outspoken critic of both multilateral action and the United Nations, as his pick for U.S. ambassador to the body.

Annan's report said the U.N. Human Rights Commission, accused by critics of increasingly defending despots rather than cracking down on them due to the way its members are chosen, should be replaced with a new Human Rights Council, whose members would be elected by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly.

He also proposed creation of a peace-building commission to help the international community rebuild nations shattered by war, and of a democracy fund to promote that form of government around the world.

The United Nations further should embrace a "responsibility to protect" that would authorize international action including the use of force when nations are unwilling or unable to protect their own citizens, Annan said.

"In a world of interconnected threats and challenges, it is in each country's self-interest that all of them are addressed effectively," the report said. "Hence, the cause of larger freedom can only be advanced by broad, deep and sustained global cooperation among states."

"Such cooperation is possible if every country's policies take into account not only the needs of its own citizens but also the needs of others. This kind of cooperation not only advances everyone's interests but also recognizes our common humanity," Annan's report said.

 

[musicman]

Oh - I'm sorry, Kofi - were you saying something?

THIS is the gang of retards the Democrat Party would have overseeing U.S. actions. Think, for a moment, how different the world would be today if Kerry had won.

The Republican Party should open every election campaign - from now until liberalism has been purged from the earth - by chanting "glo - bal TEST! glo - bal TEST!" Every voter should have this chilling reminder, before he descends into his natural state of lethargy, indifference, and short-sighted self-interest. We have people, seeking the power to govern this country, who actually ADMIRE the U.N.!