year ago, after the obvious differences between the US and the UN over Iraq, Kofi Annan appointed a team of international diplomats to examine ways the UN could be reformed to be more relevant to todays world. The team of diplomats included representatives from the US, Russia, China, UK, France, Brazil, Japan, India and others. This report has now been made public and the contents are very interesting.
Here are some of the main recommendations:
- The UN security council should be expanded, possibly with some new permanent seats (not vetos) for major countries like Brazil and India.
- Threats to international security should be defined and include poverty, pandemics like Aids and environmental disasters, not just threats from weapons of mass destruction, wars and failed states.
- Terrorism would be defined for the first time and should be made part of an international convention. Terrorism would mean any action targeted against non-combatants and civilians.
- To help stop the spread of nuclear weapons, countries wanting fuel for their nuclear power should have automatic rights to get supplies under the International Atomic Energy Agency so long as they complied with inspection regimes.
- Regional organisation like the African Union should be strengthened. Any peacekeeping operation should be funded by the UN itself and member states should pay automatically.
- The UN Human Rights Commission should be re-invigorated with more human rights activists and fewer diplomats on members' delegations.
and most controversial / interesting of all
- calls for a peace-building commission to be established to monitor potential trouble spots, offer help and advice, give warnings and prepare the way for armed intervention as a last resort.
- the Council should be more willing to act pre-emptively, though according to five strict criteria: the threat should be defined, the purpose of intervention should be clear, it should be a last resort, the means should be proportionate, and the consequences should be examined
So basically they are calling for a more intervention based UN which would be more willing to interfere in countries where a threat to international peace has been idtified. Such a threat could include human right abuses against their own population.
It's interesting to note that a number of panel members also wanted a standing UN army, but in the end the current model was decided to be kept.
Paul.