Kofi Annan to unveil UN reform plan tomorrow
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday will unveil his blueprint for the most sweeping changes at the United Nations since it was founded in the wake of World War II.

Annan is hoping to use the UN’s 60th anniversary this year as a springboard to revitalise an institution.

Yet it is uncertain how much of his ambitious reform outline—including a politically sensitive proposal to expand the Security Council, the UN’s top decision-making power—will finally be approved by member nations.

Annan has asked world leaders to gather for a September summit in New York to assess his plan, which is based largely on a study by independent experts released last year.

That panel drafted two different scenarios for expanding the council as well as 100 other significant changes to the UN system, part of what Annan and UN supporters hope will keep the United Nations relevant in the 21st century.

The panel tried to tackle questions about the system of global collective security raised by the unpopular US-led invasion of Iraq, which led many to question the organisation’s future role on the worldwide stage.

“This is viewed by him as a kind of package deal, with something to offer everyone,” Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Friday. “He would urge (member nations) to accept it as a package.”

But after years of vague reform discussions, diplomats say it remains to be seen how much political will exists for serious change, especially when it comes to sharing the influence and prerogatives of the Security Council.

Optimism

Indeed, Annan is not expected to choose between the council proposals made by the panel, leaving both options open in a nod to the sensitivities about the question.

One model would expand the permanent council seats from five to 11—with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan already having launched a joint campaign to get four of those slots. The other two would likely go to African nations.

The other would add a middle tier to the current system of permanent and temporary two-year memberships, giving selected nations four-year seats.

All changes have to be approved by two-thirds of the UN membership, while the council’s “permanent five”—Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States—have veto power over any new proposals.

In addition to reforming the UN system, Annan will also present his recommendations on how the international community can meet the so-called Millennium Development Goals.

The goals, already adopted by UN members, are an ambitious series of targets—including halving world poverty by 2015—which UN experts admit are now in danger of not being met unless countries take immediate action.●